Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - October 2011 - (Page 26)

Prepared Foods Frozen meals Category stalls, but ethnic flavors and meal components provide growth opportunity hile sales growth in frozen meals has been flat or even declined in recent years, ethnic flavors may provide an opportunity for growth. In the future, there may be more of a focus on meal components and refrigerated meals as opposed to frozen meals, said David Browne, senior analyst with Mintel. “A lot of consumers are still eating at home more than they would like,” Mr. Browne said. “They may be working a couple of jobs, so they have less time to make meals. So frozen meals stand to really serve a good function for these consumers, but (consumers) are also burned out on everything they have been eating. So having a real diversity of food choices — including flavors and ethnicallyinfused flavors in particular — is key.” Healthier formulations of products are still one of the biggest trends driving frozen meals, so for many manufacturers, lowsodium and low-fat products are still in demand. Yet companies are often reducing W sodium without marketing their efforts. Even though companies might not always be advertising sodium reduction, Mr. Browne said the efforts are still of value as some consumers will do more research on the topic. Additionally, such efforts help a company’s standing on sodium reduction from industry and regulatory perspective. Mr. Browne said while companies aren’t making a big deal out of sodium reduction, they are going out of their way to label products as free of high-fructose corn syrup. So the approach a manufacturer takes toward different ingredients varies greatly. In terms of a consumer base, Mr. Browne said there is a market for more authentic ethnic frozen meals. He said this trend toward ethnic foods also includes regional foods from within the United States. “The opportunities over the next 5 to 10 years are going to focus on creating innovations that appeal to the Hispanic and Asian populations,” Mr. Browne Leading single-serve frozen dinner/entree unit sales by brand Banquet Stouffer’s Weight Watchers Smart Ones 266,833,800 171,605,800 131,933,100 Marie Callender’s 86,139,750 Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine Cafe Cuisine 72,578,270 Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine Simple Favorites 54,996,930 Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers 53,640,870 Healthy Choice 47,167,500 Hungry-Man 46,866,580 Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine 45,394,880 One Dish Favorite Source: SymphonyIRI said. “Along those lines, th A the American i consumer is increasingly interested in ethnic food anyway.” He said in the future there will be more endorsements from celebrity chefs and co-branding with restaurants in frozen meals. dinner/entree vendors 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Nestle USA, Inc. ConAgra Foods, Inc. Heinz Frozen Food Bellisio Foods Pinnacle Foods Corp. Amy’s Kitchen, Inc. Kellogg Co. Discovery Foods Birds Eye Foods, Inc. Private label Total Dollar sales $1,217,288,000 $1,052,746,000 $462,288,500 $168,325,900 $155,932,000 $107,782,200 $44,271,850 $28,072,950 $19,311,620 $59,115,550 $3,459,463,000 LEADING SINGLE-SERVE FROZEN % change from year ago -2.0% -2.1% -2.3% 1.5% 2.3% 15.2% -0.5% 18.2% 108.2% -21.3% -1.5% dinner/entree brands 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dollar sales Stouffer’s $441,301,100 Weight Watchers Smart Ones $280,480,100 Banquet $265,933,400 Marie Callender’s $224,805,100 Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine Cafe Cuisine $180,499,400 Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers $144,213,800 Hungry-Man $132,354,300 Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine Simple Favorites $121,528,100 Healthy Choice $105,100,900 Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine One Dish Favorite $101,085,200 Total $3,459,463,000 LEADING SINGLE-SERVE FROZEN % change from year ago -1.2% 6.0% -4.3% 5.6% 598.9% 0.6% 9.5% 1,210.9% 101.4% -53.9% -1.5% Data for 52 weeks ended Aug. 7, 2011 Total U.S. - Supermarkets, Drugstores and Mass Merchandisers excluding Wal-Mart Source: SymphonyIRI 26 \ October 2011 Milling & Baking News • Food Business News • Baking & Snack • Meat & Poultry Corporate Proﬁles

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

Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - October 2011