Creative
Bring Your Own Bowl (and Beyond)
My personal love of cereal combined to create a club, community, and culture
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Before BYOB
Cereal is part of who I am both figuratively and physically, because I've consumed it nearly every day since my teeth grew in.
Some of my earliest memories are at the table before school with a pen in one hand and spoon in the other, finding the hidden objects on the back of a box of Cap’n Crunch while munching down breakfast.
As I grew into a cereal-eating adult, I slowly began to realize that not only was eating cereal daily abnormal, but some find mixing cereals together a ridiculous practice. (Seriously, ridicule). Acceptance came in a way I never expected.
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From Nothing to Something
The first semester in college is a time some take to test drive a new personality, but my wombmate and I stayed true to our upbringing. Though miles away from parental purchasing decisions, we not only continued to buy boxes on boxes, but saved every one of them for a greater purpose yet to be decided.
Our public passion for cereal attracted the attention of three strangers in a neighboring freshman dorm who were beginning a casual club.
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From something personal to something public
Our stash of 70 cereal boxes of cereal became and end-of-year publicity stunt for the unofficial cereal club BYOB. Bring Your Own Bowl: where we provide the cereal, milk, and community and you do as the name suggests!
Little did we know then that our shared cereal interest would lead to our strongest friendships throughout college.
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From something public to something official
As we’ve grown up, the BYOB has too. When I joined the leadership in 2019, we were buying cereal with leftover dining plan dollars that our parents contributed to. The following year we were funding entirely out pocket along with some goodwill Venmos from fans of the cause and quickly realized that was unsustainable.
We wised up, jumped through the required hoops to register as an official campus club, and now have BYU pay for all the milk and cereal to thank us for building campus community.
With an open invite and promise of free cereal, attendance was growing to an average of 50 people ranging from close friends to distant acquaintances to complete strangers.
We'd promote our club simply through creating Instagram reels, providing something that everybody wants, and word of mouth.
Here are a couple of our favorite reels that have contributed to the growth of our club.
Beyond BYOB
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The demand grows, we supply more to meet it, friendships are formed and we continue to take joy in our creation. Like all the best creations, it's taken on its own culture and following. The future of BYOB is as limitless as a cereal aisle in the grocery store. Want to check it out?
Get yourself some cereal.
PS: When you do join… don’t be that buffoon who walks into Bring Your Own Bowl without a bowl. We can only spell it out so clearly, yet BYOB attracts all types.