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Representation Matters: Man Creates Black-Owned Cereal Proud Puffs
Following protests in Minneapolis, Nic King wanted to buy black-owned cereal and couldn’t find any. However, in the middle of the night, he was inspired to create his own: Proud Puffs!
“I’m a man of faith, so I said, ‘God, this is your idea. I have nothing to do with it. Before I leave this kitchen, I’m going to drink my orange juice, while you give me a (product) name,'” King told The Darien Times.
The Connecticut man used social media to be able to produce the cereal. He wanted to create a black-owned business about celebrating and embracing his and culture.
“Everyone should be able to embrace their culture. I go to Irish bars and they are celebrating their culture,” he said. “Legacy is the name of my company—its the theme. It’s a business. I just plan on making delicious cereal.”
Photo: @whoisnicking
He’s starting as a small business, but soon hopes to sell his cereal in major grocery chains.
“I am completely fine with doing it grassroots and selling them from the website,” he shared. “I go to grocery stores and hang out in local restaurants, and the response to the cereal is pretty good.”
He told reporters he had the word “proud” on his mind, then he thought of Proud Puffs. King left his job before the pandemic because he missed out on time with his son. He was silent about his decision because he thought he’d be ridiculed since he was financially stable.
Nic King used caricatures of his family to showcase on the box packaging.
“The characters on the box are my sisters, nieces, nephews and my son. I’m all about the generational wealth, so having my family on the cover was important to me even though the designers cringed at 10 characters on one box,” he told The Darien Times. “The whole box has meaning, from the characters to a two-parent black household, to the positive affirmations on the back of the box, as well as the facts on the side about iconic black legends that helped shape our culture,” he continued.
Photo: @whoisnicking
“We’ve been dealing with blatant racism, why Black Lives Matter too, diversity, inclusion, systemic racism and so much more. This cereal isn’t only for black people but rather it is a cereal owned 100 percent by a black man,” he said. “I would honestly say my purpose in life is to spark people to do the unthinkable, and to change the financial trajectory of my family forever, and I’ve made both of these values my mission ever since. I realized what I believe my purpose was to be,” he said.
Thank you, Nic, for your dedication to ensuring that children of color are represented in many forms.
Visit Proud Puffs Cereal to pre-purchase today!
I heard about this brother’s cereal business about 8 days ago and have been trying to find out ‘how’ to purchase. The website doesn’t have a line for shopping or placing orders but I’m not sure why not.