Kellogg's Cereal City USA was a tourist attraction in downtown

Battle Creek, Michigan Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which enc ...

(itself nicknamed "Cereal City"), open between 1998 and 2007. It aimed to tell visitors the story of the

Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toa ...

brand, its products and contribution to the

breakfast cereal Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in We ...

industry in particular.

Opening and features

Interest in a Kellogg's-themed attraction grew after the company ceased conducting tours at its nearby production facility in 1986. The roadside attraction broke ground on December 19, 1996. Billed as a museum and designed to look like a turn-of-the-20th-century industrial factory, the attraction was opened at 171 West Michigan Avenue in May 1998. It cost the Heritage Center Foundation $22 million to build and outfit. Entry cost $7.95. The attraction's opening was enthusiastically welcomed by then- Michigan Governor,

John Engler John Mathias Engler (born October 12, 1948) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th Governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he later worked for Business Roundtable, where ''The Hill'' c ...

and was described as a "major tourist attraction" to which the "State of Michigan contributed approximately $2.8 million". The two-story space featured a range of exhibits with information about the company, its history, and its products. It also included a restaurant, the Red Onion Grill, modelled on and named after the original diner at the

Battle Creek Sanitarium The Battle Creek Sanitarium was a world-renowned health resort in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. It started in 1866 on health principles advocated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and from 1876 to 1943 was managed by Dr. John H ...

. There was also an ice cream parlor named Sullivan's where guests would get ice cream sundaes topped with Kellogg cereals.

Visitor numbers and closure

The venture's original proponents claimed the attraction would attract more than 400,000 visitors each year. In actuality, visitor numbers peaked in 1998 (the year it opened) at 162,000 guests. From 2000 to 2005, it attracted an average of 86,203 visitors each year. In 2006, it had only 75,500 visitors and it closed in January 2007. According to operators, it needed at least 100,000 annual visitors to remain financially viable. The city of Battle Creek was "left with an $875,000 bill for the closed attraction" but Kellogg's itself bought the building for $2 million, wiped the debt, converted it into commercial office space and sold it the following year. In 2011, the building was donated to Battle Creek Public Schools.

References

{{Kellogg Company Kellogg's Battle Creek, Michigan Defunct tourist attractions in the United States Tourist attractions in Calhoun County, Michigan 1998 establishments in Michigan 2007 disestablishments in Michigan

Opening and features

Visitor numbers and closure

See also

References