Mahomes Magic Crunch is leaving store shelves soon

In an article published on Thursday, Kansas City Star columnist Pete Grathoff reported that Mahomes Magic Crunch will soon be leaving store shelves.

A project of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the cereal was first introduced last August. A portion of each sale benefited his charitable foundation, 15 and the Mahomies.

When it first appeared on store shelves, it was difficult to obtain. But as time passed, it wasn’t unusual to see large stacked displays of the cereal at local Hy-Vee stores.

But according to Public Label Brands Sports, Inc. — the firm that produced the cereal for the grocery chain — the days of scarcity are returning.

“If you want a Mahomes box, I’d go get it right now because we are absolutely a thousand percent not doing more of those,” PLBS owner Ty Ballou told Grathoff. “Hopefully, the people who want it have one, but if you want to add one to your collection, I would go out in the next week.”

You might want to make some calls first. Ballou said that just 16 of 35 Kansas City Hy-Vee stores still carry the cereal — and before Thursday, only about 5,000 boxes remained in stock.

But Grathoff said that despite the product’s short shelf life, it has been a success, selling more than 310,000 boxes and raising over $100,000 for Mahomes’ foundation.

That’s way short of the 3.5 million boxes of Flutie Flakes that have been sold since 1998, which raised money for Doug Flutie’s foundation. But in yet another statistical category, Mahomes edged out Kurt Warner.

“[Mahomes Magic Crunch] inched over Kurt Warner, which was in Hy-Vee and Schnucks stores,” Ballou said. “That was the No. 2 seller and was out a full year — and was in the state of Iowa (where he grew up) and we had all of the St. Louis market when he played with the Rams. Patrick’s cereal was out an exponentially shorter time frame — and in a much, much smaller radius.”

Ballou told Grathoff they are aware that most people who purchase it don’t eat their Mahomes Magic Crunch.

“I can’t quantify it, but our estimate is at least half the boxes that have been sold have never been opened,” Ballou said. “They’re in their office, their dens or in their homes. These are collectibles, so we hope to create another cool collectible for fans.”

But whether you want it for your collection or your stomach, now is the time to act.