Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/480793
R ecent years have been tough on the freezer aisle. Sales have been down, driven largely by consumers' changing tastes, especially a millennial food culture that demands fresh, flavor-forward, and healthier profiles. Overall, frozen meal sales dropped 3 percent to $22.3 billion from 2009 through 2014, according to Packaged Facts. But sluggish sales among mass-market brands may be making room for specialty frozen foods, a fact supported by this year's State of the Industry report (p. 73), which shows specialty frozen lunch and dinner entrees growing 18.7 percent between 2012 and 2014, versus a 3.3 percent drop for mainstream varieties. While some legacy brands are taking time to re- engineer their ingredient panel, newer brands are gaining traction by differentiat- ing themselves with a fresh look, clean ingredients, and enticing f lavors. "The softening of conventional frozen department categories has opened up shelf space for emerging specialty, organic, and natural brands," says Scott P. Silverman, vice president of consumer insights and growth solutions at KeHE, a national distributor. "As time-starved Americans continue to change their rela- tionship with food and agriculture, innovative brands are satisfying our needs with better-for-you options." Poised for a comeback, frozen is giving retailers and consumers a reason to get excited about the freezer aisle. "In the past, frozen foods were viewed as one of those products you used when you couldn't do any better yourself," says Amelia Rappaport, grocery buyer at Woodstock Farmers' Market in Woodstock, Vt. "It was a quick, convenient, fairly cheap way to feed yourself and there were no surprises." After struggling for years, specialty frozen foods are repositioning with ethnic flavors, innovative suppliers, and clean ingredients. BY NICOLE POTENZA DENIS FROZEN What's Fresh in PHOTOS: MARK FERRI; FOOD STYLING: LESLIE ORLANDINI; PROPS STYLING: FRANCINE MATALON-DEGNI SPRING 2015 41