Lazy millennial bowl-haters may be hurting big cereal's bottom line

After more than 15 years of seeing profits declineindustry-wide,cereal producers are feeling the(Cinnamon Toast) crunch of no longer being breakfast's best bet.

Could the ungrateful youth of today be to blame for big cereal's financial struggles?

Maybe but not for the reasons you'd think.

A New York Times report suggests that more young adults have been shunning cereal in recent yearsbecause the process of pouring it with milk into a bowl,eating it with a spoon,and then cleaning up any dishes afterwardissimply too much trouble.

Seriously.

The results of a recent survey conducted by Mintel, aglobal research firm, suggest thatnearly 40 per centof people born between 1980 and 2000consider cereal "inconvenient to consume."

Millennials(or "snake people,"if you will)feel entitled to a breakfast that requires less effort, it seems like ahuevos rancheros burritopurchased for $11 on the way to work.

"Breakfast cereal, both as a cultural marker and a profit centre, is at a crossroads," reports the New York Times. "Younger consumers are not as attached to cold cereal for breakfast as their forebears.They either don't eat breakfast at all, or eat it somewhere other than home. And when they do eat breakfast, a bowl of cold cereal is often replaced by hot grains, smoothies, yogurt or breakfast sandwiches."

This drop-off in cereal consumers is responsible, at least in part, fordeclining sales across the entireindustry according to the Times.

"Since the late 1990s, [cereal's]popularity has been slowly fading," thenewspaper writes. "Sales, which totalled $13.9 billion in 2000, dipped last year to about $10 billion."

That's not to say that youth aren't interested in cereal, though.

Millennials may not be pouring out as many bowls of it for breakfast, but at least some have beenkeen on things like spooning it into Ryan Gosling's mouth, going to all-cereal cafs, and watching Frosted Flakes mascot Tony the Tiger fight off furries on Twitterin recent years.

And while 40 per cent of millennials surveyed by Mintelwere "too lazy" to eat cereal, as some have put it, many of those within this demographic are now questioning the survey'sfindings online orsimply poking fun at this week'soutpouring of millennial hate.

"Of course, you really cannot be late. And that's because the only technology involved in your job that your baby-boomer bosses actually understand is a clock, so that's all they use to determine whether you can actually do your job," the piece continues.

"Millennials just aren't interested in taking a minute to plan their day and read a newspaper as they savour their cereal. They have shit to do and they got their news before they even got out of bed. Cereal is a hassle."

Oh snap (crackle, pop)!