Dive Brief:

• Post Holdings is launching a new offering called Sweet Dreams, a product the company said is the first ready-to-eat cereal designed to encourage a healthy sleep routine while satisfying late-night hunger.
• The cereal from the CPG’s Post Consumer Brands division comes in two flavors (Blueberry Midnight and Honey Moonglow) and contains ingredients such as whole grains and a nighttime herbal blend and vitamins and minerals including Zinc, Folic Acid and B vitamins, that are meant to support melatonin production.
• The cereal is the latest addition to a growing lineup of products on shelves that are designed to help sleep-deprived consumers. According to Life Extension data cited by Post, nearly 60% of people said they feel tired most of the time.

Post Consumer Brands has made a name for itself on cereal shelves with popular offerings such as Pebbles, Honey Bunches of Oats and Grape Nuts. But this newest product launch brings the cereal commonly associated with the morning breakfast table to late-night as consumers wind down and prepare for bed.

“As a brand that’s been helping early-risers crush their morning routines for over 100 years, we’re thrilled to now help fans also establish healthy nighttime habits by providing a nutrient-dense before-bed snack made to support a sleep routine they could only dream of until now,” Logan Sohn, senior brand manager at Post Consumer Brands, said in a statement.

According to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than a quarter of American adults in 2020 were not getting enough sleep on a regular basis — defined as 7 hours or more per day. The agency added that  15% of adults at the time had trouble falling asleep most days or every day in the past 30 days. Sleep difficulties are associated with chronic diseases, mental disorders, health-risk behaviors, limitations of daily functioning, injury, and mortality.

It’s a potentially large market and a big reason why companies are aiming to capture a slice of it. In 2020, PepsiCo launched a functional water called Driftwell aimed at combating stress and inducing relaxation. The enhanced water contained 200 grams of L-theanine, an amino acid found in tea and some herbal mushrooms, and 10% of the daily value of magnesium.

Additives to help people fall asleep are an increasing popular product enhancement these days. Several tea companies, including Hain Celestial and Twinings, have introduced products that contain value-added attributes, including ones that promote sleep. And in 2019, Nestlé tested a new chocolate called Goodnight described as a “bedtime snack” that helps the consumer “drift off to dreamland.”

For Post, the new cereal provides the St. Louis-based company a way to extend its reach beyond the morning where it has a significant presence to a different part of the day. A shopper looking to buy food for the morning with Post’s cereals could see Sweet Dreams sitting nearby and decide to toss a box in their cart during the same trip down the aisle.

While cereal in the morning typically touts the addition of vitamins and minerals, Sweet Dreams prioritizes ingredients that support natural melatonin production. It also simultaneously helps an individual who also craves a snack before bed. With many people looking to eat anyway in the evening, having a cereal that also has a sleep-inducing benefit could prompt consumers to wake up to Sweet Dreams as part of their late-night routine.