Breakfast is known as the most important meal of the day for good reason: a day started with a balanced meal sets the tone for the rest of the day, and imparts benefits like satiety, energy and mental focus. But despite all the benefits a good breakfast has to offer, 63% of Americans admitted to Kraft Foods as part of a consumer survey that they felt low on energy in the morning, and less than half eat breakfast every day. To help address this issue, Kraft has introduced belVita Breakfast Biscuits, a crunchy, lightly sweet, whole grain cookie/cracker hybrid that ticks all of the boxes that Americans are looking for in a quick, nutritious breakfast. 

“There is a tension in the morning—Americans know they should eat breakfast yet they often don’t have the time,” said Janda Lukin, director of innovation at Kraft Foods. “belVita Breakfast is the first of its kind in the U.S., marking the launch of an entirely new kind of breakfast, the ’breakfast biscuit.’ belVita Breakfast Biscuits are delicious, portable and will give you fuel—and help keep you going—for the whole morning.”
 
Prior to launching stateside, Kraft conducted what it called the belVita Breakfast Energy Survey to get a better handle on American breakfast habits and the role breakfast plays in providing Americans with the sustained morning energy. Based on two studies conducted between December 21, 2011 through January 4, 2012, the first survey polled more than one thousand U.S. adults over the age of 18 via a six minute survey. The data was weighted to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to U.S. Census figures.
 
The second study was conducted online in 10 major U.S. cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Houston). Two thousand adults over the age of 18—roughly 100 males and 100 females per city – completed five minute surveys focused on their breakfast habits.
 
The survey results revealed that while overall morning energy levels and breakfast beliefs vary from coast to coast, there was one clear consensus—Americans were hungry for new nutritious and delicious breakfast options that provide lasting energy for the whole morning.
 
What’s more, while 61% of American adults believed breakfast to be the most important meal of the day, only 48% actually reported eating breakfast every morning. Researchers found breakfast skipping to be more common in major southern cities, with Dallas–Ft. Worth (5%) and Houston (60%) residents forgoing breakfast most frequently. Among those who eat breakfast daily, men seemed to get more out of their breakfast, with 53% of men feeling more productive after breakfast versus 44% of women. The survey also found more than half of Americans could be persuaded to up their breakfast intake if it is nutritious and provides energy for the whole morning.
 
Those polled also shed light on how breakfast played a role in their morning energy levels. Almost two in three Americans admitted to having low levels of energy in the morning, with 57% looking to breakfast to help provide fuel for their morning.
 
A closer look at the data showed big city life did not necessarily translate into big morning energy—New Yorkers (69%) and Los Angelenos (66%) suffered most from morning energy drain, while residents of Washington, D.C. (44 %) and Boston (46%) were least likely to be sluggish in the morning.
 
In a nod to the old adage, the early bird gets the worm, 84% of respondents believed the most successful people got their day started early with an energized morning. Only 28% of tne Millennials polled described themselves as early birds, in comparison to 63% of Baby Boomers.
 
To best meet the nutritional needs of American breakfast consumers, Kraft Foods worked with nutritionists to create belVita Breakfast Biscuits to ensure they provided nutritious, sustained energy throughout the morning. According to Kraft, the sustained energy release is the result of a “combination of carefully selected ingredients and a special baking process that helps preserve the integrity of the grain so that the carbohydrates are slowly released in the body.”
 
Each individual package of four crunchy biscuits is portioned for breakfast, has 18-20 grams whole grains per serving and is said to be a good source of fiber and four B vitamins. Additionally, belVita Breakfast contains no high fructose corn syrup, no partially hydrogenated oils, and no artificial flavors or sweeteners. belVita Breakfast Biscuits are available in Blueberry, Golden Oat and Apple Cinnamon and are sold in the cookie/cracker aisle.
 
Though breakfast biscuits are a new concept to Americans, they have been a European breakfast staple for years. Kraft Foods introduced its first breakfast biscuits in France more than a decade ago and now sells belVita biscuits in more than ten countries including Belgium, Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, the United Kingdom and Brazil.