Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - October 2011 - (Page 18)

Grain-based Foods will help the company reach its penetration goals in the markets served by Tasty. Innovation returns in cereal While reformulation and health and wellness took center stage within the readyto-eat cereal category in late 2009 and much of 2010, that focus continued in 2011 along with a shifted back toward a more traditional growth driver: innovation. In the 52 weeks ended Aug. 7, dollar sales in the R.-T.-E. cereal category totaled $6,433,376,000, down a shade less than 1% from the same period a year ago, according to SymphonyIRI. Unit sales fell 2% to 2,150,007,000. Despite the yearover-year declines many R.-T.-E. cereal manufacturers are optimistic that new products will get the category back on track. Pacing the effort was the Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, Mich., who generated dollar and unit sales gains behind successful product launches such as Crunchy Nut, FiberPlus Caramel Pecan Crunch and Rice Krispies Gluten Free. Rice Krispies Gluten Free cereal, which was launched in June, quickly became one of Kellogg’s best-selling products on Amazon.com. The cereal eliminates barley malt (the source of gluten in the original Rice Krispies cereal) and is made with whole grain brown rice to differentiate it from the original and for flavor. At Minneapolis-based General Mills, Inc., dollar and unit sales eased in the 52 weeks ended Aug. 7, but as fiscal 2012 gets under way, company executives are optimistic that Leading ready-to-eat cereal unit sales by brand 102,095,300 97,575,360 93,715,220 87,689,190 69,483,470 65,908,450 Honey Nut Cheerios Honey Bunches of Oats Cheerios Frosted Flakes Frosted Mini-Wheats Cinnamon Toast Crunch Froot Loops 57,883,760 Lucky Charms Rice Krispies Source: SymphonyIRI 48,363,880 39,640,260 Private label 278,812,700 improving category trends that began in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 will continue. “First-quarter sales for our cereal business grew 2% in measured channels,” Ian Friendly, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of U.S. Retail at General Mills, said during a Sept. 21 conference call with financial analysts. “Our new items — Fiber One 80 Calorie Squares, Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch and Cascadian Farm French Vanilla Almond Granola — are all off to a great start. And we continue to see incremental sales from Cinnamon Burst Cheerios, which launched in January. “We had strong performance on established brands as well. Honey Nut Cheerios is America’s best selling cereal. We featured this message in new advertising driving retail sales for this brand up 5% in the quarter. The gluten-free benefits of our Chex line of cereals continued to resonate with consumers. Quarterly dollar sales of this franchise were terrific, up 29%. And targeted Hispanic messaging drove strong growth for Cinnamon Toast Crunch with retail sales up 8% in the quarter. “The cereal category responds to innovation and product news, so we like the chances for good category sales growth in 2012 and with continued product news on many of our established cereal brands, plus bigger and better new product introductions coming in the second half, we are expecting our cereal business to show good sales growth, too.” Dollar and unit sales were down 10% and 16%, respectively, at the Post cereal business of Ralcorp Holdings, Inc., St. Louis, the nation’s third-largest branded R.-T.-E. cereal maker, in the 52-week period, but more LEADING READY-TO-EAT cereal vendors Dollar sales $2,164,602,000 $1,971,450,000 $734,019,400 $411,170,000 $241,476,800 $49,944,430 $40,250,970 $38,885,170 $17,341,220 $644,830,800 $6,433,376,000 LEADING READY-TO-EAT % change from year ago 1.9% -1.4% -9.8% -1.7% 8.0% 18.3% 1.6% 3.9% -16.2% -2.8% -1.0% cereal brands Dollar sales $336,363,200 $302,135,500 $287,914,800 $252,286,900 $218,291,700 $197,846,500 $151,602,200 $149,100,100 $119,029,100 $644,830,800 $6,433,376,000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Kellogg Co. General Mills, Inc. Post Quaker Oats Co. Malt-O-Meal Co. Small Planet Foods Nature’s Path Foods, Inc. Bear Naked, Inc. Barbara’s Bakery Private label Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Honey Nut Cheerios Honey Bunches of Oats Cheerios Frosted Flakes Frosted Mini-Wheats Cinnamon Toast Crunch Froot Loops Lucky Charms Rice Krispies Private label Total % change from year ago 1.1% -5.0% 1.5% 4.3% -2.4% 6.6% 5.2% -2.1% -9.7% -2.8% -1.0% Data for 52 weeks ended Aug. 7, 2011 Total U.S. - Supermarkets, Drugstores and Mass Merchandisers excluding Wal-Mart Source: SymphonyIRI 18 \ October 2011 Milling & Baking News • Food Business News • Baking & Snack • Meat & Poultry Corporate Proﬁles http://www.Amazon.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - October 2011

Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - October 2011