Florida residents this week previewed Honey Nut Cheerios’ one-of-a-kind living billboard, just outside of Orlando, to celebrate the classic cereal’s key ingredient—real honey. Much more than just a billboard installation, the three-story free-standing structure was home to more than 100,000 honeybees. The honey produced from the working hives was used to spell out “Made with Real Honey” on the exterior of the installation. The local Florida honey was used to produce a limited number of exclusive boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios.
Constructed in the farm fields at Diamond P Farm and Ranch, the honeybees used in the creation of the billboard were supplied in partnership with Brent Dickson and his family, who are local Orlando beekeepers. True to standards, most of the beekeepers who make the honey for Honey Nut Cheerios run family businesses and depend on their bees to make a living.
“Honey is more than just an ingredient—it’s the flavor at the heart of Honey Nut Cheerios. And that’s why we thought there was no better way to explain just how real the honey is that goes into Honey Nut Cheerios than by physically showing it,” said Jared Pippin, senior associate marketing manager at General Mills. “We wanted to honor the honeybees and show our support for the dedicated beekeepers who love honey just as much as we do.”
Honey Nut Cheerios, the No. 1 cereal in the U.S., also partnered with local Orlando executive chef Joseph Burnett of The Osprey Tavern to create customized recipes featuring real honey for a special event that celebrated the iconic cereal and the real honey found in every box. He shared his expertise of incorporating local and sustainable ingredients to create classical home-style dishes enjoyed by attendees as they explored the honey installation.
A family favorite for more than 35 years, Honey Nut Cheerios is made with real honey, whole grain oats and includes no high-fructose corn syrup while providing 12 essential vitamins and minerals. As part of the “real ingredients” campaign, the living billboard installation is just one way to show Cheerios’ loyal fans the tasty flavors of Cheerios (Honey Nut, Apple Cinnamon, and Chocolate) are all made with real ingredients—real honey, real apple and cinnamon and real cocoa, according to the brand.
