fd buyer april 2011

8/7/2019 FD Buyer April 2011

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BETTY BUYERTWEETS

WITHSAMMY SELLER

PAGE 20

BILLHENDRICKSEN

& ROUNDTABLEON LOGISTICS

TECHPAGE 60

LINDA BEAN(OF LL BEAN)

GETS INTO THELOBSTER BIZ

PAGE 66

PETER PENGUINWITH THE

DATABANKPAGES 10 & 18

DENISELEATHERS

IS PROMOTED!PAGE 8

APRIL 2011LOGISTICS SNACKS ICE CREAM BREAKFASTS PIZZA

.

WHOLE FOODS:RETAILER

OF THE YEARWhy it succeeds so well.


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To learn more, visit on-cor.com


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Exclusive partnership withEvery Day with Rachael Ray

Inspiring, unique and helpful tips, tools andspecial offers at the new on-cor.com

Quality ingredients create timeless, wholesomefrozen family size entres everyone can agree on.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

L.L. BEAN SELLS LOBSTERS!Okay, so we mean Linda Lorraine Bean, but that other L.L.Bean happened to be her grandfather. Heres a look at someof Lindas memories, and her hopes for the future.

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10-11& 18-19

T H E D AT A B A N K

C A T E G O R Y S P O T L I G H T S

G E T T I N G P E R S O N A L

T H E F R O N T E N D

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L O G I S T I C S

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WHY WHOLE FOODS ISOUR RETAILER OF THE YEARWell, there are more reasons than you can shake a stick at.Heres what a cross section of competitors, vendors andconsultants have to say.

C O V E R S T O R Y

SymphonyIRI Groups latest data, courtesyof Peter Penguin and Bessie Bovine.

Out Warrens WaySTREAM OF UNCONSCIOUSNESSRandom thoughts and notes takenwhile attending the SymphonyIRIGroup Summit in Miami last month.

Who Said That?When Does POS Become Clutter?

And, Denise Is Promoted!

New ProductsTwo pages of unique, delicious items sureto sell like hotcakes! Please dont chargethem slotting!

BETTY BUYERBetty Buyer & Sammy Seller Tweettheir usual love story.

SNACKS & APPIES BOUNCE BACKIts been a soft year for the category, but the most recent data shows an uptick.

HEALTHY INDULGENCE DRIVES ICE CREAM $$$Brands outpace private label in both ice cream and novelties. Portion-controlsizes gain momentum.

FROZEN BREAKFASTS GAIN 10.4%Double-digit gains in wafes and handhelds heat up category.

DELIVERY CHILLS FROZEN PIZZAUsing cross-promotions, meal deals and a slew of unique new items, manufacturershope to win back consumers drawn in by rock-bottom prices for delivery.

EXCEPTION REPORT: FROZEN SWEET GOODSFrom time to time, we take a look at brands doing particularly well when the

category as a whole is down.

TECHNOLOGY SPEEDS GAINS IN LOGISTICSRapidly advancing technology is helping logistics providersbecome ever-more efcient. Heres a look at how leading-edge companies are putting it to good use.

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6/506 www.fdbuyer.com APRIL 2011

Warren Tayer, [email protected]

OUT WARRENS WAY

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 8

Warren ThayerEditor, Managing [email protected]

603-252-0507Paul ChapaSales Director, Managing [email protected]

Tommy HowellAssociate [email protected]

Joan WeinbergerAdvertising [email protected]

Randy SzarzynskiArt [email protected]

Jordan BeckleyWebmaster/[email protected]

Denise LeathersExecutive [email protected]

Contributing Editors:Len Lewis, Dan Raftery, Randal Con-

stant, Mike Friedman, Morgan Littleand Betty Buyer.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Dan Raftery,Raftery Resource Network

Todd Hale, The Nielsen Company

Bob Anderson, former vp ofprivate label, Wal-Mart

Dr. Brian Harris,The Partnering Group

Skip Shaw,

National Frozen & RefrigeratedFoods Association

Thom Blischok,SymphonyIRI GroupCelebrity Chef Rick Tarantino

Published by CT Media Partners,Postmaster: Send address changes toCT Media Partners, 11472 S. Wilder St.,Olathe, KS 66061

STREAM OFUNCONSCIOUSNESSRandom thoughts and notes takenwhile attending the SymphonyIRI

Group Summit in Miami lastmonth.

Cant believe I suckered IRIinto letting me come tothis conference

again as press. Whydoes everyone look soyoung? Cops beganlooking young yearsago, but now categorymanagers and execvps?

Club store growthwill slow from todays5%-6% down to 1%.Supers wont do great.Dollar and drug are do-ing best. Loyalty cards work okay if

youre Kroger and put a lot of eortinto it, but most of us dont knowmuch about our shoppers.

Did I turn my cell phone o?Promo spending hasnt paid

o; we oughta be spending more

on building brand value, and lesson deep discounts, which arentproductive. Teres a disconnectbetween FSIs, Catalina, and in-storemerchandising. It all seems kindarandom, with duplicate spending.

Is that blueberry mun still inmy briefcase?

Shoppers, in a recent poll, said aprice increase would impact spend-ing, but their level of negativitywasnt much aected by whether

the increase was 5% or 15%. So, gofor it. Tere are an average of 360items in consumers pantries today,10% less than four years ago. Storeswith around 4,000 SKUs are doingwell now; you got too many SKUs?

Te camera that shows thespeaker also shows people in thefront row, up on this big screen.Wonder who that balding guy is, oto the left. Oh, my God

Only 1% of 150,000 new itemswind up doing $7.5 million a year.Shoppers care about productsthat improve their lives, that theirfamilies will love, that will save timeand provide good value. We launchtoo many SKUs. Better o adding25,000 new items, and maybe 10%or 15% will do $7.5 million.

Gosh, this guy is smart.Shoppers arent

responding toloyalty programs aswell anymore, cuztheyre just disguiseddiscounts nothinglike Amazons sug-gestions for you andall that. Got to breakdown the silos in ourorganizations andmake sure everyonetalks to each other.

Retailers and manufacturers have tocommunicate better.

THINGS DONT CHANGEGee, I wrote about that 30 years ago.Some things dont change.

Whoa! Some guy from Walmart

is saying that 52% of populationgrowth in the U.S. over the nextve years will be Hispanic. And thislady from Univision is saying thatone in four babies born in the U.S. isHispanic. Lots of similar data. Mes-sage: dont consider Hispanics as asegment, but as part of the overallconsumer basis; include them in

your marketing plan, dont just tackthem on at the end.

How can I write stories about

all this when I go to the printertomorrow? I know! Ill just blog it,in print.


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WHEN DOES POSBECOME CLUTTER?The topic on RetailWire(www.retailwire.com) recently wassignage, POS and in-store clutter.Here are a few of the comments wefound most interesting

What I think is needed is more focuson educating the shopper as to howproducts can be used to meet theshoppers needs (health concerns,recipes, preparation tips, etc.) andmore storytelling type messaging

to create connections. Not just thetypical shouts that occur in-aisle.David Zahn, owner,ZAHN Consulting

In-store advertising is amazing. Tey

build stores with wide aisles for easeof shopping and then ll the aisleup with displays that block accessto products on the shelf and impedethe ow of trac. Tey place elabo-rate signs on the displays but cannotkeep accurately priced signs on theshelves. Te American grocer is the

very worst oender and leads thepack when it comes to poor merchan-dising practices. Tis is due in mostpart by the fact that good marketing

and merchandising long ago gaveway to who will pay the most to beadvertised and displayed.Ed Dennis, president,Dennis Enterprises

Shoppers are NO moved by price.Mostly, they buy what comes conven-iently to hand. Te shoppers autopi-lot doesnt interrupt the shopper andsay, Oh, look! Heres something withthe price marked down. Shopping

is NO a highly cognitive process,and those of you who walk through astore, carefully evaluating, are prob-ably self-delusional. Te objectivefact is that you dont even understandhow you shop yourself. Te fact that

you are using a self-referential base

for understanding shoppers (nearlyeveryone does) is ridiculous to thosewho have actually, you know, MEAS-URED shopper behavior throughoutthe store. So...millions of shoppingtrips studied on a second by second

basis, wouldnt be of interest?Herb Sorensen, Ph.D., TNSGlobal Retail & Shopper Practice

Retailers ought to remain rmly incontrol of POP ads. Obviously, thestandards should vary by brand, andthere should be a maximum acceptedlevel given the brands standards.Within that, though, signicant POPought to be tested, with the mantrathat if you cant prove it works, it

shouldnt go in the store.Jonathan Marek,Applied Predictive Technologies

Sign work that is over the top getslost, messages make no sense aftera while and credibility even at timesbecomes in question if you cannotmake the backup for the claim stickin every situation. Make the messagemeaningful, timely and where youreally have the story to tell.

Charlie Moro, president,CFS Consulting Group

LEATHERS IS OUR

NEW EXEC EDITORDenise Leathers has been promotedfrom contributing editor to executiveeditor ofFrozen & Dairy Buyer. Te

veteran business journalist editedPrivate Label Buyer(thenPrivate La-bel News) for ve years and has sincewritten extensively for that magazine,as well as for Refrigerated & FrozenFoods Retailer, when it was editedby Warren Tayer, now the editor ofFrozen & Dairy Buyer.

Denise has a bachelors degree in

journalismfrom Penn

State and amasters inrhetoric andcommunica-tion from theUniversity ofVirginia. Shehas two chil-dren, ate (10)

and Shayne (8), and is an honest-to-goodness soccer mom. She ispreparing to run (OK, mostly walk)

her rst 5K in May and she loves to

play exas Hold Em.My favorite frozen food is

Stouers Lean Cuisine ChickenFlorentine Lasagna, which I hopethey never, ever discontinue. Imstill mourning the loss of Sara LeeChocolate Brownies a decade ago,she says.

Im thrilled to have Denise tak-ing on additional responsibilitiesat our magazine as it grows, notesTayer. Shes a diligent, hard-working and creative writer whohas already built a good following

within our industry.

DENISE LEATHERS

8 www.fdbuyer.com APRIL 2011

RETAILWIRE
http://www.retailwire.com/http://www.tnsglobal.com/_assets/files/TNS_Global_Market_Research_Case_Study_Boards_Store_layout.pdfhttp://www.tnsglobal.com/_assets/files/TNS_Global_Market_Research_Case_Study_Boards_Store_layout.pdfhttp://www.tnsglobal.com/_assets/files/TNS_Global_Market_Research_Case_Study_Boards_Store_layout.pdfhttp://www.tnsglobal.com/_assets/files/TNS_Global_Market_Research_Case_Study_Boards_Store_layout.pdfhttp://www.retailwire.com/


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Certied GFSI Manufacturervia the BRC Standard Audit

International WomensBusiness Enterprises Certied

Certied OrganicOrganic CerticationTrade Association

Category Colonels,

Excellence In Private LabePartnership Programs.


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11/50APRIL 2011 11www.fdbuyer.com

-3.3%Dollar loss by the dairy departmentslargest national brand, Tropicana PurePremium OJ. Despite its stumble and

a 2.5% loss by No. 2 private label, thesubcategory managed a 1.8% gain,thanks in part to No. 3 brand Simply

Orange (+20.1%).

8,000,000Estimated number of sparrows killedby Chinese citizens in 1958 and 59 atthe behest of Chairman Mao Zedong,

who believed they ate too much grain.Ironically, their near-eradication trig-

gered a dramatic increase in the locustpopulation, which led to widespread

destruction of crops and a famine thatkilled nearly 30 million.

40.3%Dollar gain by cream cheese-all otherforms (to $175,984), best by a subcat-egory not quite big enough to qualify

for our list. Top seller KaukaunaConnoisseur (+276.4%) gets most of

the credit.

-16.9%Dollar loss by refrigerated side dishes(to $19,643,230), thanks mostly to thedeparture of Shedds Country Crockcombined with private labels poorperformance. However, the potato

side dish subcategory, which includesmany of the same brands, saw its sales

jump 8.5% to $70,804,670.

10%Percentage of U.S. taxpayers who

wait until April 15 to le their federalincome tax return. (Not surpris-

ingly, most of them owe money.) Thisyear, however, theyll have an extra

three days, as the ling deadline wasmoved to April 18 to accommodate

Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C.

1.8%Dollar sales gain by the dairy depart-ments largest subcategory, refriger-ated skim/lowfat milk despite a2.2% decrease in unit sales linked torising retail prices. But No. 3 brand

Horizon Organic posted double-digitdollar and unit gains.

*Number is either not available, or very high, indicative o a recent launch working of a small base.

KEFIR/MILK SUBSTITUTES/SOYMILK $129,473,800 16.8 40,770,780 18.8 153,483,100 18.8Silk $43,718,380 (12.6) 13,109,110 (11.9) 52,985,930 (11.7)Blue Diamond Almond Breeze $18,065,140 204.0 5,814,871 213.2 23,399,850 215.1Silk Light $14,432,050 (8.7) 4,550,991 (8.6) 18,203,950 (8.1)Silk Pure Almond $13,723,430 1,139.2 4,527,617 1,191.5 18,110,470 1,191.5Private Label $12,431,870 (4.1) 4,591,915 (4.7) 18,172,940 (4.4)Lifeway $7,964,235 26.7 2,346,320 30.1 4,547,566 27.28th Continent $4,112,636 (15.1) 1,363,301 (14.6) 5,453,204 (14.6)Silk Plus $3,192,155 (21.8) 947,858 (19.3) 3,791,431 (19.3)

FLAVORED SPREADS $85,861,110 15.5 25,397,750 15.7 15,899,390 15.4Sabra $42,937,340 32.5 10,937,630 28.9 6,938,605 31.0Kraft $9,844,975 5.2 3,505,467 18.3 1,765,361 19.9 Tribe $9,566,675 4.6 3,137,703 7.3 1,908,974 8Cedars $6,214,023 (1.6) 1,865,616 3.8 1,296,864 (2.2)Private Label $5,910,723 15.5 2,637,347 12.1 1,916,186 9.5Garden Fresh $2,392,465 (4.7) 823,671 (4.1) 512,827 (3.9)Josephs $1,854,858 (11.6) 586,088 (10.4) 392,786 (12.3)Marzetti $750,543 (33.4) 226,887 (31.5) 155,985 (31.5)

APPETIZERS/SNACK ROLLS $98,164,590 14.3 15,126,050 10.3 8,798,388 9.1Southern Tsunami $41,777,830 0.1 6,313,161 (5.3) 3,839,135 (6.6)AFC $9,957,734 497.8 1,314,738 430.6 830,834 572.2Hissho Sushi $6,581,516 50.0 1,071,024 46.5 465,601 46.7Private Label $5,847,682 (2.8) 1,033,150 9.2 761,110 (1.5)

Kikka $5,068,051 8.8 832,578 8.4 324,809 8.7Japanese Food Express $4,461,253 56.9 694,380 51.7 354,277 64.8Fujisan $3,665,240 (3.8) 567,644 (3.4) 410,801 (5.9)Ace $2,483,118 (12.7) 395,184 (14.0) 189,219 (14.9)Okami $2,478,343 11.6 392,107 2.9 292,818 27.5Sushi Avenue $1,993,280 28.0 304,074 30.1 163,167 29.3

FRESH SOUP $37,267,660 13.9 9,378,304 16.4 12,074,340 17.4Private Label $34,136,880 13.1 8,565,263 15.6 11,220,930 16.5Harrys $615,129 174.1 157,095 148.8 162,859 174.4Legal Sea Food $380,362 35.1 57,565 38.7 71,956 38.7Bob Evans $338,946 (0.0) 115,089 (6.2) 86,317 (6.2)Soluppa $226,178 (11.2) 28,341 (12.8) 56,683 9.8Hanover $190,730 64.3 116,557 69.6 136,954 69.6Evolution $143,348 (9.2) 20,950 (12.3) 28,806 (12.3)

NATURAL CHEESE ALL OTHER FORMS $19,860,540 13.8 7,627,012 15.6 4,073,739 15.2

Private Label $11,195,820 25.1 5,922,826 21.5 3,042,241 20.4Kraft Snackables $2,235,877 (52.0) 507,236 (52.7) 285,320 (52.7)Emmi $1,601,348 50.9 142,337 54.6 119,406 57.5Kraft $1,521,724 * 357,073 * 200,853 *Kraft Cracker Barrel $546,604 * 167,081 * 104,426 *Gerber Swiss Knight $509,022 (12.4) 48,428 (16.3) 42,374 (16.3)Anoco $384,910 (16.2) 30,263 (16.7) 26,480 (16.7)Swissrose $339,534 (17.4) 39,977 (18.6) 34,980 (18.6)

BREAD $1,433,803 11.8 443,411 9.4 355,583 11.0Mrs. Olsons $480,741 4.9 126,876 (4.8) 93,143 (2.4)Freddys $171,786 16.2 40,595 12.4 33,582 14.0Countryside $137,028 16.5 56,806 18.9 21,408 18.5Lauras $117,035 14.4 38,773 18.8 24,233 18.8Nobrand $112,777 41.8 15,919 33.9 15,919 33.9Mestemacher $107,231 15.1 31,470 21.8 34,617 21.8Bakers Pride $91,838 10.5 65,294 12.3 81,617 12.3

MEAT SPREAD/SALAD $15,515,410 10.9 4,140,295 9.0 2,660,232 9.0Private Label $8,055,477 21.7 2,270,791 20.9 1,434,456 24.1Resers Fine Foods Inc $1,113,422 4.6 366,964 0.8 261,602 (0.6)Pates & Quiches $890,839 19.5 104,596 28.0 46,536 24.1B & H Foods $775,523 4.9 236,621 (4.5) 152,903 (5.0)Charterrie Tour Eiel $704,109 5.6 123,932 5.5 41,080 (0.5)Star Food $625,784 (2.5) 209,641 (10.5) 151,944 (5.9)Willow Tree $321,054 (5.6) 50,898 (10.9) 37,983 (11.2)Ballards Farm $294,783 (2.5) 94,805 (0.1) 71,103 (0.1)

PROCESSED/IMITATION CHEESE-SHREDDED $8,870,253 10.5 4,210,495 5.2 2,318,607 7.0Private Label $3,417,079 8.6 2,046,728 0.1 1,100,338 1.3Kraft Velveeta $1,869,635 9.9 746,506 7.1 373,253 7.1Galaxy Nutritional Foods Veggie $1,430,751 3.1 424,352 5.7 182,620 5.3Borden Ched-O-Mate $587,267 (2.4) 486,132 (0.1) 200,788 (0.5)Kraft $276,930 1,199.2 120,158 1,275.7 72,095 1,275.7American Accent $212,793 72.4 41,375 50.5 73,259 73.3Whitehall Specialties $210,796 5.2 42,811 8.7 85,621 8.7


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Our chefs create it. You brand it.

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NEW PRODUCTS


Raspberry LemonItalian IceLindys Home-made (www.lindyshomemade.com), Charlotte,

N.C., introducesa new raspberrylemon avor toits Italian ice line.

This new avor has a blend of red and black raspberrywith a hint of lemon. The products are fat free, low insodium, gluten free, and only 100 calories per cup. Thepackaging is made of recycled material that the com-pany is testing as a sustainable option. Each box has sixsingle-serve cups with six uid ounces.

Frozen MeatballsNorwood, Mass.-based Home

Market Foods (www.cookedper-fect.com) launches a collection offrozen meatballs ame-broiled tosear in natural avors and juices.Offered under the Cooked Per-fect sub-brand, the fully cooked0.5-ounce meatballs come inboth Homestyle and Four Cheeseavors. Homestyle meatballsare available in 16-ounce ($2.50SRP), 38-ounce ($5.99 SRP) and80-ounce ($10.99 SRP) packageswhile Four Cheese meatballscome in 24-ounce ($5.99 SRP) packages. The meatballscan be prepared in microwaves or conventional ovensor on the stove top.

Turkey BurgersButterball LLC(www.butterball.com), Garner,N.C., introducesgrill-ready Fro-zen Turkey Burg-ers designed to go

straight fromfreezer to ame no thawing or sea-

soning required. Offered under the ButterballEvery Day sub-brand, the bun-size burgerscontain 70% less fat than burgers made frombeef and two-thirds the recommended dailyallowance of protein. Each 24-ounce boxcontains six one-third pound patties packagedin resealable stay-fresh inner bags.

Super-Premium Thin-Crust PizzaBloomington, Minn.-based Schwans Con-sumer Brands (www.freschetta.com) adds anew super-premium sub-brand to its Fres-chetta frozen pizza lineup. Featuring large-cut

vegetables, distinctive sauces and blends of

meats and cheesesatop a thin, crispycrust, FreschettaSimply...Inspiredis offered in eightvarieties. Hawaiian

Style, Farmers Mar-ket Veggie, HarvestSupreme, South-ern BBQ Chicken,Rustic Pepperoni

Pomodoro and Clas-sic Bruschetta plus limited-edition Tuscan Farmhouseand Chicken Bianco. All come in the companys newFresch-Taste Seal packaging, which locks in avor whileeliminating the need for an outer cardboard carton.Ready in 12 to 14 minutes, each 11.5-inch pizza has three

to four servings. Suggested retail price is $6.79.

Recipe-Ready Frozen BeefWooster, Ohio-based Certied Angus Beef (www.certiedangusbeef.com) partners with Tyler, Texas-based John Soules Foods (www.johnsoulesfoods.com) to create the rst line of frozen productsoffered under the Certifed Angus Beef brand. Thefully cooked, recipe-ready collection includesCarne Asada, Flame-Broiled Steak Strips andThinly Sliced Beef Steaks, all of which are cookedon real ame broilers, not steam cookers. Thegluten- and MSG-free beef comesin resealable

16-ounce, ve-servingpackages that featurecooking instructionsand meal ideas. Sug-gested retail price is$8.75 per package.

Coconut MilkWhiteWave Foods(www.whitewave.com),Broomeld, Colo.,a subsidiary of Dean Foods, expands its dairy-free

Silk line with the introduction of Silk PureCoconut coconut milk. An excellent source

of vitamins D and B12, the plant-based al-ternative to dairy milk contains 50 percentmore calcium than cows milk. Producedwithout the use of GMO ingredients andveried by the Non-GMO Project, itsavailable in two lactose- and cholesterol-free avors, Original and Vanilla, whichcontain just 80 and 90 calories per serving,respectively. Suggested retail price is $3.39per half-gallon.

Got a new product you want featured?

Tell Warren Thayer, at [email protected]


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IDDBA SHOWIS JUNE 5-7

M

ore than 8,000 attendeeswill be visiting theInternational Dairy-Deli-

Bakery Associations (IDDBA)47th annual seminar and expo,Dairy-Deli-Bake 2011, June 5-7 inAnaheim, Calif., at the AnaheimConvention Center.

Te full-service Show of Showsseminar and expo for qualiedretail buyers and merchandisers fea-tures top speakers and 1,500 boothswith dairy, deli, bakery, cheese,foodservice products, packagingand services.

Speakers include: Dr. Condoleez-za Rice, Guy Fieri, Joe Montana,Captain Chesley Sully Sullen-berger, Dr. Lowell B. Catlett, HaroldLloyd, Marcus Buckingham, Sinbad,John Gerzema, Carol Christison,

Mark Rudy, and Jack Li.One of many popular features of

the show is Show and Sell, whichoers world-class merchandis-ing ideas and demonstrations withactionable ideas. For more info, call608-310-5000 or visit www.iddba.org.PROGRAMSUNDAY, JUNE 5

7:30-7:50 a.m., Non-denominational Worship Service

8:00-8:30 a.m., Innovations: Marketing Tips,

Technology Tricks, and Great Ideas (new research),

Jack Li

8:30-9:15 a.m., The Supermarket Department

Manager: What Makes Them Tick; What Turns Them

on?, Harold Lloyd

9:15-10:10 a.m., Making an Impact, Captain Chesley

Sully Sullenberger

10:10-10:30 a.m., Coffee Break

10:30-11:30 a.m., From Daytime to Primetime

A Food Passion, Guy Fieri

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Weighty Issues: The World of

Sinbad, Sinbad

12:30-5:30 p.m., Expo and the Show & Sell Center

Merchandising Pavilion Open

MONDAY, JUNE 6

8:00-8:20 a.m., Merchandising for Impact, Mark Rudy

8:20-9:20 a.m., Rock Star Food, Themes, & Trends,

Carol Christison

9:20-10:20 a.m., Remarks by Dr. Condoleezza Rice

10:20-10:40 a.m., Coffee Break

10:40-11:40 a.m., 2020: A Vision for Tomorrow,

Dr. Lowell Catlett

11:40 a.m. -12:30 p.m., Spend Shift: Brands and the

Post-Crisis Consumer, John Gerzema, author of Brand

Bubble and Spend Shift

12:30-5:30 p.m., Expo and the Show & Sell Center

Merchandising Pavilion Open

6:00-9:30 p.m., Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board

Sponsored Party

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

8:00-9:00 a.m., Great Leader or Great Manager: The

One Thing You Need to Know, Marcus Buckingham

9:00-10:00 a.m., Driving Performance Excellence: In

Sports, Business, & Life, Joe Montana

10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., expo and the Show & Sell

Center Merchandising Pavilion Open

6:00-10:00 p.m., Reception and Awards Banquet

(tickets required)

DELI CONSUMERSTUDY RELEASED

The International Dairy-Deli-BakeryAssociation (IDDBA),Madison, Wis., has released

a new deli benchmark study,Consumers in the Deli: Attitudes,

Buying Behavior, & Purchase Drivers.An update of the last study pub-

lished in 2004, it determines howmuch is actually a change in eatingbehavior or taste and how muchis inuenced by economic factors.

Additionally, to validate how theeconomy continues to aect consum-er attitudes, some questions from last

years New Value Shopper study wereasked again.

Te research identies threedistinct shopper clusters based on at-titudes and buying behavior. Qual-ity-Driven customers, those whoare more Convenience-Driven, andHealth-Conscious. Each cluster vis-its the deli for dierent reasons andthe study helps identify their unique

purchase drivers. Here are just a fewareas covered in the full report:Consumers and their pocketbooks:

price/value and price perceptions.Communication channels con-sumers use for meal planning, shop-ping, etc.Saving money preparing food athome, entertaining at home.Dietary concerns and how theyinuence food purchases.Fad or trend: retailers speak outon 12 food issues.Primary reasons for shoppingin-store service and self-service delis.Importance of 18deli services and char-acteristics.Buying more orless from supermar-ket delis than two

years ago.Where preparedfood is bought thatis eaten at homebut not preparedat home.

Te survey assessed demographicand economic data for 4,000 re-spondents and specic deli shopping

behavior and preference informationfrom 2,000 respondents. Te 2010 re-sponses were compared with studiesdone ve, ten, and fteen years ago.Purchase behavior data are brokenout by eating occasion and purchaseand consumption locations. Tereport analyzes consumption andpurchasing data for 39 products andincludes 143 tables.

Copies are $395 each for IDDBAmembers and $795 each for non-

members, plus shippingand handling. Forinfo on this andother studies, or to

order, call the IDDBAEducation Departmentat 608-310-5000 or visit

www.iddba.org.

The new report analyzesconsumption and purchas-ing data for 39 products andincludes 143 tables.


17/50

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18/50APRIL 201118 www.fdbuyer.com

F A C T O I D S

THE DATABANK

FASTESTFROZENBY PETER PENGUIN

Dollar sales of frozen foods in U.S.supermarkets topped $7.53 bil-

lion during the 12 weeks ended

Feb. 20 2011, a 0.1% increase

over the same period a yearago, according to Chicago-

based market research rm SymphonyIRI

Group. However, units slipped 1.3% to 2.51

billion, and volume was off almost 2 .0%

to 3.30 billion. Percentage of volumesold with merchandising support fell 0.3

points to 44.9%.

Our chart shows the fastest-growing

frozen department subcategories with at

least $200,000 in sales during the mostrecent 12-week period. Data is for the

brands as originally trademarked and may

not include line extensions. Brands with

sales under $50,000 are not l isted.

-5.0%Dollar loss by frozen drink/cocktaildrink concentrate, the rst decreasesince subcategory leader Yoplait

Smoothie debuted more than a yearago. Its sales edged up another 1.6%over the past 12 weeks, but seven of

the eight remaining brands indistribution more than a year saw

sales decline.

19.9Percentage points separating the

increase in frozen pie unit sales(+20.4%) and dollar sales (+0.5%).Portion-control and single-serve

sizes contributed to the large gap.

9.17Pounds of blueberry pie consumedin 8 minutes hands-free, no less by world record-holder PatrickBertoletti at the World Pie Eating

Championships July 28, 2007.Bertoletti also holds world records

for shoo-y pie, key lime pie andstrawberry rhubarb pie eating.

BABY FOOD/JUICE/SNACKS $683,957 240.2 317,773 440.0 65,663 298.4Happy Baby $382,596 199.7 182,863 361.8 38,677 341.3Happy Baby Happy Melts $155,586 917.0 50,028 937.7 3,127 937.7Happy Tot $82,572 * 68,242 * 18,002 *

COOKIE DOUGH $1,211,165 40.6 261,887 54.2 326,221 39.3Otis Spunkmeyer $374,972 429.9 98,076 471.4 100,054 419.9Complete Recipe $321,251 15.3 77,586 20.6 97,559 20.4Gregorys $188,280 28.7 23,095 27.3 57,611 25.6Private Label $81,668 (12.4) 10,318 (21.8) 12,855 (24.6)Sweet Marthas $80,798 (37.8) 16,648 (41.4) 24,972 (41.4)French Meadow Bakery $56,642 659.2 8,851 743.4 7,468 743.4

WAFFLES $130,798,900 27.0 53,547,360 22.9 45,334,740 26.3For brand listings, see our story on breakast oods in this issue.

SOUP $7,743,312 18.7 2,267,772 29.0 2,284,306 18.4 Tabatchnick $1,883,055 3.6 912,179 10.5 829,510 7.8Stouers Corner Bistro $1,147,653 * 360,812 * 225,508 *Phillips $804,722 (2.3) 169,352 3.8 147,284 2.0Private Label $783,638 (7.1) 186,209 (2.1) 310,694 9.1Boston Chowda $506,771 (16.7) 84,243 (6.7) 105,304 (6.7)Soup Supreme $405,613 18.3 27,860 14.3 89,664 16.7 The Original Soupman $301,040 28.7 79,144 49.5 49,541 (0.2)Kettle Cuisine $273,444 14.3 79,996 14.8 49,997 14.8Goya $208,335 1.3 42,398 (3.3) 74,196 (3.3)

Reames $202,464 16.4 38,262 20.1 47,828 20.1PIZZA CRUSTS/DOUGH $2,679,410 16.8 1,045,083 7.6 1,339,050 2.8Kinnikinnick Foods $327,828 38.1 41,202 44.8 54,050 45.5Private Label $283,860 (3.2) 135,869 (6.3) 166,508 (6.1)House of Pasta $248,516 (7.0) 94,802 (7.3) 189,603 (7.3)Udis $242,248 376.3 46,336 353.9 23,168 353.9 Tiseo $171,559 7.5 100,647 3.6 100,647 3.6Calise & Sons Bakery $164,196 1.3 109,743 1.1 109,743 1.1Stefanos $145,618 33.2 83,841 33.3 83,841 33.3Rhodes $124,662 (5.9) 36,101 (6.2) 108,304 (6.2)Cassones $115,173 8.2 60,215 1.0 60,215 1.0Portesi $83,040 21.7 19,904 24.1 27,368 24.1

BREAKFAST HANDHELD $95,542,500 14.6 23,533,060 13.2 21,810,040 15.6Jimmy Dean $43,660,620 18.5 7,813,897 20.0 9,808,492 21.3Jimmy Dean D Lights $9,685,700 12.3 1,664,805 17.7 2,047,589 18.8

W. Watchers Smart Ones Mrning Express $5,118,721 (7.6) 1,868,664 (6.0) 934,332 (6.0)Odoms Tennessee Pride $5,919,172 26.9 1,050,928 27.9 1,383,467 20.2Hot Pockets $4,088,238 (18.8) 1,962,600 (18.5) 1,062,197 (19.3)Bob Evans $3,821,075 48.1 841,987 43.4 820,878 44.3 Tennessee Pride $3,763,298 43.2 1,140,629 22.1 868,397 28.1Lean Pockets $3,489,357 (11.9) 1,634,870 (11.8) 919,615 (11.9)Private Label $2,997,942 13.6 800,892 10.0 757,082 8.7Aunt Jemima $1,963,030 (36.1) 553,037 (37.3) 399,392 (37.7)

PROCESSED ALL OTHER POULTRY/POULTRY SUBSTITUTES $890,611 12.9 130,718 14.4 134,067 7.6Aidells $442,760 24.3 77,490 24.7 58,117 24.7Maple Leaf Farms $344,689 11.0 37,728 9.3 27,810 11.6Guilotas $72,974 17.4 12,508 15.8 43,777 15.8

TURKEY/TURKEY SUBSTITUTE $150,174,900 10.2 35,357,740 6.7 49,707,900 7.6Jennie-O Turkey Store $41,526,120 5.4 9,120,457 2.2 11,675,890 2.4Shady Brook Farms $25,300,780 (1.7) 5,444,899 (6.3) 8,485,666 (4.3)Private Label $24,142,170 46.8 6,255,337 35.0 8,997,705 40.2Honeysuckle White $17,741,440 8.2 4,753,878 7.7 6,573,705 4.7Jennie-O $10,402,130 14.8 2,073,628 8.6 4,248,242 12.9Foster Farms $9,911,849 14.9 2,191,835 14.3 2,756,127 14.2Butterball $7,199,551 (1.4) 1,287,648 2.5 2,280,792 (1.2)Perdue $4,056,174 1.2 1,399,954 1.2 1,467,197 0.2Plainville Farms $2,487,067 32.2 572,300 33.5 571,980 33.5Zacky Farms $1,953,766 (29.5) 576,441 (37.5) 791,207 (33.0)

PREPARED VEGETABLES (SAUCE/CRUMBS) $72,327,570 9.5 38,746,560 10.4 27,621,420 10.9Green Giant $25,527,670 6.2 15,677,820 7.9 11,013,520 7.4Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers $17,828,390 24.5 8,353,082 24.5 6,145,969 22.2Birds Eye Steamfresh $10,999,130 32.8 5,329,830 38.9 3,922,964 36.3Green Giant Just For One $4,097,583 (4.8) 1,203,321 (3.0) 1,262,241 (2.9)Green Giant Simply Steam $3,184,898 6.0 2,298,521 8.5 1,284,456 8.9Green Giant Healthy Weight $1,557,378 2.0 1,071,846 4.2 468,932 4.2

Birds Eye Steam & Serve $1,441,974 (42.2) 592,513 (40.9) 370,321 (40.9)Private Label $1,426,840 (9.7) 909,334 (23.7) 624,614 (20.9)



19/50APRIL 2011 19www.fdbuyer.com


ALL OTHER PASTA/NOODLES $9,140,889 7.4 3,453,128 1.9 3,445,616 10.2Reames $4,338,146 13.8 1,621,921 10.1 1,468,467 12.1Private Label $1,123,094 35.9 344,227 5.4 585,229 83.4Grandmas $774,776 (7.8) 235,385 (11.0) 200,240 (12.4)Boston Market $640,221 (17.2) 253,097 (21.2) 189,823 (21.2)Celentano $314,212 (7.9) 134,948 (6.5) 134,948 (6.5)Seviroli $245,483 (1.7) 125,366 (4.7) 100,446 (22.0)Andrea $228,893 (4.2) 106,146 2.4 122,405 7.2

Mama Rosies $211,300 (0.3) 84,237 (0.1) 124,128 (3.8)POT PIES $74,194,780 7.2 49,899,830 1.1 31,196,580 4.6Marie Callenders $37,085,580 13.7 13,638,450 16.6 13,416,710 16.3Banquet $20,716,210 9.5 28,393,430 7.8 12,422,130 7.8Stouers $5,127,731 3.4 1,893,059 1.7 1,491,384 2.1Swanson $2,163,839 (30.6) 2,269,859 (34.2) 993,063 (34.2)Willow Tree $1,503,201 3.2 278,833 (0.4) 414,747 (0.9)Amys $1,389,737 8.4 406,561 7.3 192,317 7.3Private Label $1,358,239 (46.1) 1,761,609 (57.9) 838,107 (55.8)Claim Jumper $1,189,549 (7.7) 369,658 (10.0) 413,696 (10.0)

SAUSAGE $63,442,930 7.0 32,707,760 3.7 21,469,960 3.4Banquet Brown N Serve $26,253,200 7.7 18,574,010 9.2 8,476,378 9.4Hormel Little Sizzler $4,601,372 5.4 3,183,962 1.5 2,335,068 1.4Jones Golden Brown $4,374,926 5.2 2,112,530 1.7 905,240 (1.2)Private Label $4,238,959 (0.1) 1,691,680 (19.7) 1,666,854 (12.1)

Jimmy Dean $3,387,333 1.9 924,861 (10.2) 991,241 (7.6)Purnell Old Folks $3,344,920 34.9 470,980 32.6 1,089,085 22.5Jones $2,595,961 (8.1) 815,245 (8.9) 602,977 (10.5) Tennessee Pride $2,327,797 5.6 290,304 (7.4) 685,178 (7.8)

MULTI SERVE DINNERS/ENTREES $324,121,000 6.4 58,234,940 7.1 115,588,400 4.9Stouers $107,930,900 2.8 16,045,190 5.2 46,631,690 4.8Bertolli $28,435,970 (5.8) 4,099,504 (4.2) 6,166,405 (4.0)Birds Eye Voila! $27,716,430 15.2 6,988,881 15.4 9,696,506 15.8P.F. Changs Home Menu $21,181,420 * 2,583,558 * 3,552,392 *Private Label $16,680,060 (14.0) 2,416,687 (12.4) 5,657,118 (15.1)Marie Callenders $13,023,410 131.7 3,157,740 90.1 4,937,744 83.3Wanchai Ferry $9,597,844 53.4 1,406,341 64.8 2,109,512 64.8

SPINACH $32,537,980 6.1 24,472,720 2.2 17,726,850 2.7Private Label $20,479,350 6.5 16,595,660 2.2 12,238,490 2.9Birds Eye $4,215,944 (2.6) 3,171,768 (3.9) 2,011,464 (4.2)Green Giant Weight Watchers $2,346,148 * 1,561,420 * 878,299 *

Seabrook Farms $805,571 4.3 432,196 12.9 290,447 9.5Pictsweet $741,030 (34.4) 398,070 (44.9) 476,533 (32.1)Birds Eye C & W $668,190 2.7 306,215 1.8 274,450 4.1Cascadian Farm $493,466 1.3 161,409 6.1 100,881 6.1

YOGURT/TOFU $37,992,380 4.2 10,215,620 2.5 26,873,800 4.3Private Label $8,320,049 14.8 2,387,858 6.4 9,093,115 5.1Dreyers/Edys Slowchurned $7,297,359 (10.3) 1,956,387 (9.1) 5,869,159 (9.1)Ben & Jerrys Lighten Up $3,309,536 (3.1) 888,512 (6.2) 888,512 (6.2)Hagen-Dazs $3,260,449 (1.7) 896,732 (4.1) 784,640 (4.1) Turkey Hill $1,851,988 1,417.9 618,020 1,468.0 1,854,061 1,380.6Purely Decadent $1,757,461 28.1 349,744 22.8 349,744 22.8Kemps $1,670,307 12.0 474,993 10.8 1,424,979 10.8Organic So Delicious $1,568,846 (11.5) 299,027 (14.0) 526,631 (12.9)

CHILI $3,310,733 4.1 1,073,265 (0.5) 1,028,320 1.6Skyline Chili $913,917 (3.6) 308,286 (5.9) 273,419 (6.1)

Gold Star Chili $560,537 0.3 229,046 (3.3) 150,323 (3.3)Dolores $478,010 11.6 118,342 10.3 148,139 10.1Bueno $233,858 5.8 88,832 (0.7) 93,984 2.4Bueno Autumn Roast $178,771 6.5 54,922 4.9 44,624 4.9Bacas $132,129 2.5 59,483 (5.7) 56,609 (3.1) Tabatchnick $124,096 (8.5) 57,282 (9.0) 53,702 (9.0)Mannings $116,566 13.8 27,575 8.1 27,575 8.1

ALL OTHER POULTRY/POULTRY SUBSTITU TES $12,489,260 4.0 2,690,681 (2.5) 5,355,534 (2.4)) Tyson $8,696,292 5.4 2,084,128 (0.9) 3,811,837 (3.8)Codornices Supremas $896,560 21.4 50,710 5.1 556,947 21.0Manchester Farms $567,435 (1.9) 55,446 (6.3) 64,428 (6.2)Perdue Oven Ready $503,108 0.6 54,701 (9.8) 218,806 (9.8)Patti Jean $434,269 (6.3) 185,032 (14.9) 231,290 (14.9)Maple Leaf Farms $270,452 (0.1) 28,276 (7.6) 86,989 (2.6)Perdue $245,033 46.7 80,392 51.9 111,015 51.4

Perdue Chefs Choice $193,470 20.9 82,498 51.9 103,122 51.9

-27.5%Dollar loss by frozen bagels (to

$10,473,330), once again the frozendepartments biggest loser. One

bright spot: Bagels Forever, the sub-categorys sixth best-seller, whosesales jumped 8.2% to $507,192.

413.7%Dollar gain by private label frozen

other breakfast food (to $67,343), thebest performance by a store brand

in the frozen food department.Despite its success, subcategory dol-lar sales fell 5.5%, thanks mostly topoor showings by Pillsburys Toaster

Strudel and Toaster Scrambles.

23%Number of photocopier breakdowns

reportedly caused by people attempt-ing to photocopy their backsides.

-2.6%Dollar loss by the frozen depart-

ments largest subcategory, single-serve frozen dinners/entrees (to

$767,486,500), all but canceling outa 6.4% gain in the smaller multi-

serve segment.

0Number of frozen juice subcategoriesto register dollar sales gains over thepast 12 weeks. Of the nine segmentstracked by SymphonyIRI Group, onlyother vegetable/fruit juice (-0.2%)

came close to the plus side.

$125Weekly salary of Terry, the dog who

played Toto in . Notbad considering the little people

who took on roles as Munchkins onlytook home $50 a week.

23.5Increase in percentage of frozen

wafe volume sold with merchandis-ing support (from 16.9% a year ago to

40.4% today), highest in the frozenfood department. With a pair of

new products to promote and a 75thbirthday to celebrate, Kelloggs Eggo

is the primary driver.



BETTY BUYER

BETTY&

SAMMYTWEETBack on April 1, my com-puter was mysteriously

taken over by a coupleTweeters, whom I

quickly recognized as BettyBuyer and Sammy Seller

BY WARREN THAYER

Betty: o follow consumertrends, must I do all new items

by self in private label? Why youdo no innovation, Sammy? ired of

your me-toos!Sammy: ired of yr slotting and BSfees, Betty! You still make all money

when buy, not

sell. You take all my best items andcopy for PL anyway.

Betty: Why you do so many PowerPointless presentations? You thinksexy? You shue all data to make selflook good. Dont believe you.Sammy: God forbid you ever do ownresearch, Betty. You treat store likeparking lot where you just collectfees. All heavy lifting done by us.

Betty: LOL!! Tat why you makebig bucks. I see your sales/prots uptwice as fast as ours, so why I cry for

you? Nice car you drive, too.Sammy: Why you not put backmy fast movers, ones you cut inSKU irrationalization program? Weboth lose money on Stupid Killingof Units.

Betty: Get clue, Sammy. Fewer SKUsmean more prot. Maybe you thinkbad if retailers make prot? Yourfast movers do case every six years.Sammy: You make us pay high for

your demo people, but some of themdead for years. No life. And you never

order enuf product to support demo.

Betty: If our demo people dead, whywe run out of product? You cant haveboth ways. Your forecasting bad.Cant even predict dark at night.Sammy: Why your store executionstink? No signage on displays. Itemsmissing or short-faced. New itemsnot on shelf in time. Cost us both big.

Betty: Why your store support stink?

Used to send in entire Army to do re-sets, now just two retirees on oxygenfor whole chain. I miss old days.Sammy: You not work with us ondenition of compliance or imple-mentation. No clear lines of responsi-bility. Never any feedback from you!

Betty: You not work with us on de-nition of compliance or implementa-tion. No clear lines of responsibility.

Never any feedback from you!Sammy: You remind me all time that

you own shelves, so it up to you tomake sure work gets done, no matterwho does it. You expect me do it all!

Betty: You back out of most respon-sibility for this years ago, and expectme do it all, and you not help half asmuch anymore. What up with that?Sammy: Be nice to tell us when youplan category review or reset, so wecan present new items to you. Alsobe nice if you stuck to schedule.Betty: Tings change quick some-times. Cant always wait while youtie shoelaces. You often one wantsexception to schedule, anyway.

Betty: ruth or illusion, Sammy; youdont know the dierence.Sammy: No, but we must carry on asthough we did.Betty: Sammy and Betty. Sad,sad, sad.

(with apologiesto EdwardAlbee.)


21/50

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22/50

PHOTOS COURTESY OFWHOLE FOODS MARKET

Whole Foods Market is ourRetailer of the Year for somany good reasons its

hard to know where to begin.Ive always been a huge fan of the

company because it is truly theconsumer advocate, having earned

the trust of itsloyal shoppers bygenuinely look-

ing out for theirinterests. Tatsrare. But lets

start with some ofthe quantiable littlefactoids that poppedup during the com-

panys rst quarterconference callwith securities

analysts on Feb. 9.Whole Foods had

just posted a 14%increase in sales, and a 15% increasein gross prot. It also reported itsfth consecutive quarter of accel-erating identical store sales growthon both a one- and a two-year basis.Identical store sales rose 9.1% thehighest result in four years. Averageweekly sales per store for all storesincreased 9% to $621,000, for averagesales per square foot of about $856.

Hey, arent we in a recession?

Well, theres more. Whole Foodslogged a 7% increase in transaction

count in identical stores, and a 2%hike in basket size mostly fromcustomers putting more items intheir baskets. Te chain became oneof only 13 companies ranked con-secutively for 14 years onFortunemagazines list of the 100 Best Com-panies to Work For. And WholeFoods has adopted a 5-Step AnimalWelfare Rating System.

Well, all these factoids could eas-ily get tedious, strung together likethis, so Ill stop now. Tere are plentymore reasons I could cite, but I felt itbest to turn it over to all of you. Overthe past month, I beat the bushesasking competitors, consultants,manufacturers and brokers for theirthoughts on Whole Foods.

Youll note that 97.4% of it (giveor take) is highly complimentary.Believe it or not, I didnt censor any

criticism whatever. So approximately2.6% is devoted to things peopledont like about Whole Foods. Hey,to my mind, that just makes it allreal. And just for the record, very fewretailers ever get o this easy.

A GAME CHANGERComments from acompeting retailer:Whole Foods has proven to be agame changer in the retail food busi-

ness. Tey have become the nationalbrand for products that people be-

RETAILER OF THE YEAR

Why did we pick Whole Foods as our Retailer of the Year? Well, there aremore reasons than you can shake a stick at. Heres what a cross section ofcompetitors, vendors and consultants have to say.

BY WARREN THAYER



23/50

lieve are better for you: organics, nat-ural, HBC, wellness in general, freshseafood, etc. Tey charge a premiumand they have taken a lot of heat fortheir prices. It is interesting to notethat in most cases I have observedthey are less expensive than many ofthe independent or small chains oforganic retailers. Which, when youthink of it is really their competitor,not traditional retailers.

Similar to the impact Walmart hason the industry, when Whole Foodssays it will not buy a certain productor products with certain ingredients,it sends a ripple through that entiresupply chain. Relative to their seg-ment of retail, they may own moretotal share than Walmart does versusthe traditional channel. Tis is apoint I do not see reected since theyhave a relatively low number of stores

and the people that cover them inthe trade and nancial press also

cover all of the food retailers.I think they have a stronger loyalty

from their customers than almostany food retailer in the country. Ialso think this loyalty is based uponthe trust that their customers havein them to provide the type of foods/products that they are looking for.Teir customers even seem to like itmore when they move toward a moremilitant stance.

Te wellness/organic/natural

consumer is a real challenge to tinto traditional demographic proles.Tey have participants in every de-mographic segment. Teir customeris just as likely to be a high-incomeperson driving up in their Mercedesas it is to be a young adult riding abike and spending a third of theirlimited income on the products thatWhole Foods provides.

Te recent V program that airedabout Te Big, Bad, Crazy Grocery

Store turned out to provide WholeFoods a platform that they could nothave bought. Tey came across great.(Notice that the founder was not onthe program the board doesnttrust him to keep his mouth shut.)

As industry observers, we standback and say Whole Foods is way tooexpensive for the average household,their products are too specialized,or that they will get customers forsome things not available elsewherebut they will not get customers tobuy a full basket. o all of us withthat perspective I suggest two things.First, spend more time in their storesto see how wrong your basic assump-tions are. (Careful though, you likelywill see some of your customers and

you need to be prepared.) And sec-ond, go ahead and move into the 21stcentury consumers are loyal tothemselves rst and then loyal to theretailer that allows them to be loyalto themselves. Te CEO or President

from CVS had a recent quote that Ireally like: Customers want to save

money where they can so they canspend money on what they want.

WEATHERED THE STORMDon Stuart, president ofKantar Retail, Wilton, Conn.:Operationally, they have a strong

distribution network, excellent serv-ice and in-stock levels, and strongsupplier relationships. Tey weath-ered the economic storm better thanexpected (fell early/rebounded early)and have responded well to customersensitivities over pricing.

Pricing remains a concern, alongwith widespread availability ofhealthier, natural options and contin-ued weakness in organics. Much oftheir success (or weakness) dependson the founder and visionary.

PRICE BECOMESSECONDARYManufacturer:Whole Foods seems to have stakedout and fully exploited the upper tierconsumer. Te stores invite impulsesales as most of the proprietaryproducts are romanced for marginenhancement and to make the con-sumer feel good about the purchase.Price becomes secondary, and that,in this economy, is no small feat.

Many consumers will treatthemselves with a visit to WholeFoods. Paying for quality can be a

value many consumers can live with.I think rader Joes has become thepoor mans Whole Foods and themarket has embraced both brands.Price is, as always, the key driver andeven more so today, but retailers canlearn from both these competitors that oering quality products, fairly

priced, will be judged as a value.My guess is, where price compari-

Natural light via a sky light from theAustin landmark stores plaza illuminatesthe frozen food offerings, below left. Atright is the original Whole Foods store, ina 1980 photo.

23www.fdbuyer.comAPRIL 2011



sons are easily made, Whole Foodsmay suer. But in private label andregional brands, where comparisonsare more dicult, the Whole Foodsenvironment carries the day.

Te prevailing wisdom was,Whole Paycheck would witherunder the weight of the recession, butthe opposite has happened. GENIUS!!

Every product recall helps WholeFoods. Every crop shortage helpsWhole Foods. Every food relatedhealth scare helps Whole Foods. Peo-ple believe Whole Foods helps themlive healthier, more fullled lives put a price on that, if you can.

Is Whole Foods for everyone? No.But for a growing number of seniors,active adults, and parents wanting toprovide better alternatives for theirkids, Whole Foods has become at

least part of the answer.

A VERY STRONG BRANDRob Walker, New York TimesMagazine contributing writer,and author ofBuying In:Despite the Whole Paycheck rap itsometimes gets, and other occasionalcriticisms, I think it is a very, verystrong brand. In general its perceivedas being a far bigger chain than itactually is. I remember reading at

least one article about a neighbor-hood group trying to get Whole

Foods to build in their area, to spark

economic development and improvethe areas image (somewhere in DCarea, I think).

And remember the boycott talkafter (founder and chairman John)Mackeys Wall Street Journalop-edpiece on health care? It had no im-pact, and nobody remembers it. Andthat was the second time Mackeywas a distraction his chat-boardanonymous comments about thestock price episode also faded away.

On a note related to the brand,in my experience the store environ-ment is really distinct; if somebodyblindfolded you and led you into aWhole Foods, took the blindfold o,

youd know what store youre in im-mediately. Tere is no Whole Foodswhere we live (Savannah, Ga.) butevery time I visit one while travelingIm impressed how consistently thatstore design/look/feel is executed.

IF THE CONSUMER WEREA SEARCH ENGINEManufacturer:If the consumer were a search en-gine, whenever one entered natu-ral/organic foods, the item with themost hits by far would be WholeFoods. I dont think you could askfor more as a niche retailer. Teresa lot to be said for knowing who youare and having been able to com-municate that to the customer well

enough that they clearly know whoyou are also.

BEST IN CLASSManufacturer:Being one of the rst natural/organicfood chains they have remained thebest in class. Tey went througha tough merger where they hademployee issues but have worked

through them. Teyve done a goodjob with their private label organicoering, but could be a bit sharperon price. It will be interesting to seeif they can continue to get youngershoppers versus the 60s and 70sVolvo shoppers. Tey are miles aheadof say, a Sunower, or any other mul-tiple store organic chain.

Broker:Tey are denitely best in class whenit comes to organic, natural, good for

you and wellness types of products.Tey are high priced for sure butif you took the segment down justto the organic side of the businessand compare apples to apples, theyare not any higher than the majorretailers that stock like items. Inmost cases they do not have the sameitems as most retailers so they cannotbe compared directly.

Whole Foods 365 Organic line pioneered

the trail for private label organic offeringsby other retailers.

When Whole Foods wont stock itemswith certain ingredients, the refusal has a

ripple effect on the entire healthy foodssupply chain, says a competitor.


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TOO DECENTRALIZEDManufacturer:We nd them challenging to workwith as they are very decentral-ized, have a lot of dierent dairydistributors (versus just one or two)and distribution centers typicallyhave a small number of stores. All

this makes achieving minimums onspecialty items dicult. Te decen-tralization and multiple distributorsmake achieving consistent pricingand distribution tough.

If they ever get enough mass perdistribution center to buy more itemsdirect and thus become more cost-competitive, they could really be-come a force that traditional grocersneed to worry about.

I have never seen so much em-

ployee loyalty and their enthusiasmseems to run o on their consum-ers, driving amazing loyalty amongthose who can aord or are willing tospend extra to shop there.

THE INDUSTRY CADILLAC(OR LEXUS?)Broker:Whole Foods is the Cadillac (ormaybe now it would be the Acuraor Lexus of Supermarket Class of

trade). Teir stores are magnicentexamples of feels good for yourgrocery shopping. Tey give aconsumer a feeling of con-dence that you are doing theright thing for you and yourfamily.

Tey have also embraced theconcept of keeping it localby knowing and dealing withthe community their stores arelocated in. Whole Foods will

work with local vendors to besure they make the consumerfeel like Whole Foods is the lo-cal grocer.

Te Whole Foods associ-ates are very knowledgeable onthe products they sell and whyyou should buy them. Teydenitely show loyalty to thecompany and what it standsfor, and are very down toearth, making consumers feelat home while shopping.

BE CAREFUL ONANIMAL WELFAREManufacturer:Tey are internally managing theirnew animal welfare program withsupplier input to guidelines ratherthan having independent third-partyaudits based upon a scientic advi-

sory board. Tey should be cautiousabout how they handle this program.

THEY GIVECONSUMERS VALUEDavid J. Livingston, DLJResearch, Waukesha, Wis.:Whole Foods always seems to nda way to make consumers want tospend more money. However theyare obviously giving the consumers

value for their money. Otherwise

they would not be doing so well. Imimpressed with their sales per squarefoot and with their site selection. Youcant accuse them of over-expanding.Tey have grown slowly and me-thodically. During the recession theycarefully backed o but now it seemsthey are right back on track.

PREMIUM NICHEPOWERHOUSEManufacturer:

Whole Foods is a premium nichepowerhouse. Teyve built their

own brands well, for Whole Foodsoutside the store and 365 inside thestore. I agree with everything othershave said. Youve got a terrically ac-curate portrait here. Id emphasize,however, the comments made aboutthe diculties presented by theirregional decision making.

CHANGED HOW WERUN OUR BUSINESSAlicia DePatsy, marketingdirector, Pineland FarmsNatural Meats,New Gloucester, Me.:First I would like to say that person-ally, Whole Foods has changed theway I buy groceries for my family.Professionally, it has changed howwe run our business. Education

and consumer awareness for howto shop smarter and eat healthieris at the forefront of their businessmodel especially knowing whereyour food comes from and how itsraised, grown and transported toWhole Foods. Tis constantly con-nects the consumer to the productsin the store.

Unlike other large retailers, its notconfusing to walk into the store andnd the healthy products because

the consumer knows and trusts thatWhole Foods has investigated, tested

and stands behind its vendors.In some regions they also haveVendor All Access shows wherethey invite vendors to come anddisplay their products for em-ployees of Whole Foods Market.Te average Whole Foods em-ployee is energetic, helpful andwell informed about productsand the mission of the Whole

Foods Market shopper experi-ence. Each store has its ownmarketing coordinator who inturn works within that immedi-ate community connecting theconsumer to products, causesand the locality of where theirfood comes from. Each buyerwe deal with is 110% invested inwho we are as a company andhow we raise/grow our prod-ucts. Tese buyers often visit

the farms, talk to producers, see

Whole Foods prices arent any higher than the major

retailers that stock the same items, says a manufacturer.


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the animals and totally subscribe tothe GAP mission. Tey even oergrants for local farmers. Its a classact through and through!

THEY WON TRUST& RESPECTMona Doyle, e ConsumerNetwork, Philadelphia:Whole Foods won the trust andrespect of consumer thought leadersprimarily by refusing to carry softdrinks. For many years, consumerswho found out that soft drinks werethe biggest sellers in most supermar-kets were shocked into thinking thatsomething was wrong with the wayAmericans shopped.

Shopping at Whole Foods was away to change that, to make the kindof change that millions of consum-ers want (and still nd dicult) tomake. Te fact that many millions ofconsumers are making that choice isconrmed by the news that Subwaystore locations have surpassed Mc-Donald store locations.

Tere are two other things thatshoppers tell me set Whole Foodsapart from many supermarkets. Oneis that they are rarely out of stock onitems that are important to their cus-tomers. Another is that they are very

good operators with stores that arealmost always squeaky clean theypay close attention to the aestheticsof their merchandising. Produce atWhole Foods may be pricey, but italmost always is a pleasure to look at.

SOLID CORE OFEMISSARIESDan Raftery, president, RafteryResource Network, Antioch, Ill.:I interviewed several Whole Foods

store managers a few years agoand came away impressed with theamount of autonomy they have andthe way that they focus on the neigh-borhood. I believe that they operateas neighborhood stores as well as anyretailer and better than most.

Te Whole Foods employee is thebest Whole Foods customer, whichmeans a solid core of emissaries.Best Buy and Apple are other retail-ers where the demographics of the

sta and best customers match.

One thing to note about store lo-cations Whole Foods has been inurban areas for a long time. We are

just now seeing other retailers re-entering the food deserts. It will beinteresting to see how they compete.

THE RIGHT LEVERSDoug Adams, president,Prime Consulting Group,Bannockburn, Ill.:News stories about product recalls,crop safety, organic and even obesityhelp Whole Foods. Tey are asso-ciated with all things wholesome,healthy and natural. Tey havestrong loyalty from their core andfor the less loyal they are the storewhere you treat yourself. A goodfriend of mine, who runs a large di-

vision of a very well respected groceronce said, Price is the lever I pullwhen I cant get anything else right.Well Whole Foods has gured outother marketing levers.

Selection is not the largest, but itsplenty in the right categories. Everbeen in a Whole Foods with a largesalad bar at lunch time? Its as busyas a good McDonalds! Tey staextra registers to speed you to a verytasty lunch of your choosing. Acrosssome of the perimeter departmentsthere is a good bit of mystery and

discovery (i.e. fresh baked bread,deli, sushi bar and salad bar). Its notprepared its fresh.

THEY MAINSTREAMEDNATURALManufacturer:Whole Foods Markets has takennatural products from the small, lo-cal co-operative grocer to the main-stream. Where else do you see soccermoms, foodies, Goth kids, lawyers,

college professors, and, frankly,

everything in between all joinedtogether under the common goal ofnding a healthier, more deliciousway of life? Tey successfully tackledthe monumental task of raising our

awareness about impact of the deci-sions we make every day.What I nd most fascinating

about Whole Foods is the howthey have changed their customersperception of value. A traditionalgrocery store is going to have a hardtime selling Gala Apples at $2.99a pound, but WFM can get thatprice by telling the story behind theapples. Grown locally, free from pes-ticides, and, to top it all o, you getto see a picture of the farmer and hisor her family. And, if you are thereat the right time, you get to meet theproducer sampling their product inthe store. Te theatre of shoppingat Whole Foods has a value, andtheir customers are willing to pay.

Will Whole Foods be a victimof its own success, educating itscustomers right back to the localfarmers market and natural foodco-operative? Or, will the giants ofthe grocery retail industry gure out

how to recapture their lost custom-ers, realizing not all will respond tothe blunt instrument of low pricebut to the elusive concept of ex-perience? Will natural, specialty,and organic products become soubiquitous that there wil l no longerbe a need for specialization? MaybeWhole Foods will continue to inno-

vate to forever capture the imagina-tion and delight of folks looking tocheck grocery shopping o their

weekend list of to dos. n

Whole Foods is rarely out of stock onitems important to their customers, saysMona Doyle.


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WHY THEY SHOPWHOLE FOODSHere are 10 key reasons whyWhole Foods shoppers chooseto shop there.

BY WARREN THAYER

Quality, selection and the avail-

ability of whole and organicfoods are three key reasons

why Whole Foods shoppers shopwhere they do. And while price is aprimary driver for 74.5% of shoppersin their store selection, only 13.3% ofWhole Foods shoppers see it as one ofthe top reasons to shop Whole Foods.

Tis story wil l take a look at thereasons why shoppers pick theirgrocery store of choice, focusing at-tention on not just Whole Foods, butWalmart, Kroger, Publix, Wegmans

and national averages for all shop-pers. Itll tell you whats important towhom, and why shoppers may migrateto dierent stores from time to time,or stay very loyal.

Te data youll see here comes fromlast Augusts Consumer Intentionsand Actions Survey (CIA) put out byBIGresearch (www.bigresearch.com),Worthington, Ohio. Te national aver-ages are based on a BIGresearch surveyof 8,201 adults that sample sizeprovides a margin of error of +/- 1.1%.

Heres a breakout of respondents whochose dierent stores as their rst-choice grocery retailer: Walmart, 1,524(margin of error +/-2.5%); Kroger, 586(margin of error +/- 4.3%); Publix, 340(margin of error +5.5%); Wegmans, 59;Whole Foods, 34.

Yes, those last two numbers aretoo small to consider truly deni-tive. Consider them directional andnothing more. I wouldnt normally usenumbers that low, but the responses tuncannily with the anecdotal reportsIve picked up within the market over

the past year or two, so I decided toinclude them, with the caveat here.

As the data is presented, youllrst see the national average of the8,201 adults who cited the selectedattributes as among the reasons theychose their grocery store. Ten youllsee what percentage of shoppers at,say, Walmart, said about attributesthat are important to them. Te ques-tion asked of consumers is: What arethe reasons why you buy your grocer-ies there? From a list, they are asked

to check all that apply.

In our rst example below, 47.9% ofshoppers say that product quality isa reason they chose their store. Only35.3% of Walmart shoppers said theychose Walmart because of the qualityof the products they carry. And so on.At the bottom, youll see WF gap vs.avg., which depicts the gap betweenthe Whole Foods shoppers response,

and the national average. See? Its notrocket science.

1. PRODUCT QUALITYAverage 47.9%Walmart 35.3%Kroger 59.5%Publix 74.5%Wegmans 85.4%Whole Foods 87.9%WF gap vs. avg 40.0

Nearly 88% of Whole Foods shopperssay product quality plays an important

part in their store selection. Tats 40percentage points above the average forall shoppers, and its higher than any ofthe other retailers listed here.

High quality is expensive, of course,and shoppers at Whole Foods areclearly willing to pay for it. As wellsee a little later, price is not one of thereasons Whole Foods shoppers singleout as important in store selection.

2. SELECTIONAverage 57.3%Walmart 60.0%Kroger 70.3%Publix 72.0%Wegmans 89.5%Whole Foods 83.4%WF gap vs. avg 26.1

Good selection is another reasonWhole Foods shoppers choose to shopthere. On average, 57.3% of shopperssay selection is a key reason in theirstore choice, but 83.4% of WholeFoods shoppers see it as that impor-tant. In the stores listed above, onlyWegmans another industry icon tops Whole Foods.

Selection is a bit dierent fromunique products, at least to my mind.It implies, for example, the ability tochoose from more than a few brands,avors and sizes of ice cream but notnecessarily that special unique itemthat no other store has.

3. AVAILABILITY OFORGANIC/WHOLE FOODSAverage 7.7%Walmart 5.2%

Kroger 7.8%

Publix 12.5%Wegmans 29.1%Whole Foods 79.8%WF gap vs. avg 72.1

Tese numbers show the enormousimportance Whole Foods shoppersput on the stores oerings of organicand whole foods. Nearly 80% of themsay that the available selection of

these items is an important factorin their decision to shop at WholeFoods. By contrast, fewer than 8% ofall shoppers surveyed see the pres-ence of organic and whole foods as animportant factor in choosing a store.

Te 72.1 percentage point gapbetween Whole Foods and the aver-age shows just how dierent WholeFoods shoppers are from the norm inthis regard. And despite all the hooplaabout Walmarts entry into the organicmarket, only 5.2% of its shoppers see

the presence of these foods as impor-tant factors in deciding where to shop.

4. FRESH PRODUCEAverage 32.0%Walmart 25.2%Kroger 36.6%Publi 47.8%Wegmans 73.5%Whole Foods 51.9%WF gap vs. avg 19.9

Whole Foods shoppers are signicantlymore likely than average to nd fresh

produce an important factor in storeselection. But Wegmans shoppers sawfresh produce as important more oftenthan any of the stores above. Tatspossibly because Wegmans producedepartments are larger (based on alarger overall store footprint) and seemto have more of a wow! factor when

you enter. When I think of Wegmans, Ido think of their sprawling and beauti-ful produce departments, so perhapspart of this is just association.

5. UNIQUE PRODUCTSAverage 6.0%Walmart 4.8%Kroger 6.0%Publix 5.5%Wegmans 29.6%Whole Foods 39.0%WF gap vs. avg 33.0

In this age of SKU rationalization,Whole Foods isnt afraid to go out ona limb and oer unique products things you just cant nd anywhereelse. It helps create a treasure-hunt

atmosphere, and makes shopping fun.


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Some 39% of Whole Foods shoppers 33 percentage points above the average say unique products are importantin their choice of where to shop.

6. TRUSTWORTHY RETAILERAverage 21.0%Walmart 15.1%Kroger 24.2%Publix 39.6%Wegmans 53.1%Whole Foods 35.8%WF gap vs. avg 14.8

My initial reaction on seeing thesenumbers was to be somewhat upsetthat Whole Foods didnt get a higherscore. For many years, Ive held thechain up as an example of trustwor-thiness very much the consumeradvocate. But then I rememberedthat this data is just a l isting of whatcustomers of dierent retailers see as

important in their own store selection.In other words, its not a ranking ofmost trustworthy. So, Whole Foodsshoppers just see other attributes asmore important in their store selec-tion. Perhaps they take it for grantedthat Whole Foods is trustworthy. I do.

7. LOCATIONAverage 71.1%Walmart 69.0%Kroger 83.8%Publix 83.5%Wegmans 69.2%Whole Foods 32.4%WF gap vs. avg 38.7

Whole Foods stands kind of alone here.

For most retailers, having a convenientlocation is a big deal to shoppers. ButWhole Foods customers dont see itthat way. What I take from this: WholeFoods shoppers are very loyal, and ndother unique attributes so much moreimportant that they dont mind havingto drive out of their way to get to one ofthe stores.

8. MEAT/SEAFOOD DEPARTMENTAverage 24.6%Walmart 17.3%

Kroger 27.2%Publix 34.3%Wegmans 53.0%Whole Foods 30.9%WF gap vs. avg 6.3

Here, Whole Foods is much closer tothe average. Nobody will be surprisedat the number for Walmart, but to

my mind all of the others above do areally good job in these departments.Perhaps its worth mentioning that afair number of Whole Foods shoppersare likely to be vegetarians, or vegetar-ian wanna-bes. Tose folk are likely tocare a lot less than average about meatand seafood departments.

9. SERVICEAverage 28.6%Walmart 17.3%Kroger 33.4%Publix 58.5%Wegmans 61.6%Whole Foods 30.8%WF gap vs. avg 2.2

One of the rst things that comes tomind when you think of Wegmansor Publix is service. Sure, service atWhole Foods is good, but its notwhat really dierentiates the chain.

Shoppers at Whole Foods care a bitmore about service than the nationalaverage, but they dont see service as aprime reason to shop there.

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10. KNOWLEDGEABLE EMPLOYEESAverage 11.1%Walmart 5.5%Kroger 14.2%Publix 27.4%Wegmans 38.4%Whole Foods 20.4%WF gap vs. avg 9.3

Its a pretty sad statement that only

11.1% of all shoppers surveyed said thathaving knowledgeable employees wasamong the key reasons they chose theirstore. My guess is that a lot of peoplehave just given up on the idea. Tis at-tribute is quite important to Wegmansand Publix shoppers, and a little less sofor Whole Foods shoppers. As noted,quality, selection, and availability oforganic and whole foods is most impor-tant to them.

HEY! WHAT ABOUT PRICE?

Average 74.5%Walmart 92.6%Kroger 81.3%Publix 61.8%Wegmans 68.7%Whole Foods 13.3%WF gap vs. avg 61.2

I knew this would come up. Okay, asyou can see, price is NO one of theprime reasons people shop at WholeFoods. But despite all the jokes (youknow which one, but I thought Id giveJohn Mackey a break this time) WholeFoods prices are a lot more in linewith competition the past year or so.But I dont expect them to get creditfor that for awhile, and I do expect

youre going to think Ive swallowed theWhole Foods Kool-Aid for saying that.Whatever.

WHAT ABOUT FREEBIES?Whole Foods doesnt have doublecoupons, gas rewards, or a frequentshopper card. So its shoppers obviouslydont say they shop at Whole Foodsbecause of them. Shoppers at Krogerand Wegmans see the loyalty card asa big deal, and no wonder, consideringhow well those retailers make use of

them. Interestingly, 1.7% of Walmartshoppers said one reason they shopWalmart is because of its frequentshopper card. Ill have to tell the boysin Bentonville about this, as I bet theydidnt know Walmart even has a fre-quent shopper program.

AND CUSTOMER LOYALTY?We all know that Whole Foods shop-pers are extremely loyal, but theres onenal set of numbers not yet cited here.Tats the Net Promoter Score (NPS).Respondents were asked to rate, ona scale from 0 (not at all likely) to 10(extremely likely), the probability theywould recommend their store of choiceto friends.

10 and 9 responses indicate Promot-ers, 8 and 7 responses are Passives and0 through 6 are Detractors. Te NPS iscalculated by subtracting the percent-age of Detractors from the percentageof Promoters.

Heres how it all worked out for thestores listed here, along with the aver-age score. For what its worth, WholeFoods net promoter score of 80.3 isextremely high.

Average 29.9%

Walmart 24.5%Kroger 35.4%Publix 58.3%Wegmans 71.5%Whole Foods 80.3%WF gap vs. avg 50.4

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SPOTLIGHT: SNACKS & APPIES

SNACKS&APPIESBOUNCEBACKIts been a soft year for thecategory, but the most recentdata shows an uptick.

BYMICHAEL FRIEDMAN

As the economy goes, so goes

the frozen appetizers/snackrolls category. While super-market sales of the category weredown in units and dollars for the52- and 12-week periods ended Feb.20, there may be light at the end ofthe tunnel.

Its important to look at themost recent four-week data, whichshow category sales gains in unitsand dollars, points out Bryce Ruiz,president and CEO, Ruiz Foods, Inc.(www.ruizfoods.com), Dinuba, Calif.Perhaps the economy has a brighterhorizon, he says.

FOOD PRIORITIESPart of the reason for the softnessin the category is that basic foodshave to come ahead of appetizers andsnacks in this economy, says Steph-anie Hernan, owner, Yankee raderSeafood (www.yankeetraderseafood.com), Pembroke, Mass.

Frank Benso, vp, Great American

Appetizers (www.appetizer.com),Nampa, Idaho, also believes thatconsumers are putting their atten-tion on the core staples. He says thatthe 12-week period ending Feb. 20includes the year-end holiday season,a time when budgets were tightest.

Category dollar sales in super-markets were down 2.2% to $271.5million and units were o 2.6% to75.3 million in the 12 weeks endedFeb. 20 compared with the same

year-ago period, according to Chica-

go-based market researchrm SymphonyIRI Group.

Shoppers are being morepicky as they look for optionswith both great taste anda better-for-you nutritional

prole, says racey Parsons,spokesperson for Heinz NorthAmerica (www.heinz.com),Pittsburgh.

o meet this demand, Heinzrecently launched a variety ofnew frozen items, includingBagel Bites with whole grain,Ore-Ida sweet potato fries, andnew bowl products that are likea burrito, but unwrapped withoutthe tortilla, under its Delimex brand.

Te new bowl items contain sea-soned rice, strips of beef with creamychipotle sauce or white meat chickenwith cheese sauce.

imely displays and themedevents can drive increases in salesand prots for retailers, accordingto Ruiz. Similar to salty snacks,frozen snack and appetizer salesare impulse buys. Displaying thiscategory during a higher inci-dence of party/sporting eventtimes (such as March Madness,Super Bowl, Daytona 500) willhelp increase category sales,he says.

MORE MAINSTREAMMost manufacturers say thatretail space for the categoryis about the same today as itwas three years ago. What haschanged, according to Ruiz, isthat more space is being dedi-cated to international manu-

facturers that oer Hispanic andAsian varieties. It appears that bothof these food choices are becomingmore mainstream American. In ad-dition, with the low price per ouncefor frozen burritos, coupled withcurrent economic conditions, manyfamilies are purchasing them as acenter of the plate dinner or lunchitem, complementing rice and beansas sides, he says.

Houston-based Windsor Foods(www.windsorfoods.com) is nowmore of a factor in the categorywith the completion in February ofits acquisition of Discovery Foods,Hayward, Calif., manufacturer offrozen Asian snacks, appetizers and

Windsor Foods isnow more of a fac-tor in the categorywith its acquisition ofDiscovery Foods.

El Monterey appetizers require only oneminute in the microwave.

Frozen Specialties recently introduced

three varieties of Mr. Ps Pizza Bites.
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We are excited about thisstrategic transaction, whichexpands our presence in the

Asian frozen food market,says Greg Geib, CEO of Wind-sor Foods.

Laura Grenmyr, brandmanager, Kahiki Foods, Inc.(www.kahiki.com), Gahanna,Ohio, encourages retailersto consider Asian doors tocross-merchandise Asian-stylesnacks such as spring rollsand egg rolls with Asian sin-gle- and multi-serve entrees.Te company recently intro-duced spring roll bites in two avors chicken and bualo-style chicken.

Ideas often lter down fromrestaurants to retail and consumersare open to foods they are seeingin their favorite restaurants, saysHoney Konico, vp-marketing, Phil-lips Foods, Inc. (www.phillipsfoods.com), Baltimore.

Flatbreads area perfect exam-ple of this a

product that hasbeen proven inrestaurants acrossthe country. It isinvading the gro-cery stores now inmany departments from pizza to thebread aisle and now to seafood, shenotes. Phillips launched three sea-food atbread varieties in February bourbon BBQ shrimp, Chesapeakecrab, and asiago and artichoke crab.

DOWNSIZING TRENDSmall plates continue to be popularin foodservice settings and consum-ers are looking for the same type of

variety at home, instead of a largemeal consisting of an entree andside items, says Chris Collias, CEO,Goodwives Hors DOeuvres (www.goodwives.com), Wilmington, Mass.

Collias believes that retailers arerecognizing the shift towards small

plates and smaller meals and have

begun to merchandise frozen ap-petizers/snacks accordingly. Insteadof focusing on party items for theholidays, retailers have begun focus-ing on appetizers/snacks that can besold year-round as meal alternativesor meal solutions, he says.

Many consumers have opted forsmall gatherings rather than large

get-togethers,according toMichele Ad-ams, marketingdirector, CuisineInnovations LLC(www.cuisinein-novations.com),Lakewood, N.J.Te traditional

100-count assortments that cost$17.99+ are not only expensive buttoo many pieces for todays partysize. As a result, the lower-price,smaller-count assort-ments are more attrac-

tive, she says.Retailers should

position appetizers asa fourth meal or any-time food. Te youngergeneration has shifted toa grazing style of eating.At the same time, smallbite-size versions appealto lone diners and couples. Tere isa ne line between appetizers andentrees. odays consumers eat ap-

petizers as meals and have adapted

this mentality to home living,says Adams.

Cuisine Innovations recentlyintroduced kosher assorted gour-met snacks in a 48-count pack-

age under its Cohens brand anda 32-count non-kosher packageunder its Simply Cuisine brand.

Ric Alvarez, president andCEO, Frozen Specialties, Inc.(www.frozenspecialties.com),Holland, Ohio, says that con-

sumers are looking for foods thatwill satisfy their hunger until theirnext regular meal and foods thatthey can enjoy when they relax andhave fun.

ONE-STOP SOLUTIONBecause retailers have so many prod-uct options they are strategicallyworking with their customers to be

viewed as their one-stop solutionfor frozen appetizers and snacks,says Alvarez. Some of the ways thatretailers are doing this is by reduc-ing duplication in the category,maintaining proper segment spaceallocation, remaining committedto long-term private brand develop-

ment, and driving category aware-ness and protability by promotingproducts during times of increasedpurchases, such as March Madnessand the Super Bowl.

Frozen Specialties recently in-troduced three Mr. Ps Pizza Bites:cheese, combination (sausage andpepperoni), and pepperoni, as wellas two new private label Pizza Bites

avors nacho jalap-

Retailers have begunfocusing on appetizers/snacks that can besold year-round asmeal alternatives.

Kahiki recentlylaunched spring roll bites in two

avors chicken and buffalo-style chicken.

Threeseafood at-bread varieties debuted

from Phillips in February.
http://www.kahiki.com/http://www.phillipsfoods.com/http://www.phillipsfoods.com/http://www.goodwives.com/http://www.goodwives.com/http://www.cuisineinnovations.com/http://www.cuisineinnovations.com/http://www.frozenspecialties.com/http://www.frozenspecialties.com/http://www.cuisineinnovations.com/http://www.cuisineinnovations.com/http://www.goodwives.com/http://www.goodwives.com/http://www.phillipsfoods.com/http://www.phillipsfoods.com/http://www.kahiki.com/


39/50

For quality Asian mealthat your customers are sure to

enjoy, visit us at www.waterliliesfood.com

Ask us about our co-packing capabilities


40/50


eno and bualo chicken.Consumers are looking for higherquality products that contain realingredients, says Patrick Conway,president, Mr. Dees, Inc. (www.mr-dees.com), Libertyville, Ill. Tecompany is launching a 38-ouncepotato skin club pack that has real

cheese and nitrate-free bacon underits DeeAmor label and cheezytaters, a 40-ounce club item thathas shredded potato on the outsideand cheese and bacon on the inside,under its Mr. Dees label. A jalapeno

sliced in half and stued with creamcheese and wrapped in bacon in a24- or 30-count bag is in the plan-ning stage.

Several manufacturers say thatthey have seen a big increase inthe demand for private label ap-petizers and snacks. Retailers arewanting core items with a twistunder their own labels, says GreatAmericans Benso.

But otinos Pizza Rolls, the cat-

egorys top-selling brand, contin-ues to score strong increases. MattMcQuinn, marketing manager ofthe brand (www.totinos.com) ofMinneapolis-based General Mills,says that some of the factors drivingotinos growth include strong con-sumer investment, oering multiple

sizes to attract dierent buyers andfocused Hispanic marketing eorts.

Consumers are looking for con-venient, great-tasting snacks withminimal preparation and clean-uptime, according to McQuinn. Tey

also want to see variety in avorsand sizes. When kids come homefrom school they want a tasty, quicksnack that they can prepare them-selves, he says. n

Cuisine Innovations suggests positioningappetizers as a fourth meal or anytimefood, noting that The younger generationhas shifted to a grazing style of eating.

Potato Skins from Mr. Dees are loadedwith Monterey Jack, cheddar cheeseand fully cooked, uncured applewood

smoked bacon.

Times Change.Commitment Doesnt.

CASE CLOSED

800-247-4496 | Zero-Zone.com

Copyright 2011 Zero Zone, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

50

COOLYEARS

MANYMOREINST

OR

E

In 1961, when the founders of

Zero Zone started the company

in a dairy barn in rural

Wisconsin, they focused on

three guiding p rinciples: quality, responsiveness and innovation.

Today, 50 years later, these principles still structure the companys

philosophy and unyielding commitment to customers.

Zero Zone: 50 Cool Years. Many More in Store.
http://www.mr-dees.com/http://www.mr-dees.com/http://www.totinos.com/http://www.totinos.com/http://www.mr-dees.com/http://www.mr-dees.com/


41/50

CATEGORY $ SALES % CHG UNIT SALES % CHG VOLUME % CHG

TOTAL CATEGORY $271,503,800 (2.16) 75,289,840 (2.61) 72,009,150 (0.94)

APPETIZER/SNACK ROLLS

SUB-CATEGORY $255,131,000 (2.15) 69,101,140 (2.80) 66,087,020 (0.83)

Totinos Pizza Rolls $63,360,390 7.11 20,374,440 9.32 22,417,140 6.8

TGI Fridays $32,675,790 17.02 7,753,772 14.39 6,213,078 21

Private Label $20,673,310 (3.08) 5,965,362 (8.26) 5,630,922 (3.66)

Bagel Bites $19,094,490 (7.54) 5,566,477 (6.58) 4,058,470 (2.96)

Jose Ol $17,500,910 2.28 3,749,860 1.91 5,011,762 2.72

Farm Rich $12,108,380 16.10 2,218,594 (3.03) 3,457,105 12.12

El Monterey $9,156,034 (34.24) 1,602,718 (42.41) 2,376,334 (39.04)

Chungs $7,031,698 2.04 2,222,360 1.72 1,712,399 1.26

Delimex $6,500,217 (17.27) 1,015,523 (17.

fd buyer april 2011

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