THE Belfast brothers behind the London-based Cereal Killer cafés have announced that their outlets will not reopen due to the impact of coronavirus on the hospitality industry.
Twins Alan and Gary Keery opened the UK’s first cereal themed café in Brick Lane in late 2014.
Yesterday they issued a statement on social media, confirming that the Brick Lane outlet and a second café in Camden will not reopen their doors.
“After a long period of closure due to coronavirus, and with the future of the hospitality industry looking very uncertain, we have made a decision that our cafés on Brick Lane and Camden will not reopen their doors."
The business will continue as an online entity, with the brothers not ruling out a return to the high street in the future.
In a video accompanying the statement, Alan Keery said the company sold over one million bowls of cereal since opening.
But he said: “Coronavirus has been pretty tough on the hospitality industry and unfortunately Cereal Killer Café is going to be one of the casualties."
He said the online side of the business had performed well during the lockdown.
“This is not cheerio forever,” said the brothers. “We have goals of seeing our café open again, but due to the current climate it won’t be financially viable for us to run our cafés.
“Fast forward a year or two and we hope to re-open our door, but until then we will be putting our efforts into growing our online store, creating our own line of products and delivering awesome cereal.
“Over the last 5.5 years, we have sold over one million bowls of cereal and made a lot of people smile with our 90's themed cafés and cereal themed menu.
“We have released a cookbook, been in countless press, and TV shows, inspired a musical, and instigated a riot. We couldn’t have done any of this without the support of all you amazing cereal fans, so thank you all for letting us live our dreams.”
