
New Day Dawning
by Julie Cook Ramirez
Technology lets processors make light ice cream
products that finally meet consumer expectations.
Ice cream is one of those
venerable favorites that people turn to on hot summer days, at birthday
parties and other celebrations, or whenever they feel the need to treat
themselves to a little bit of indulgence.
And when it comes to ice cream, that word —
indulgence — is key. When people look to ice cream, they want to
indulge.
In recent years, manufacturers have ratcheted up the
indulgence factor, developing increasingly decadent offerings, dubbed
premium, superpremium, even ultra-premium. Perhaps that’s why light
ice cream — by definition, ice cream products containing 50 percent
less total fat than standard ice cream, which contains a minimum of 10
percent milkfat — has typically been met with little enthusiasm on
the part of consumers.
Granted, some light ice creams — most notably
Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand Light — have attracted a loyal
following. As a whole, however, light ice cream has failed to live up to
consumers’ indulgence expectations.
“The reason those products failed is because of
the taste and texture compromise,” says Gulbin Hoeberechts, senior
marketing manager, Häagen-Dazs, Oakland, Calif. “People are
looking for healthier alternatives, but they are not willing to compromise
on the quality, on the indulgence.”
In a 2004 survey of more than 1,200 consumers by Phil
Lempert (an industry analyst known as The Supermarket Guru), texture,
consistency and taste emerged as the top three factors for dissatisfaction
with light products. Still, consumers have longed for ice cream products
that deliver on expectations, while allowing them to stick to their diets.
Thus, they have remained open to the idea of light ice cream and always
seemed willing to give new products a shot, in the eternal quest for a
product that cuts out some of the fat, enabling them to slim their
waistlines, while reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer.
“More and more, consumers are recognizing the
need to eat better,” says Adam Baumgartner, marketing manager for
frozen better-for-you, Wells’ Dairy Inc., Le Mars, Iowa. “There’s been a switch in the consumer base to say, ‘Even with ice cream, I know I need to
eat a little better than I do today.’”
In recent years, light ice cream production has
increased significantly. According to the International Ice Cream
Association at the Washington, D.C.-based International Dairy Foods
Association (IDFA), 373.9 million gallons of lowfat and non-fat ice cream
were produced in 2003. That’s up 3.8 percent from 2002’s 359.6
million gallons. If the new introductions currently being touted by ice
cream manufacturers live up to their hype, those figures will likely be
just the tip of the ice(cream)berg.
TOP 10 ICE CREAM BRANDS* | ||||
$ Sales(In Millions) |
% Changevs. Year Ago |
Unit Sales(In Millions) |
% Changevs. Year Ago |
|
Total Category | $4,010.2 | 2.3% | 1,222.7 | -0.6% |
Private Label | 836.1 | -2.6 | 289.7 | -8.6 |
Breyers | 530.2 | -1.7 | 152.8 | -1.5 |
Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand | 426.3 | 11.4 | 127.2 | 15.6 |
Blue Bell | 246.7 | 4.0 | 75.7 | 2.2 |
Häagen-Dazs | 212.7 | 14.3 | 63.8 | 15.9 |
Ben & Jerry’s | 181.3 | -2.3 | 57.7 | -3.7 |
Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand Light | 135.0 | 62.0 | 37.5 | 67.8 |
Wells’ Blue Bunny | 103.4 | -2.2 | 28.1 | -1.1 |
Turkey Hill | 94.0 | 9.5 | 32.9 | 10.8 |
Dreyer’s/Edy’s | 78.6 | 7.6 | 21.5 | 10.1 |
* Total sales in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers, excluding Wal-Mart, for the52-week period ending January 23, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc. |
“The category has really taken off because
manufacturers have found better ways and better ingredients to make better
products that consumers are trying and returning to because they’re
that good,” Baumgartner says.
Technology Triumphs
A bevy of recent technological improvements have made
it possible to produce light ice cream products that taste remarkably
similar to their full-fat counterparts. Leading the charge has been
Oakland, Calif.-based Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Holdings Inc., which
claims to have invented light ice cream in 1987. The only light ice cream
to place in the top 10 best-selling ice cream brands, according to
Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Dreyer’s/Edy’s
Grand Light racked up impressive gains last year.
Dreyer’s light ice cream sales in 2004 surged 68
percent, the company announced in a press release late last month, an
achievement largely credited to the company’s new “slow
churned” technology that promises to make light ice cream that tastes
as good as full-fat premium and super-premium product.
The proprietary low-temperature freezing technology
“kneads fat molecules at a colder temperature, stretching and
distributing them widely, so the ice cream tastes like it contains more
butterfat,” the company reports. What’s more, the process
involves no fat substitutes or artificial sweeteners.
According to T. Gary Rogers, chairman and chief
executive officer, Dreyer’s invested $100 million in bringing this
new method of ice cream-making to the American consumer, and it seems to be
paying off. In blind taste tests, nearly eight out of 10 consumers said they believed they were eating a
full-fat premium or superpremium ice cream when given a sample of light ice
cream manufactured with
the new technology.
Backed by the largest marketing campaign in
Dreyer’s history, the ice cream formerly known as
Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand Light — now renamed Slow Churned
Light Ice Cream — is available in a wide variety of flavors.
“The upside potential of the untapped light ice
cream market is staggering,” Rogers says. “We project our 2005
growth will rival that of 2004, and we predict that Slow Churned Light Ice
Cream sales will grow to rival our full-fat ice cream sales by 2007.
That’s a revolution.”
So much so that Dreyer’s parent Nestlé is
using similar technology to make the first-ever light version of its
Häagen-Dazs brand, legendary for its decadence. The new version has
half the fat of the original, but its flavor and texture remain true to the
Häagen-Dazs legacy. “Over the years, consumers have told us that
the one thing they would change about Häagen-Dazs is remove some of
the fat,” Hoeberechts says.
Sold in 16-oz. pint cartons in grocery stores
nationwide, Häagen-Dazs Light is available in seven flavors: Vanilla
Bean, Dutch Chocolate, Coffee, Dulce de Leche, Mint Chip, S’Mores and
Cherry Fudge Truffle. It’s also marketed as a superpremium ice cream,
despite the fact that this terminology traditionally has been used to
describe product containing the highest fat content.
Raising The Bar
Across the board, the better-for-you proposition has
emerged in the forefront at Green Bay, Wis.-based Good Humor-Breyers Ice
Cream. The company has unveiled a line of “smart” ice cream and
frozen novelty products, including an assortment of “low-free”
products, sold as HeartSmart™. Ninety-eight percent fat-free,
containing 1.5 fat grams per half-cup serving, Breyers®
HeartSmart™ scooped ice cream is available in Vanilla,
Vanilla/Chocolate/Strawberry, Cookies & Cream and Chocolate Fudge
Brownie. Novelties include Fudge Bars and Orange & Raspberry Fruit
& Cream Bars, which combine lowfat ice cream with fruit sherbet.
In response to research revealing that 66 percent of
carb-conscious consumers are also seeking products that are lower in fat,
the company introduced Breyers CarbSmart™ Light Vanilla Fudge Sundae
and Breyers CarbSmart Light Chocolate Peanut Butter, two light ice creams
containing 4 grams of net carbs per serving.
Good Humor-Breyers has also extended its commitment to
reduced-fat products into the foodservice arena with Breyers Swirls, a new
shelf-stable soft-serve mix that contains 25 percent less fat than regular
ice cream. According to Dan Hammer, vice president of marketing and
development, its lowfat profile makes it ideal for school or health care
foodservice.
Cleveland-based Pierre’s French Ice Cream Co. met
consumer demand for light products with the introduction of Slender® No
Sugar Added Reduced Fat Ice Cream. The line features classic flavors like
Vanilla and Chocolate as well as indulgent varieties like Moose
Tracks®.
Since its debut in the fall of 2002, Slender® has
proven to be such a success that Pierre’s recently introduced a line
of Slender frozen novelties — Vanilla & Chocolate Ice Cream
Sandwiches, Ice Cream Bars and Sundae Cones.
Wells’ Dairy, meanwhile, partnered with Weight
Watchers International Inc. to produce and distribute a line of frozen
novelties and ice cream under the Weight Watchers® brand. These new
offerings join Wells’ own extensive better-for-you lines, including
Health Smart fat-free ice cream and novelties and Sweet Freedom no-sugar
added, reduced-fat novelties.
“Manufacturers have stepped up the game because
consumers are demanding indulgent options that are in some way healthier
for them,” Baumgartner says. “They are saying, ‘Give me
as much as possible, while still letting it be better for me.’”
Julie Cook Ramirez is a freelance journalist based in
the Chicago area.
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