Milling & Baking News - September 21, 2004 - 8

B U S I N E S S

Hurricane Ivan brings industry
to standstill along U.S. Gulf coast

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

the storm's landfall.
"Everything on the (Mississippi river)
has been shut down," Mr. Ferguson said
Tuesday, noting that all New Orleans-area
Continued from Page 1
across the region, with New Orleans' shipping ceased by midday Tuesday.
the Florida panhandle, by midafternoon, myriad export elevators halting opDavid Feider, a spokesman with CarWednesday, Sept. 15.
erations as barge and ship pilots fled for gill, Inc., said the company had closed all
The strong category 3 hurricane, with higher ground.
its New Orleans facilities by Wednesday
sustained winds of 130 miles per hour,
John Ferguson planned to ride out the afternoon, estimating it would take two
then slammed ashore near Gulf Shores, storm, whose tropical-storm force winds to four days before they reopened.
Ala., early Thursday morning, battering extended 290 miles out from its center,
Mr. Feider said the facilities secured
the coastline with waves reaching two sto- at Archer Daniels Midland Co.'s elevator their shipping fleets, adding that Cargill
ries high and eventually drenching much in Destrehan, La. That facility closed at had no immediate plans to reroute delayed
of the Deep South with up to 15 inches of noon Tuesday, a day-and-a-half before grain export shipments to other ports.
rain by the end of the week.
Grain processing plants and
The massive storm halted inbound
bakeries near the coast also closed.
and outbound sea cargo shipments
Sara Lee's Mobile plant planned
near New Orleans, the final staging
to shut down Wednesday mornpoint for about 80% of all U.S. grain
ing, and Joel Wood, manufacexports, for much of the week.
turing manager with Flowers
Early in the week, New Orleans
Bakeries in New Orleans, said
officials feared the hurricane could
production there halted at 9 a.m.
inundate the city, which sits below sea
Wednesday.
level, with up to 20 feet of floodwater.
"Startup is in the air," he said, reUltimately, the brunt of the storm
ferring to plans to resume producmissed New Orleans, which received
tion later in the week, "depending
only tropical-storm force winds and
on how much damage we get."
relatively little rain.
At week's end, much of the
Ivan did not spare Alabama and
region's grain-based foods industhe Florida panhandle. Specifically,
try had just begun assessing the
it zeroed in on Mobile, Ala., and Penstorm's initial toll. As of Thurssacola, Fla., flooding the latter with
day morning, shipping interests
more than two feet of water, spawnin New Orleans awaited the U.S.
ing tornadoes, killing as many as 28
Coast Guard's approval to resume
people and leaving about 1.5 million
normal operations, but grain
utility customers from southeastern
industry sources did not expect
Louisiana to north-central Florida
business to return to usual until at
without power.
least Friday.
Before the storm hit, mandatory Hurricane Ivan washed out this portion of the
Meanwhile, a weaker yet
evacuations sent thousands of peo- Interstate 10 bridge over Escambia Bay near Penstill potent Ivan trekked slowly
ple fleeing inland, clogging roads sacola, Fla., which endured devastating damage
through Alabama, western Georand forcing authorities to open all from one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit
gia and the southern Appalachian
lanes of some highways and inter- the United States. Fortunately for the U.S. grain
Mountains, where forecasters
industry, the storm's impact left New Orleans -states strictly to northbound traffic.
expected it to stall and cause
As a result, the grain merchandis- and its considerable grain-shipping infrastructure
widespread flooding during the
ing industry virtually shut down -- virtually unscathed.
weekend. MBN

Cereality set to open first sit down
cereal bar and cafe in Philadelphia
BOULDER, COLO. - Cereality Cereal Bar
& Cafe, a branded restaurant format for eating ready-to-eat and hot cereal, is coming to
Philadelphia in November.
The cereal bar and cafe food service concept, which allows customers to blend both
familiar and proprietary cold and hold cereals in a "Seinfeld-esque" kitchen setting,
will open its first sit down cafe at University
Square, located in the retail district at the
University of Pennsylvania.
The 1,500-square-foot cafe will be the first
new site for the company as it begins to roll
out nationally.
"As we begin Cereality's national rollbakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

out, we're very excited to be among this
collection of high-profile retailers at University Square and across the street from
one of the Ivy League's best, the University of Pennsylvania," said David Roth,
chief executive officer and co-founder of
Cereality. "Here, we'll get a broad-base of
customers who all love cereal ... students,
faculty and employes working at Penn, as
well as tourists staying at The Hilton Inn
at Penn."
The Cereality concept first hit the market
in August 2003 with a 200-square-foot kiosk
prototype in Arizona State University's Memorial Union building (see Milling & Baking

News of May 11, Page 11).
The concept features more than 30
choices of cereal from such companies as
General Mills, Inc.; Quaker Oats Co.; The
Kellogg Co.; and Post, and 30 plus choices
of toppings, three types of milk, plus an assortment of specialty milks.
Cereality's most popular order, "What's
in YOUR Bowl?", consists of two full cups
of any cereal, a topping and milk in a leakproof 32-oz container for less than $3. In
addition, full boxes of customized combos
are available.
Staff members at Cereality, known as
"Cereologists," are clad in pajamas and
offer suggestions for customers, including
such varieties as "Life Experience," a mix
of Life cereal with sliced almonds, bananas
and a drizzle of honey. MBN
Milling & Baking News, September 21, 2004 / 9

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Milling & Baking News - September 21, 2004

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