Prepared Foods - March 2009 - (Page 39)

2009 New Products Annual soups and side dishes Steady Growth in Soups and Side Dishes ■ ■ ■ ■ “Natural” claims in Aseptic packaging set some apart More side dishes are steamed Convenience is still king Tom Vierhile, Datamonitor T here is an old Chinese proverb that says, “May you live in interesting times.” That proverb (and curse) turned prophetic in 2008, as marketers of soups and side dishes began the year with worries over sky-high commodity prices and ended the year with a stock market plunge and a spooked consumer base. Ironically, soup cemented its position as the ultimate comfort food during the last part of 2008, with standardbearer Campbell Soup the only stock among the Standard & Poor’s 500 to gain value on September 28, 2008. That day saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average endure its worst trading day since September 17, 2001 and the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks. The side dish market also proved to be energetic in 2008, as it enjoyed growing interest from consumers moving from pricey restaurant fare to affordable meal solutions in supermarkets. To those who remember the supermarket industry’s fixation with meal solutions a decade or so ago, this evoked a sense of déjà vu. This time, however, meal solution makers were not fighting a seemingly endless rise in out-of-home food sales vs. foods purchased for in-home preparation and consumption. November marked the sixth straight month of negative same-store restaurant sales, according to the National One serving of Campbell’s V8 Golden Butternut Squash Soup “provides 20% of the MyPyramid USDA daily vegetable recommendations,” according to the company’s website. The aseptic package differentiates the soup from others, as well as optimizes shelf space. Restaurant Association. Supermarkets have been picking up some of the slack, with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting a 6.1% gain in supermarket sales for the first 10 months of 2008 vs. the same period in 2007. Clearly, consumers are preparing more meals at home, as eating out has become less affordable. Soup: A Steady Performer General economic trends aside, the soup market has long been a steady performer on the new products front. Datamonitor reported 308 new soup product launches in the U.S. in 2008, a modest gain from 2007’s count of 273 new soup products and slightly above the average yearly new product count since 2000. But, what was going on beneath the new product numbers was more indicative of where the soup market was headed. The new product numbers may not have changed much, but product claims have, as soup has been recast in a healthier light. www.PreparedFoods.com ● March 2009 39 http://www.PreparedFoods.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Prepared Foods - March 2009

Prepared Foods - March 2009 Contents MarketWatch 2009 Spirit of Innovation Awards Meals on Demand Baked Goods: Baked in 2008 Growth in Soups and Side Dishes Beverages: Defending Drinks Cereals: At the Bars Snacks Dealing with Dairy On the Sauce: Sauces and Dressings Abstracts R&D Trends: Update on Healthy Ingredients

Prepared Foods - March 2009

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