ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Over the last seven years, one Asheville business has been snap, crackle, popping: Chill Cereal Bar, a cereal catering service founded by mother-and-son duo Patricia Waters and Elijah Cox.
Chill Cereal Bar launched on March 7, seven years ago tomorrow, for National Cereal Day and has continued to grow ever since. The caterer delivers an array of cereal, milk and toppings to all manner of events, served with a helping of nostalgia for the Saturday mornings of our childhood.
“It bring back their childhood. Saturday mornings eating cereal. That’s what we trying to do,” Waters said. “If we do corporate events, they’ll be like, oh, this is so unique, not bagels, not donuts, not biscuits. It’s cereal.”
When Chill Cereal Bar is hired for an event, their clients pick the cereal, milk and toppings they want the caterer to bring. With nine types of milk, 13 kinds of toppings and over 40 boxes of cereal to choose from, the options are virtually endless.
Waters said that while she brought the vision of Chill Cereal Bar to life, it was her son, Elijah, who came to her with the idea.
“My son, Elijah Cox, came up with the idea when he was 13 years old,” Waters said. “One day, we was at home, he was like, ‘Can we bring down all the cereals?’ I was like, ‘Yeah. I don’t care.’ He was like, ‘Mama, we should start a cereal bar.’ I’m like, oh my gosh. It’s just like a light bulb moment. I’m like, 0h my gosh, we should.”
Waters jumped into research that could make Elijah’s idea a reality, working with Mountain BizWorks to develop a business plan.
“When Mountain BizWorks heard the idea, their believing in me made us believe in it more,” Waters said. “I would never think I would start a cereal bar because I’m more into fashion shoes, but I’m like, 0h my gosh, it’s so different. You know? I’m like, yeah, we should. Why not try?”
The journey for Chill Cereal Bar hasn’t always been easy. In 2020, just days after the business had a ribbon cutting at the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, Covid-19 struck. In 2024, as the two were looking at setting up operations in the River Arts District, Tropical Storm Helene flooded Western North Carolina. Rather than giving up, Waters has used the challenges they’ve faced as a teaching opportunity for Elijah.
“I’m showing him, like, just because something happened, what we’re gonna do? We’re not gonna give up. We gonna keep trying. If we don’t believe in us, nobody else gonna believe us, so keep going. I don’t care if it takes us eight or 10 years, we’re gonna make it,” Waters said.
Seven years after the idea for Chill Cereal Bar came to him as a kid, Elijah is now in his freshman year at the University of North Carolina Greensboro majoring in business and administration. Despite the distance, Waters said he is as involved in Chill Cereal Bar as ever.
“He still participate in Chill Cereal Bar. He still be on meetings with me,” Waters said. “ We partnered with The Hop. We have our own cereal ice cream, and Elijah came up with those ideas, that cereal ice cream. So he still participating, and he still act like he my boss. I just got off the phone with him before he went to class. I’m like, ‘We got a radio thing.’ ‘How did you get that? And when? What time?’ I’m like okay, I’m going!”
The partnership with The Hop is just one connection Chill Cereal Bar has built in the Asheville community. Waters is looking forward to forging even more. 2026, she says, will be best year for the business yet.
“This is our year,” Waters declared. “Our comeback year.”
For more information about Chill Cereal Bar, visit www.chillcerealbar.com, or follow Chill Cereal Bar on Instagram, @chillcerealbar.
