On Thursday, I wrote about a new Kraft product called the Bagel-Ful. It’s one of those “products of convenience” that no one realizes they need until someone starts advertising it to them. However, the uniqueness of the idea has definitely attracted some attention in the blogosphere, with both Serious Eats and Gothamist picking up the story.But perhaps this idea isn’t as unique as we originally thought? In the comments over at Gothamist, one individual points out a product called Bagel-ers, which upon closer examination, seems to be remarkably similar to the proposed Bagel-Ful.
Granted these Bagel-ers are not round, but rather in bar form. However, the concept and name are virtually identical to the proposed Bagel-Ful’s from Kraft (note: while there is no specific evidence of what shape the Kraft Bagel-Ful will take, there is also no indication so far that it will be anything but a normal bagel shape). Update: it appears that the product will be a bagel stick, not a full bagel, and is intended to be microwaved.
So are Bagel-ers popular? Is this an instance of Kraft trying to piggyback off of, or improve upon, the success of an existing product? Or did they have no idea this competing product existed? One would imagine the product development folks at Kraft had to have been aware of the existence of this competing product, so maybe they just think there is even more frozen bagels filled with cream cheese market share to go around?
16 responses so far ↓
1 DCBlogs // Feb 25, 2008 at 5:00 pm
[...] Kraft Bagel-Ful Not So Unique After All? [...]
2 Robyn // Feb 25, 2008 at 9:49 pm
OH MY GOD, WHY?!?!?!?! NOOOOO
(shields eyes)
3 A Brief History of the Cream Cheese Filled Bagel | So Good // Feb 26, 2008 at 10:36 am
[...] ← Kraft Bagel-Ful Not So Unique? [...]
4 Kraft Bagel-fuls: A First Look | So Good // Mar 6, 2008 at 1:59 pm
[...] but the packaging and product design appear similar to the Bagel-ers product that I have previously written about, so perhaps that is the company they have partnered with? I have nothing to confirm or deny this, [...]
5 Kraft Bagel-fuls: A First Look (://URLFAN) // Mar 24, 2008 at 11:47 pm
[...] but the packaging and product design appear similar to the Bagel-ers product that I have previously written about, so perhaps that is the company they have partnered with? I have nothing to confirm or deny this, [...]
6 Mozelle // Apr 17, 2008 at 10:16 am
How can I get a coupon for Bagelfuls?
7 Amy N-B // Apr 17, 2008 at 10:42 am
I actually tried this product this morning. They were on sale in my grocery store for $1.99 and i had a $1 coupon (from my newspaper), so 4 bagelers for $1, why not?
Mine had cream cheese with chives and it was tasty and at 200 calories, it sure beat my usual crusty bagel and schmear. Weird, yes. Tasty, kinda.
8 Young, Professional and Bored: New Product Alert 2!! // Jun 18, 2008 at 8:28 pm
[...] 30-60 minutes, instead of taking that 30 seconds to spread on the cream cheese yourself. Perfect. http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/02/25/kraft-bagel-ful-not-so-unique-after-all/ Posted by YPandBored at 9:31 PM Labels: New [...]
9 Bagel-ful Coupon - Dogpile Web Search // Jul 20, 2008 at 8:03 am
[...] orders over $25 ship free Sponsored by: Amazon.com/ • Found on Ads by Google Kraft Bagel-Ful: Not So Unique After All? | So Good Kraft’s new cream cheese filled Bagel-Ful is remarkably similar to a product … They were on sale [...]
10 Carrie // Jul 25, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I tried the cinnamon Bagel-ful and it was pretty good I heated it from frozen for about 20 seconds and there was a tasty bagel to snack on
11 I Am Tired of Spreading Cream Cheese on a Bagel for Myself | Serious Eats // Aug 21, 2008 at 11:03 am
[...] follows up with Bagelers, bagel and cream cheese bars. [...]
12 Serious Eats: Mobile: Serious Eats: I Am Tired of Spreading Cream Cheese on a Bagel for Myself // Aug 29, 2008 at 10:54 am
[...] follows up with Bagelers, bagel and cream cheese bars. [...]
13 anoymous // Oct 14, 2008 at 3:30 pm
it’s not a rip-off if it’s the same owner working with Kraft. has no one heard of licensing?
read the Wall Street Journal article below:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122347725523015411.html
14 Eick // Oct 14, 2008 at 4:35 pm
In my follow-up coverage I did, in fact, note that Kraft had partnered with a smaller company in order to get this product to the market.
Because of confidentially, Kraft wasn’t able to tell me the company they had partnered with, but at the time I did note that my guess was they had partnered with the creator of Bagel-ers given the similarities in product and packaging design:
http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/03/06/kraft-bagel-fuls-a-first-look/
15 So Good's Top Stories of 2008 | So Good // Feb 25, 2009 at 3:04 pm
[...] then the story got more intriguing. I quickly identified a pre-filled bagel product that was already on the market, that sounded suspiciously similar to what [...]
16 Ma // Mar 7, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Looking for a coupon to buy the product.
Saw it advertised on TV today.
Thought this was the place to get a coupon but I don’t see where to click onto.
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