Alpen is a line of muesli varieties manufactured by the Weetabix cereal company of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England.[1]
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Weetabix cereals in the U.K. created Alpen muesli cereals in the late 1960s as a reaction to the natural, organic and environmental movements sweeping the U.S. and UK. Alpen is a simple, whole grain muesli cereal based on rolled oats, fruits and nuts with no preservatives or artificial flavors or colours.
Alpen was the best-selling muesli in the U.S. for a short time in the 1970s (the start of the "natural foods" movement), when Alpen was imported from Weetabix and marketed by Colgate-Palmolive (CP) as one of the first "natural" cereals in the U.S. marketplace. Because of its "back to nature" appeal, Alpen quickly became a best-seller. Competition arose when the Quaker cereal company responded by creation of Quaker 100% natural cereal. CP misjudged Alpen supply and demand, and due to its UK importation, was not able to stock the cereal in a timely fashion. The supply chain became a problem: shelf stock ran out of date and CP had to purchase Alpen back from retailers and destroy it. That, combined with Quaker's marketing effort, ended the short reign of Alpen as the #1 natural brand in the U.S. in the 1970s.
In the U.K., Alpen has been a staple on British shelves since the 1970s and it appeared in the early 1970s in Canada and then in the US in the 1990s after Weetabix established a partnership with natural foods manufacturer, Barbara's Bakery.
In the U.S. today, Alpen No Added Sugar and Alpen Original are mainstays in U.S. natural food stores and Canadian grocery stores. In the UK, Weetabix sells Alpen in four varieties. Alpen is exported to other countries in several varieties.
In the U.K., Alpen has created several varieties, including:
In both the U.S.and Canada, Alpen varieties are:
As of December 2009, the U.S. Alpens were reformulated to an all-natural formula, disconinuing the use of added vitamins, minerals and organic grains.
In the past, several non-muesli Alpen cereals debuted under the Alpen brand. While most of these cereals have undergone changes in name only, here is a list of cereals which at one were in the Alpen division of Weetabix, along with date of name change.
As a brand extension and a reaction to consumer appetite for whole grain snacks, Weetabix introduced Alpen whole grain cereal bars, which include varieties of several fruit flavours. As of December 2010, these include:
Three varieties of U.K. Alpen include sugar; there is one No Added Sugar variety, also available in the U.S. and Canada. Alpen also contains whey.