October-November 2021 - 16

Several types of breakfast sandwiches
are offered by EA Sween's Deli Express
line.
EA Sween
consumer research and utilize
research from several outside
sources to better understand
consumer behaviors, buying
behavior, industry trends and
category trends. "
Because many food suppliers are
Grab-and-go
breakfast burritos
and sandwiches from
Alpha Foods are made with
meatless sausage, plant egg and
unable to deliver products on time and
the shortage of fresh foods in various
markets, EA Sween's sales have taken
off over the past year.
As things have evolved
over the past year and
a half we have started
to shift back to normal
where consumers are
on the go and looking for
fast prepackaged food
they feel safe eating. "
Abby Ostlund, EA Sween
Sween marketing manager Abby Ostlund.
" At the onset during lockdowns,
we saw a shift away from eating on the
go as people were stuck at home and
not commuting to and from an office.
As things have evolved over the past
year and a half we have started to shift
back to normal where consumers are
on the go and looking for fast prepackaged
food they feel safe eating. "
As more operators seek sales data
to help them decide which products
to include in their plan-o-grams, Eden
Prairie, MN-based EA Sween can
provide Nielsen information regarding
top-selling varieties, best-product
mixes and fastest-growing varieties,
among other rank categories.
" We use Nielsen data across the
board to understand overall category
performance, competitive performance,
trends, growth areas, new
opportunities and best-selling items, "
Ostlund said. " We also conduct our
16 Automatic Merchandiser
KETO SANDWICH
Keto is now America's favorite diet.
See for yourself by searching for the
" most popular diet trends " on Google
and you'll likely find that Americans
are more interested in keto than any
other diet. The ketogenic diet, high in
fat and low in carbs, however, can be
challenging to follow. With restrictions
on what one is permitted to eat
and what they cannot eat, keto meal
and snack options may be limited.
But now there's a convenient keto
option in vending and micro markets
from Cheesewich, a family-owned
company based in Hodgkins, IL. The
original breadless sandwich snack,
vacuumed packed, consists of two
slices of cheese with salami. Available
cheeses include colby jack, pepper
jack, cheddar and provolone. Cheesewich
products are enjoying brisk sales,
according to the company's marketing
manager, Sarah Nesci, who reported a
30% sales increase year over year.
The five-year-old company's new
Breakfast Taco, which began shipping
Cheesewich's keto-friendly Breakfast
Taco is made with turkey bacon, colby jack
cheese, an egg patty and flour tortilla.
Cheesewich
dairy-free cheese.
Alpha Foods
in in September, is made with turkey
bacon, colby jack cheese, an egg patty
and flour tortilla. This keto breakfast
sandwich needs only 25 seconds in
a microwave to heat. Also available
is the Uncured Turkey Baconwich,
made by wrapping all-natural uncured
turkey bacon around mozzarella
cheese. These two products possess
low-moisture content and use hearty
string cheeses.
PLANT FORWARD
More and more convenience customers
are interested in healthy, plantbased
alternatives to start the day,
according to data from Label Insight,
a NielsonIQ company. To see which
breakfast foods increased in popularity
during the pandemic, the CPG
data source analyzed online searches.
In the breakfast meal and sandwich
categories, search volume augmented
for product features like " healthy, "
" veggie, " " ketogenic, " " low carb " and
" gluten-free. " In the cereal category,
such characteristics as " organic, "
" paleo, " " sugar free " and " high fiber "
rose. Searches for frozen breakfast
sandwiches and meals soared 311%
in 2020.
Positioning with the plant-based
and vegan movements, Peet's Coffee
together with Beyond Meat and Just
Egg launched the Everything plantbased
sandwich, which began selling
at Peet's stores this past spring. Last
year, Starbucks Corp. made its first
move into vegan meat with its vegetarian
Impossible Breakfast Sandwich.
And one year ago, convenience store
chain Wawa rolled out its Beyond
October-November 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October-November 2021
