Oatmeal Gets Upscale Reheat

Oatmeal is getting a trendy makeover, the Wall Street Journal reports. Drawn to the modest meal by its cheap, healthy, and long-lasting ingredients, smoothie chain Jamba Juice added oatmeal to its Chicago menus today before rolling it out across the US in January, while Starbucks began offering the breakfast classic earlier this fall.

“We actually think there is a core oatmeal consumer that loves the idea of oatmeal that today might eat instant oatmeal, but they have a vision of what oatmeal should really taste like,” Jamba’s CEO says. Both it and Starbucks sell oatmeal with healthy toppings like fruit as they angle to corner the breakfast market—one of the only successful areas in the flagging restaurant industry. (More business stories.)