The Company That Owns The Popular Breakfast Cereal Weetabix

Many Americans have never heard of Weetabix and may be surprised to learn it's one of the United Kingdom's most popular breakfast cereals. In fact, the Weetabix factory outside of Kettering produces 70 million Weetabix "biscuits" every week, which are distributed both around Britain and to more than 80 additional countries (via The Weetabix Food Company). If you're among the United States citizens unaware of the original Weetabix cereal, some people have compared it to Shredded Wheat. And while the texture is a bit different, that is probably a fairly apt comparison. Of course, for its Weetabix Original, the company proudly uses only British wheat grown within a 50-mile radius of the factory.

But although Weetabix is a British staple and British-made, Bright Food, a Chinese company, actually purchased 60% of the company in 2012. Weetabix was a Chinese-owned company until 2017, when The Weetabix Food Company was acquired by Post Holdings — the same company behind other popular breakfast cereals like Honey Bunches of Oats and Fruity Pebbles. It seems as though Weetabix never really took off in the Chinese market, and Post saw the sale as a chance to diversify its portfolio with more international interests. But the Kettering-area factory is still going strong; in addition to Weetabix, the company's subsidiary brands include Weetos (chocolatey hoops), Alpen muesli, Ready Brek porridge, and others.

Weetabix, aka "Britain's favorite breakfast," is one of the healthier breakfast cereal options. Weetabix Original contains just 1.7 grams of sugar per two biscuits, whereas some of the least healthy cereals in the U.S. contain up to (and over) 18 grams per serving. This includes one of Post Holdings' other products, Marshmallow Fruity Pebbles. And while Weetabix does make some flavored options with a higher sugar content, they're still lower in sugar than many cereals you may be used to seeing on grocery store shelves. For example, Weetabix Crispy Minis, a smaller version of the original, launched a Caramelized Biscuit version in 2025 containing 6 grams of sugar per serving (it's also made with whole grains and is a good source of fiber and protein). And Weetabix Chocolate, a chocolate version of Weetabix Original, has nearly 8 grams of sugar per serving. Still, that's a far cry from many popular cereals on our side of the pond, like Post Golden Crisp's 21 grams of added sugar per serving.

A Reddit thread from 2023 discussing the availability of Weetabix in the United States largely concluded that the cereal is difficult to find — including the sweeter options. If you do find Weetabix, it's likely to be in an international section of your neighborhood grocery store, or in a specialty grocery store. However, because it is owned by an American company, perhaps more Weetabix will be available in the future.