A Hot Category Cools Off
PHOTO : Al & Reed's All Natural Ice Cream is made with fresh cream, skimmed milk, potato flakes, apple concentrate, vanilla, natural flavorings, locust bean gum and a fructose sweetener.Often the battle is waged with slotting allowances. And often the companies with the most to spend are the most successful. So Ben & Jerry's tries to avoid paying the high fees by doing its own promotions. For example, Strong says, the company samples its product with a "Cowmobile" that roams the streets of major cities.More astonishing than the number of new items, are the temptations emerging from their developers' imaginations.The tri-flavored bullet-shaped ice pops are made with 10 percent fruit juice, fortified with vitamin C and are slightly softer than most water ices, Luther says. But they're successful because they are "a totally new product," says Luther, who notes that most "new" novelties are extensions of existing products.But juice bars aren't the only segment feeling the squeeze. Experts see General Mills' decision to put Vroman Foods on the block as a further indication that the category is cooling off."Consumers are becoming cognizant that tropical oils are something you don't want to ingest. And they are taking a hard look at the ingredient labels on packaging," says Larry Hable, national sales manager for Eskimo. The company began developing the new product in January and introduced it to retailers at the Food Marketing Institute show last month in Chicago. Each 2.5-ounce bar contains 140 calories and has 66 percent less saturated fat and 35 percent less cholesterol than the regular Eskimo Pie bar.Ben & Jerry's, Waterbury, Vt., also has taken a growing interest in novelties and has dedicated a new novelty plant to prove it. "It's going to be a significant part of our business, whether the category as a whole is growing or not," says Jerry Greenfield, co-founder.Billed as a "soft frozen drink bar," the Citrus Snowburst bars come in lemon and orange flavors and have a creamy texture similar to frozen drinks, Buivid notes. Each bar has only 45 calories and contains no fat or cholesterol.A rigorous definition of "dessert" would limit the category to puddings and toppings of the sort often applied to ice cream. Many would consider ice cream itself typical dessert fare. Desserts are also found in the bakery category, making growth difficult to track in absolute numbers. Selling Areas-Marketing Inc. (SAMI) data does, however, illustrate trends evidenced by actual new product offerings.Companies most likely to weather the storm are not just the strongest, but the ones that recognize consumers' paradoxical taste for both light and luxury products. In the world of frozen novelties, the same consumer who feasts on superpremium ice cream bars will come back for reduced-calorie pops later, industry observers note.But others, like Klondike's McGrath, believe consumers are less concerned about tropical oil than taste. He says the vanilla Klondike bar is the No.1 selling ice cream bar. Based on that, the company has plans to introduce a new superpremium ice cream bar this summer.West Coast restaurateurs have also noted the increased popularity of dessert foods. Carlo Karim, food and beverage director at Los Angeles' Beverly Hilton speculates Californians are eating more sweets because so many have adopted a more health-conscious life-style. The Biltmore's catering director, Sue Cameron, adds that as desserts have become more sophisticated, so have customers' palates. Rising expectations are influencing demand for dessert items eaten at home or away.Other convenience desserts included Pepperidge Farm's (Norwalk, Conn.) microwaveable Boston Cream Pie, Mississippi Mud Pie, and Amherst Apple Crumb Coffee Cake American Collection desserts.A cold front has moved into the frozen novelty category, wiping out the double-digit sales growth of the early '80s and putting the chill on new product introductions.Dinosaurs by far provided the most popular new shapes on the cookie shelves in 1988. Country Oven (Cincinnati) released Prehistoric Dinosaur Honey Graham cookies nationwide, and Dairy State Foods (Milwaukee) introduced Cookie-O-Saurus. General Biscuit Brands (Elizabeth, N.J.) chose a 10-state push to introduce Salerno Dinosaur Grrrahams in six detailed shapes, and Ralston Purina (St. Louis) chose Green Bay, Wis., to test Dinersaurs cookies and crackers. Westbrae Natural Foods (Emeryville, Calif.) unleashed four shapes of Dino Snaps Animal Cookies, and Sunshine Biscuit introduced chocolate Cookiesaurus cookies in six shapes.The good news is that despite the personal health-consciousness and continuing strong interest in low-salt, low-calorie, low-cholesterol, high-fiber and "lite" foods, U.S. adults have begun to savor after-meal sweets--again.Steve's Homemade Ice Cream (Boston, Mass.) offered consumers an incentive and a way to deal with their overindulgence guilt: A portion of the profit from Make-A-Wish ice cream bars goes to support that foundation. Ben & Jerry's Homemade (Waterbury, Vt.) pledged part of its Peace Pops profit to a non-profit antiwar organization.In the wake of those mega-deals, a much tougher market awaits regional food makers. Already hard-pressed to pay expensive retail slotting allowances, smaller processors now compete with national brands held in fewer, stronger hands. Survival requires tenacity, a niche market to sell in, and an adult dose of pent-up demand.Taco-shaped ice cream cones and dinosaur cookies serve surreal images to the dieter's dream.In the frozen dairy case, many new products make low-fat and low-cholesterol claims, but many observers suspect that such products target, and are purchased by, the same consumers that buy the most sinfully scrumptious chocolate cake, or cookie.That's why Isaly Klondike, Dove International and Eskimo Pie--all traditionally known for rich ice cream novelties--are introducing light versions.Microwave convenience played a larger role in the introduction of several new baking mixes. Food Pak (Tulsa, Okla.) introduced Puddin' On The Ritz pie fillings in local supermarkets, and General Mills (Minneapolis) released "MicroRave" brownie and cake mixes into national distribution. Sara Lee (Deerfield, Ill.) released three varieties of microwaveable snack pies into national distribution.Alan Reed expects to have Al & Reeds All Natural Ice Cream available in an additional five states--Illinois, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Indiana--by summer. The company also is considering marketing pints of the product in the East.Most manufacturers see the sales decline as an inevitable correction in a market that over-expanded. Marshall Luther, president of Vroman Foods, Minneapolis, says the category is simply "settling down." And while he acknowledges his company has been losing money in recent years, he says its new Trix Pops are "surpassing expectations" even without advertising support.As the category has evolved over the past decade, Buivid notes, adult novelties have experienced tremendous growth. The company is aiming at that market with its newest novelties: Citrus Snow-burst drink bars and Baker's Fudge-tastic ice-cream sundaes on-a-stick.Nutrasweet (Skokie, Ill.) released its sugar-free Eskimo Pie, sold on a stick in six-bar packs. Using aspartame, General Foods cut the calories of its Crystal Light Cool 'N Creamy dessert bars to less than 50 each, and Gold Bond Ice Cream (Green Bay, Wis.) brought out Creamsicles with only 25 calories per pop.
Often the battle is waged with slotting allowances. And often the companies with the most to spend are the most successful. So Ben & Jerry's tries to avoid paying the high fees by doing its own promotions. For example, Strong says, the company samples its product with a "Cowmobile" that roams the streets of major cities.
Author: Ann Meyer
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