A New, Old Idea For General Mills

General Mills Inc. will launch a frosted version of its Cheerios cereal this fall, in an attempt to break a streak of sluggish cereal launches over the past few years.

Since 1992, the consumer foods maker has found little success with new cereals. Of the eight new products launched over the three years, four were discontinued and another one never made it past the test market.

But General Mills hopes to find success in a product that consumers already know.

The Frosted Cheerios will be marketed as sweet, yet healthy.

The “plain sweet” category of cereals, which currently makes up 17 percent of the cereal market by volume, is the fastest growing breakfast cereal subsegment. Golden Grahams is currently General Mills’ only cereal in the “plain sweet” category.

General Mills is second to Kellogg’s in overall U.S. cereal volume.