Kellogg's CEO is facing backlash for suggesting people eat “cereal for dinner” to save money

WK Kellogg CEO Gary Belnick's proposal to save costs by eating cereal for dinner has not yet caught on with consumers who… Feeling the pressure of grocery prices.

Belnick brought up buying cereal for dinner to save money on groceries Appeared on CNBC's “Squawk on the Street” on February 21. He was responding to a question regarding how much food prices have risen and how More than 11% of consumer disposable income Moving towards buying it, according to Latest data available In the US Department of Agriculture. A clip from the interview is Take online tours He was met with what dissidents saw The irony of Belnik's proposal.

“The cereal category has always been affordable and tends to be a great destination when consumers are under pressure,” the cereal company's CEO said.

“If you think about the cost of grain to a family versus what the family can do, the cost will be affordable for everyone,” he added. “We're talking about making sure we have the right package at the right price in the right place. So, having a different sized package that's going to have a different price point, that's going to take some of the pressure off the consumer when they're shopping. Those are some of the things we do. But, in a way Overall, the cereal category is where a lot of people might come because a bowl of cereal with milk and fruit is less than $1. So you can imagine why a consumer under pressure might find this a good place to go.

While this portion of the interview is circulating online, social media users have attacked Belnik for suggesting what they feel he would not regularly do himself.

“Grave inflation forces households to make choices like eating cereal for dinner to save money. Kellogg's CEO brags about it while showing the massive rise in corporate profits that helped create the problem in the first place. F— that's sh–,” a Posted by critic on X.

Pilnik's annual salary is $1 million plus up to $4.4 million in additional bonuses as of September 2023. For each deposit with SEuropean Commission. Company It recorded $651 million in net sales As of December 30, the end of the fourth quarter.

“Meanwhile, he eats at 5-star restaurants every night, and when he's not, his personal chef prepares dinner for him. Absolutely disgusting. He eats. The. 'Rich' one person he commented on an Instagram post of the clip.

“People: We don't have dinner, we're starving. CEO: Then just eat pills. People: But they're expensive. CEO: We hear you! “We're making the packages smaller, so they cost less,” another person said. Comment on the YouTube video.

“I'm sorry, but who and what CEO has the confidence to say something like that? I'm 30, and dinner cereal is not a nutritional supplement. Low income does it for something for nothing,” another person wrote below the YouTube video.

WK Kellogg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the full interview, which aired on CNBC, Belnick was asked about the “possibility” of his proposed cost-cutting solution “going down the wrong path.”

“It's landing well now,” he replied. “More than 25% of our consumption comes outside of the breakfast occasion. A lot of it is at dinner and that occasion is continuing to grow. Cereals used at dinner are probably more popular now and we expect that to continue because that consumer is under pressure.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com