One of the world's fastest women has been seeing slow sales of her new brand of breakfast cereal. So when Lauryn Williams, a 22-year-old Miami native and Olympic silver medalist in track, wanted to light a fire under her new Fast Flakes, she thought The Cereal Bowl would be the perfect place to do it.
Since opening in February, the upstart café at 1560 S. Dixie Hwy. has become something of a Mecca for cereal munchers.
By offering customers the chance to mix and match more than 30 different kinds of cereal and 40 toppings (from the strawberries and bananas Williams favors on her Fast Flakes to the Gummi Bears and peanut butter chips one teen was using to top off her Reese's Puffs), the Bowl is hoping to tickle a broad variety of palates.
HEALTHY EATING
``It's not for everybody,'' said Williams of her wheat and oat flakes that are completely devoid of chewy neon-colored animals. ``If you're not open to healthy, you're not going to be into it.''
Sitting at a nearby table, Cereal Bowl President Kenneth Rader, 24, was decidedly into the small but growing crowd huddling around the athlete.
At the beginning of what he dreaded might be a summertime lull, business at the Bowl was buzzing.
``The store is looking pretty good,'' he said as a gaggle of pajama-clad teens headed for the counter. ``We've lost some of the college kids, but we seem to be making up for it in other ways.''
Ever since the three men behind the Bowl - Rader, his twin brother Josh and their childhood friend Michael Glassman, 25 - launched the café, they've worried about the summer. With the nearby University of Miami on hiatus and their core high school market on vacation, they feared business might dry up.
So they have been counting on events like the Fast Flakes promotion to take the bite out of the dog days.
SUMMER CAMP SPECIAL
Along with hosting birthday parties and Friday night concerts, they've rolled out a summer camp special. Under that deal, camp kids can conjure up their own bowls of cereal for $2.99. For every 10 tykes, the counselor eats free. So far the promotion has brought in about five camp groups of between 70 and 100 kids, and others have booked.
The Miami Herald has been following the three entrepreneurs behind the Bowl since October, when they were still struggling with permits and prodding along construction crews. We'll keep following them for the next four months as they try to spin their $108,000 start-up investment into a viable business franchise.
Despite a solid first quarter - where they pulled in more than $90,000 - they're still short of turning a profit.
HELPING OTHERS
The Cereal Bowl isn't looking to make money off Williams' Fast Flakes. Instead, they will be donating the profits to Fund for Kids, a local charity that gives underprivileged children scholarships for after-school activities. The Bowl boys and Williams actually met at a fundraiser for the charity last year.
Charity isn't just a way to give back to the community, it's also good for business, said Kenneth. Williams' presence was pulling in clients who might not have visited the Bowl otherwise, and it also helps generate press attention. (Shortly after The Miami Herald left, a local television station came by to interview Williams).
In the same vein, The Cereal Bowl has volunteered to cater upcoming orientation events at the University of Miami for free.
SOUND INVESTMENT
``It may cost us $300 to do the event, but that's about what it could cost to take out an ad in the UM paper,'' said Kenneth. ``We see it as a marketing event.''
As for Williams, she's hoping some of the Bowl's early success might rub off on her venture. Despite her star power, she hasn't been able to get the product into Publix or Wild Oats, and sales have been relegated to the Internet [www.fastflakes.com].
``It's hard selling products on the Internet,'' she said. ``And because it's not a whole line of cereals, we're having trouble getting into major stores.''
But even world class sprinters sometimes get off to a slow start.
