ProNutro’s last hope? SA company offers to buy beloved cereal

A South African food import company has offered to buy the ProNutro brand in hopes of continuing its production. 

The beloved South African breakfast cereal has officially been discontinued, as announced in a statement on Wednesday, 23 September.

The news has been met with disappointment from South African consumers.

WHY WAS PRONUTRO DISCONTINUED?

A day before Heritage Day, PepsiCo dropped the bombshell that it was officially discontinuing production of ProNutro cereal.

PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest food and beverage corporations, bought Pioneer Foods (a merged company consisting of the Bokomo and Sasko brands) in 2020.

“After a long and careful review, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue ProNutro in South Africa. We are grateful for the support consumers have shown the brand over many years”, the group’s customer care services confirmed

The decision resulted from the following points.

The old manufacturing equipment had become outdated and unreliable. The company claimed that they could not fix the machines.

A new manufacturing process and recipe were introduced in 2026, called “New Generation ProNutro”, which was shunned by the public over its taste, texture and mixability. 

PepsiCo apologised to consumers and halted production.  

The company claimed it explored ways to restore the original ProNutro product, but was unable to reproduce the taste and texture.

It therefore decided to discontinue the cereal altogether, rather than continue selling a version that consumers were unhappy with.

SA FOOD IMPORTERS OFFER TO BUY PEPSICO

On its Facebook account, South African food Biltong & Bangers seemingly joked about wanting to purchase the ProNutro brand.

The UK-based company, which manufactures biltong and imports local food items, such as ProNutro, for South Africans living abroad, is co-owned by expats Nigel Biffen and Heath Dixon.

The owners cheekily posted: “OK, PepsiCo — How much do you want? One thing seems pretty clear: there are a LOT of people who aren’t ready to say goodbye to the old ProNutro they know and love. And if you’re not going to make it anymore, perhaps somebody else should….because some South African heritage is too good to let go. ❤️

“So…how much do you want for it? 🧐 We’re talking the ORIGINAL recipe, the relevant IP, production know-how and all the old equipment. 

They added: “As for production…we’re pretty sure there are enough clever, capable people in South Africa who could come together and work it out – keeping Pronutro South African, creating jobs. 

“So, PepsiCo, consider this our official expression of interest. If you’re ready to sell, get in touch with us”

In the comments sections, hundreds of South Africans supported the concept. Many even offered to pitch in! 

Jacques Fouche: “You have my support. If you want help with the contracts, let me know. I’ll help for free. Any instrumentation for the process plant, also let me know”

Tebogo Lesufi: “Don’t worry, we have plenty of people with knowledge of grinding, extrusion and packaging. We are also familiar with sourcing raw materials”

Abie Visser: “Can I invest?”

Hester Kleynhans: “Yes, buy it! We can start a BackaBuddy fund, and SA can save ProNutro”

Pieter Pretorius: “Yes, I am keen to join forces. Renovating the old machines with today’s technology should not result in a price increase”