Kellogg’s helped create the American breakfast habit. And brand executives believe they’ve got a good shot at helping recreate breakfast habits in their crucial but underdeveloped markets in Asia.

The Michigan-based cereal purveyor increasingly has broadened its repertoire over the last several years to include a huge variety of grain-based products beyond breakfast cereals (including Keeblers and Pringles), some healthful proteins (Morningstar meat analogs) and even services (Special K weight-loss apps). Now the company is positioning itself for geographic diversification that could be just as significant.

That’s why Kellogg’s, echoing moves by other American CPG giants such as Procter & Gamble, recently moved its Asia-Pacific headquarters into the heart of the region. Kellogg’s move was to Singapore from Sydney.[more]

“Singapore is a first-class city in which to operate,” Amit Banati, president of Kellogg Asia Pacific, said in a release recently about the move. “We’re delighted to run the Kellogg Asia Pacific region from such a prime location that welcomes business.”

From its new base, Banati told BakeryandSnacks.com, Kellogg’s wants to boost sales and share in both savory snacks, such as through its recently acquired Pringles brand, as well as through breakfast foods including its stronghold in ready-to-eat cereals.

“We want to drive and create an established category and also leverage brands and expertise to offer food which is closer to the local market,” Anati told the publication. “We’re very focused on creating the [breakfast] habit.”

Anati acknowledged that sitting down to a bowl of snap, crackle and pop is hardly a convention across Asia at this point as it has been in North America for many decades. The importance of breakfast, and habitual and traditional breakfast foods, varies across Asia and from market to market. So, he said, “Success of our cereal business across Asia Pacific is varied.”

But Kellogg’s believes it can accommodate its strength in cereals to important local tastes in Asia, and vice versa. In India, for instance, Kellogg’s has launched oats-based products, including a line of spicy, savory oats.

And all of this is not to lose sight of the opportunities to sell savory snacks in Asia. “It’s very much a balanced message we have,” Anato told BakeryandSnacks.com. “The reality is, there are growth opportunities in both.”

Image via Graham Tooby