Cereal killers! Young prefer their breakfast on the move

IT’S the most important meal of the day. But the tradition of gathering around the breakfast table is dying out thanks to a generation of young Britons who either skip the meal completely or ‘grab and go’, a report reveals.

Half of 16 to 34-year-olds miss breakfast, with this age group also accounting for a third of those who eat breakfast away from home.

Meanwhile those aged over-55 are the most likely to have breakfast, as well as being the most likely to eat it at home.

An estimated one in ten breakfasts are now eaten outside the home, up 1.8 per cent in the past year.

While this had provided a boost to High Street coffee chains, it has seen a fall in sales of breakfast cereals.

Ready-to-eat cereal sales were down by nearly £40million in the year to the end of April, according to an analysis by Kantar Worldpanel for The Grocer magazine. However, the rise of on-the-go eating has seen the overall number of breakfasts eaten rise by 0.7 per cent to 2.1billion.

The trend for abandoning the family breakfast table is being driven by the so-called ‘millennial’ generation, who have reached adulthood this century.

‘Millennials may be more clued up to food and health trends than older generations, but in terms of traditional breakfast there are empty seats at the table,’ it said.

‘Nearly half of those who skip breakfast are aged between 16 and 34, and over one third of Britons who eat breakfast out fall into this group.

‘It’s no surprise they’re being dubbed by some as breakfast’s lost generation.

Suzanne Robinson, of consultants Happen, added the over-55s are the most likely to eat breakfast as they still maintain a strict ‘three meals a day’ habit.