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Various Brands
Discontinued: 2017
Mars Inc. launched Kudos bars in 1986 as fake health food. The bars looked healthy with granola pieces, but tasted like candy with chocolate coatings. Mars made three original flavors: nutty fudge, peanut butter, and chocolate chip. Later versions stuffed in M&Ms and Snickers pieces. Parents bought them, thinking they fed the kids something nutritious. They didn't. Mars tried reducing the amount of chocolate in 2011 to seem healthier. Sales still dropped. The company discontinued the snack in 2017.
Discontinued: 2013
Kraft created MilkBites in 2012 to fix dry granola bars. The bars mixed granola with solid milk pieces for calcium and moisture. Five flavors beat most competitors' two or three options. But the milk spoiled without refrigeration. Kids couldn't pack them for school. Moms couldn't toss them in their purses. Kraft pulled MilkBites after one failed year.
Discontinued: 2008
Skippy waited until 2005 to make granola bars. Their Trail Mix Bars combined peanut butter with trail mix pieces in two flavors: Triple Nut and Nutty S'Mores. The S'Mores version loaded chocolate chips, marshmallows, and graham crackers into each bite. Reviewers called them bland with a weak smell. The S'Mores looked like candy bars dressed as health food. Skippy quit after three years.
Discontinued: 2017
General Mills added yogurt to fix their dry, crumbly bars. The strawberry yogurt version brought calcium and moisture. But the bars never excited anyone. The flavor stayed boring compared to Nature Valley hits. General Mills quietly dropped them in 2017.
Discontinued: Early 2010s
CLIF Bar nailed carrot cake flavor in the late 2000s. The bars tasted like real cake with a perfect chewy texture. Customers loved them. CLIF Bar killed them anyway, along with Peanut Toffee Buzz and Iced Gingerbread flavors. The company regularly axes popular flavors based on sales numbers alone.
Discontinued: Late 1980s
General Mills created round cluster bars in 1980. Compressed granola clusters made unique shapes unlike rectangular competitors. Caramel and apple cinnamon flavors were packed with raisins and chocolate chips. The texture hit the perfect balance that most granola bars missed. Kids who ate them still remember them fondly. Nature Valley dropped clusters when rectangular bars took over.
Discontinued: Late 1980s
General Mills panicked in the mid-1980s when Quaker grabbed market share. Their answer was Dandy Bars. These were granola bars that were basically candy. Milk chocolate-coated caramel centers in four flavors: peanut butter, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and chocolate almond. Each bar was stuffed with chocolate chips and nuts. Dandy Bars flopped. But General Mills stuck with Nature Valley in other forms.
Discontinued: Within one year (early 1990s)
Betty Crocker sandwiched fruit paste between oat layers for soft texture lovers. Three flavors: blueberry, strawberry, and apple. People who tried them loved them and remember them decades later. Betty Crocker calculated that manufacturing costs exceeded profits and killed them within a year.
Discontinued: September 2023
Quaker aimed these chocolate-based bars at kids with playful llama branding. Oat clusters and candy-coated chocolate chips topped each bar. Quaker ended production in September 2023 for business reasons. Months later, the FDA recalled remaining bars for possible Salmonella contamination. Bad timing made a short-lived product look dangerous.
Discontinued: 2009
Caribou Coffee partnered with General Mills in 2006 for caffeinated granola bars. Four coffee shop flavors: Chocolate Mocha, Vanilla Latte, Mint Condition, and Caramel High Rise. Coffee lovers developed cult followings and praised the real energy boost. The bars stayed niche. Caribou dropped them in 2009. Disappointed customers still beg for their return online.
Discontinued: 2022
Kashi made grown-up granola bars with sophisticated flavors: cherry dark chocolate, dark mocha almond, and dark chocolate with almond and sea salt. More fiber and whole grains than mainstream bars. Complex taste profiles instead of basic caramel and peanut butter. Kashi announced on Twitter in 2022 that business decisions killed the line.
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