Nissin puts breakfast (and noodles) in a cup

For many people, the most essential cup at breakfast time is that first mug of coffee. Noodle giant Nissin Foods USA is hoping to change that with its Cup Noodles Breakfast product.

Cup Noodles Breakfast

The new microwaveable cup of ramen blends the long Asian-style noodles with the flavors of pancakes, maple syrup, sausage and eggs. The limited-edition flavor is available exclusively at Walmart. And no, a company spokesperson said, this is not an April Fool’s joke. (They recommend it be eaten with a drizzle of maple syrup or hot sauce.)

“We know our products are a go-to meal any time of the day,” Priscila Stanton, senior vice president of marketing at Nissin Foods USA, said in a written statement. “Saucy, soup-based, spicy, sweet or savory, we even added rice to some, so by adding Cup Noodles Breakfast to our line-up we are truly feeding cravings around the clock – morning, noon, night or late night.”

Cup Noodles was created in 1971 by Nissin Foods founder Momofuku Ando as a way to make the instant noodle meal more convenient. According to Nissin, the portable and microwaveable noodle cups are sold in 100 countries and regions today.

Hundreds of flavors have been created since then. Tomonao Matsuo of the company’s PR department told travel guide website Live Japan that local cultures influence each country’s flavors. But most of those flavors are traditional ones for soup or noodles

A breakfast noodle soup is a new development. And while U.S. consumers love breakfast — more Americans ate traditional morning foods during the COVID-19 pandemic — it will be interesting to see if they like maple syrup with their noodles.

Food Dive