The Cereal Killer café in Shoreditch opened its doors two years ago and instantly received abuse online and on its premises on Brick Lane.
Anti-gentrification activists attack Shoreditch's infamous Cereal Killer cafe: http://t.co/kUXpXaj3Wphttps://t.co/OvypwqllF8
— Ruptly (@Ruptly) September 28, 2015
Cereal Killer Cafe bros article in The Standard. Not surprised Class War turned on them. No sense of the local nor its poverty. Morons.
— Dominic from Luton (@Domfromluton) October 1, 2015
Anti-gentrification activists targeted the bearded duo for opening up a cafe in Hackney, one of London's poorest boroughs, where some children go to school without eating breakfast, while serving cereal costing US$8.00 a bowl.
Poverty has not left east London, but it has changed https://t.co/wjG0fafrQe #hackney #towerhamlets
— Samir Jeraj (@sajeraj) November 4, 2015
Snap, Crackle & Pop-Up
However, there's clearly an appetite for it, the cafe has already expanded in London and Birmingham, where cereal fans can chow down on Lucky Charms in a retro environment complete with arcade games and Power Rangers.
New Cereal Killer cafe opens in Birmingham #sohappy https://t.co/jcsS7U0oyQ pic.twitter.com/JBwpn4c2ID
— Laura Pick (@LauraEmmaPick) November 18, 2016
And then after a visit from a sheikh who posted a picture of it on Snapchat, 20 percent of their customers are now from the Middle East and the café is set to open premises in Dubai, Jordan and Kuwait before spreading into Oman, Bahrain and Qatar.
Founder, Gary Keery who started the venture with his twin brother told London tabloid The Standard that he'd even tracked down vegan friendly, pork gelatin free version of cereal Lucky Charms to serve up in the Middle East.
Reflecting on the class war waged against him in the early days, Keery said: "There are a lot of plus points to gentrification."
"Ten years ago you would not go out in east London, unfortunately people do get priced out, though they often sell their house for a nice profit. Some people just want to moan and find someone to blame — but you're in charge of your own situation."
It seems the hipsters are getting an appetite for success after a five-second feature on social media by a sheikh.
