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Gronk Flakes hitting New England shelves

If you don't want to start your day with Wheaties, maybe you want a bowl full of Gronk.

Gronk Flakes, a frosted corn flakes cereal endorsed by New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, is hitting Stop & Shop supermarkets in the New England area this week.

"His dad Gordy came to us about a year and a half ago, wanting to do all three Gronkowski boys on a product," said Ty Ballou, president and CEO of PLB Sports, which has made a business out of selling athlete-endorsed food products. "But we really just focus on selling in one area, so we couldn't figure out how to do it. When Rob emerged in the way he did, things changed."

Ballou said the company's first run will be 64,800 boxes at $3.99 each, but he has high hopes for Gronkowski's marketability.

The company recently sold 155,000 boxes of Justin Verlander's Fastball Flakes in the Detroit area. Ballou said Gronkowski's cereal, which benefits the Gronk Nation Youth Foundation, should sell more.

The record for a PLB Sports product? Ballou's company sold 2.5 million boxes of Flutie Flakes from 1998 to 2001.

Despite his carefree and sometimes controversial partying ways, Gronkowski has endeared himself with many.

He has 328,000 followers on Twitter and recently signed endorsement deals with Dunkin' Donuts and BodyArmor Superdrink.