Cup Noodles doubles down on breakfast flavors, releases Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese LTO

The Everything Bagel flavor is the third flavor in Cup Noodles’ recent limited-time offering (LTO) strategy, which also saw the release of a Pumpkin Spice Ramen flavor, Priscila Stanton, senior VP of marketing for Cup Noodles' parent company Nissin, told FoodNavigator-USA.

When it came to creating this new LTO flavor, Cup Noodles relied on its “world-class R&D team” and trend-tracking capabilities, which increasingly showed that consumers are willing to customize and try new ramen flavors, she said. The company found that consumers were seeking everything bagel-flavored products in a range of categories, and the flavor was  “a perfect fit,” with the sesame, caraway, and sesame seeds; garlic; and dried onion mixing well with the noodles, she noted.

“We already know that consumers are constantly customizing their ramen, and they are adding so many new things and creating all these hacks for elevating their ramen. And so, this was a trend that we had already seen consumers doing, and frankly, everything bagel seasoning is everywhere. It's exploding. Consumers are putting it on everything, including pizza, ... but we are also seeing a proliferation of products that have that seasoning in it.”

The Everything Bagel flavor​ is currently available exclusively at Walmart stores for an SRP of $1.18, alongside the return of the Cup Noodles Breakfast LTO.

Cup Noodles changes packaging, releases PSA to clarify cooking instructions

In addition to releasing several new products last year, Cup Noodles also made a change to its packaging, moving from a polystyrene to a paper cup for its products, Stanton said. The packaging change was aligned with Cup Noodles’ Earth Food Challenge 2030, which aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Beyond the sustainability aspect, the change in packaging makes cooking Cup Noodles ramen easier for consumers, Stanton said. 

“We [want] consumers to have an even more convenient option when they are thinking about ramen, and so being able to microwave the cup is a huge benefit for consumers. And so, we were excited to really bring this new benefit to our consumer base.”

Despite previous cooking instructions on Cup Noodles to not microwave the product in the container, many consumers were already microwaving the polystyrene version, so after hearing some feedback, Nissin rolled out a marketing campaign to clarify the instructions​. 

The PSA-style commercial featured actor and comedian Craig Robinson, an actor from the TV show The Office, discussing the new way to cook Cup Noodles ramen. The campaign also encouraged consumers to share their #PaperCupConfessions on social media.

"The PSA that we created was almost admitting that some people were already [microwaving Cup Noodles], and that was okay. But now, you really can do it. So, there was a little bit of education that had to happen there, and we made it into a playful way to get consumers to understand the instructions but without making them feel bad about if they had microwaved it before," she said.