Raleigh is going to get its only all-day ‘exotic cereal bar.’ Here’s what that means
It’s not that we outgrow cereal, Briana McGahee said, but sometimes our lives do. A commute isn’t usually meant for a bowl of sloshing milk and eating with a spoon.
“It’s not that grab and go thing,” McGahee said of cereal. “You have to sit down and enjoy that bowl. There’s no cereal drive thru.”
McGahee intends to make some space for cereal lovers, launching Day & Night Exotic Cereal Bar, which will open as the Triangle’s only cereal bar.
“It’s a specialty restaurant for people who love cereal,” she said.
McGahee hopes Day & Night will open soon, but she’s still finalizing a location.
The menu at Day & Night plays like a cocktail list, but there’s no booze. The bar will specialize in cereal milkshakes meant for any time of day, or bowls of cereal blends and mashups. Options include the Marty McFly with Apple Jacks, Froot Loops and gummy bears, or the Scooby Snacks, which includes Cinnamon Toast Crunch, graham crackers, bits of Oreo and drizzles of peanut butter and chocolate.
Build your own bowl
There are 12 house blends of cereal, plus the option to build your own bowl. Drinks include hot and iced coffees and a Cinnamon Toast Latte made with cereal milk.
The exotic part of the Day & Night name comes from the cereal offerings themselves, McGahee said. The boxes on the menu won’t be the ones usually available on the grocery store shelves, but will instead include limited editions tied to TV shows and movies or one-off specials and discontinued favorites.
Look for red, white and blue Cap’n Crunch, Star Wars Pops, S’Mores cereal, Sour Patch Fruit Loops, Butterscotch Cinnamon Toast Crunch and others.
McGahee said the bar has a wholesaler source that can secure the hard-to-find cereal. And the menu will always have some surprises.
McGahee said she first discovered Day & Night on Instagram and drove to Charlotte with her daughter to check it out.
“Her eyes lit up,” McGahee said about a Lucky Charms shake. “I knew I wanted to bring this back to Raleigh,”
Day & Night was started in 2020 as a food truck in Los Angeles by founder Karmon Dupree Jr. According to the company’s website the location in Raleigh will be the Fourth Day & Night, including one in Charlotte.
Though Day & Night will open as the Triangle’s only cereal bar, but it won’t be the first ever. About 14 years ago, Cereal Bowl opened on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, near the N.C. State campus, according to reporting in the student newspaper The Technician. It closed within six months.
‘Something new and different’
McGahee believes there’s a shift in the Triangle to a tech center, pointing to incoming offices for Apple and Google. She sees the bar as a place to meet in the morning and day and a date night spot in the evening.
“I wanted to bring something new and different to Raleigh,” McGahee said. “It’s not every day you run into an exotic cereal bar.”
At 28, this is McGahee’s first business, following previous office jobs. She said she’s taking a chance on something fun and hoping to inspire the younger people in her family.
“The inspiration came from my daughter and nieces and nephews,” McGahee said. “Fads come and go, but I hope they pursue every dream they set out to.
“Community is number one,” McGahee said. “Raleigh is growing and it’s a great time to bring in other businesses. This is me doing my part.”
