Dairy Market Trends
The updated 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans pose a tremendous challenge for some dairy processors, as they scurry to reformulate certain product lines to meet the call for healthier foods.
Shelf Pleaser
The updated 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans pose a tremendous challenge for some dairy processors, as they scurry to reformulate certain product lines to meet the call for healthier foods. Between lower-sodium offerings and SKUs making fat-free label claims, these hot-button issues present a host of hurdles for the food manufacturing community.
For cheesemakers, though, this so-called “problem” may just be one of the already-in-place steps in delivering premium, top-quality products time and time again.
That’s why the cheese category continues to increase sales, according to Chicago-based SymphonyIRI Group.
Maintaining naturalness
The natural segment raked in $7.6 billion in sales (up 1.1%) thanks to its top-grossing segments - shredded ($2.6 billion) and chunks ($2.4 billion), SymphonyIRI sales figures show for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 23. Shredded sales (as measured in dollars) were up 2.5%, but chunks declined 2.4%. Other natural cheese categories showing gains were crumbled (6.2%), slices (5.3%), string (4.7%), “all other forms” (3.8%) and refrigerated grated cheese (1.8%). Besides chunks, other natural cheese categories showing a decline in dollar sales were cube (12.6%), shelf-stable grated (2.7%) and ricotta (0.1%).
Certain Kraft SKUs experienced roller-coaster results: sales of some soared while others plummeted. For instance, in the “all other forms” category, Kraft Cracker Barrel brought in 365,368.7% change in sales from last year due to its limited-edition lineup of Holiday Reserve cheese. Sales of the company’s Deli Fresh slices rose 121.4% and Cracker Barrel slices sales increased 14.7%, SymphonyIRI sales statistics show. On the other hand though, the Northfield, Ill., company recorded a 51.3% dip for its Kraft brand slices, a 25.6% drop in sales for its Snackables and a 20.1% decline in sales for its Cracker Barrel string cheese SKUs.
The grated cheese segment also displayed up-and-down results, SymphonyIRI says, with sales for Bella Famiglia brand increasing by 252.5% since last year. But for Crystal Farms, a Lake Mills, Wis.-based division of Michael Foods Co., sales plummeted 37.5% for its pair of grated cheeses in Romano and parmesan kinds.
The crumbled category saw more positive marks with Alouette Cheese, New Holland, Pa., scoring 114.2% in sales for its Alouette brand cheese. This gluten-free crumbled cheese is ideal for salads, omelets, pizza and pasta, comes in blue, goat, gorgonzola and feta flavors and is equipped with a patent-pending resealable shaker top container that allows consumers to shake out the right amount of cheese each time.
Processed cheese melts away
The processed sector eked out a small gain of 0.04% to $2.1 billion in sales, with processed/imitation slices accounting for $1.3 billion in sales, according to SymphonyIRI data. However, sales in the processed/imitation slice segment fell 4.1% overall.
For example, sales of Land O’Lakes SKUs dropped 43.6% since last year, whereas Borden and Veggie Slices from Galaxy Nutritional Foods, North Kingstown, R.I., saw a 9.7% and 6.4% dip in sales, respectively. For its part, sales of Kraft and Kraft Deli Deluxe dropped 31% and 13.9%, respectively.
However, where Kraft faltered, it also made up for it in other areas of the processed cheese category. For instance, sales for its shredded cheese products raked in a whopping 335,651.7%, 69,832.1% for the “all other forms” avenue and 56.3% for its lineup of loaf SKUs.
Other noteworthy sales increases include: Ortega aerosol/squeezable cheese spreads (479.7%); American Accent shredded (110.5%); Shullsberg brand of “all other forms,” produced by Shullsberg Creamery, LLC, Shullsberg, Wis. (38.1%); and Whitehall Specialties brand shredded cheese (40.6%).
Regardless of the issue at hand, the cheese category remains a shelf pleaser for all occasions.
The updated 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans pose a tremendous challenge for some dairy processors, as they scurry to reformulate certain product lines to meet the call for healthier foods. Between lower-sodium offerings and SKUs making fat-free label claims, these hot-button issues present a host of hurdles for the food manufacturing community.
For cheesemakers, though, this so-called “problem” may just be one of the already-in-place steps in delivering premium, top-quality products time and time again.
That’s why the cheese category continues to increase sales, according to Chicago-based SymphonyIRI Group.
Maintaining naturalness
The natural segment raked in $7.6 billion in sales (up 1.1%) thanks to its top-grossing segments - shredded ($2.6 billion) and chunks ($2.4 billion), SymphonyIRI sales figures show for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 23. Shredded sales (as measured in dollars) were up 2.5%, but chunks declined 2.4%. Other natural cheese categories showing gains were crumbled (6.2%), slices (5.3%), string (4.7%), “all other forms” (3.8%) and refrigerated grated cheese (1.8%). Besides chunks, other natural cheese categories showing a decline in dollar sales were cube (12.6%), shelf-stable grated (2.7%) and ricotta (0.1%).
Certain Kraft SKUs experienced roller-coaster results: sales of some soared while others plummeted. For instance, in the “all other forms” category, Kraft Cracker Barrel brought in 365,368.7% change in sales from last year due to its limited-edition lineup of Holiday Reserve cheese. Sales of the company’s Deli Fresh slices rose 121.4% and Cracker Barrel slices sales increased 14.7%, SymphonyIRI sales statistics show. On the other hand though, the Northfield, Ill., company recorded a 51.3% dip for its Kraft brand slices, a 25.6% drop in sales for its Snackables and a 20.1% decline in sales for its Cracker Barrel string cheese SKUs.
The grated cheese segment also displayed up-and-down results, SymphonyIRI says, with sales for Bella Famiglia brand increasing by 252.5% since last year. But for Crystal Farms, a Lake Mills, Wis.-based division of Michael Foods Co., sales plummeted 37.5% for its pair of grated cheeses in Romano and parmesan kinds.
The crumbled category saw more positive marks with Alouette Cheese, New Holland, Pa., scoring 114.2% in sales for its Alouette brand cheese. This gluten-free crumbled cheese is ideal for salads, omelets, pizza and pasta, comes in blue, goat, gorgonzola and feta flavors and is equipped with a patent-pending resealable shaker top container that allows consumers to shake out the right amount of cheese each time.
Processed cheese melts away
The processed sector eked out a small gain of 0.04% to $2.1 billion in sales, with processed/imitation slices accounting for $1.3 billion in sales, according to SymphonyIRI data. However, sales in the processed/imitation slice segment fell 4.1% overall.
For example, sales of Land O’Lakes SKUs dropped 43.6% since last year, whereas Borden and Veggie Slices from Galaxy Nutritional Foods, North Kingstown, R.I., saw a 9.7% and 6.4% dip in sales, respectively. For its part, sales of Kraft and Kraft Deli Deluxe dropped 31% and 13.9%, respectively.
However, where Kraft faltered, it also made up for it in other areas of the processed cheese category. For instance, sales for its shredded cheese products raked in a whopping 335,651.7%, 69,832.1% for the “all other forms” avenue and 56.3% for its lineup of loaf SKUs.
Other noteworthy sales increases include: Ortega aerosol/squeezable cheese spreads (479.7%); American Accent shredded (110.5%); Shullsberg brand of “all other forms,” produced by Shullsberg Creamery, LLC, Shullsberg, Wis. (38.1%); and Whitehall Specialties brand shredded cheese (40.6%).
Regardless of the issue at hand, the cheese category remains a shelf pleaser for all occasions.
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