Milling & Baking News - July 22, 2014 - 21

effect this month.
"Simply Chex has a short list of simple ingredients and less fat than traditional snack chips," she said. "This
summer we are introducing Nature
Valley Crisps with 16 grams of whole
grain per serving. Yogurt also makes
for nutritious snacks, and we see good
growth opportunities ahead for our
kid-oriented yogurt varieties."
Beyond high school, college students are becoming more and more
interested in gluten-free food options. With this in mind, Ms. Quam
said General Mills has been promoting the gluten-free aspect of its current product lines such as Chex cereal,
Larabar and Food Should Taste Good.
Later this year the company will add
more gluten-free Chex cereal varieties to college and university cafeterias
across the United States.
"We are seeing more campuses
opening their own convenience stores
with extended hours allowing students to use their meal plans to make
food purchases whenever they want,"
she said. "We see great opportunities
for our snacks portfolio in this growing channel."
Convenience on the come
General Mills' convenience store
business also has been on the rise, increasing at a 9% compound rate over
the past six years, Ms. Quam said.
The company's core business in the
convenience store channel is salty

snacks, and she indicated that it's not
all about chocolate in the convenience
channel.
"This channel is skewed toward
young men and they like bold flavors,"
Ms. Quam said. "In 2014, we launched
Chex Chips in flavors like wasabi and
cheddar jalapeño. This fall we will
launch Totino's Pizza Chips. And for
consumers who prefer a sweet snack,
we launched Pillsbury's soft cookies
in C-stores earlier this calendar year,
and they are already turning in the top
third of their category."
General Mills is currently in about
50,000 C-stores across the country,
and Ms. Quam said the company will
continue to increase distribution and
strengthen its portfolio. To that end,
the company is partnering with Crossmark Brokerage to enter an additional
50,000 convenient store locations.
"We have a strong arsenal of sales
capabilities and consumer insight
tools we bring to our customers, and
these capabilities have been recognized externally," she said. "In the
latest Advantage survey, which is
completed every two years by C-store
distributors and retailers, General
Mills ranked as the No. 4 food manufacturer, marking a significant increase
from previous years. As a matter of
fact, the only people ahead of us were
those candy companies."
She pointed to General Mills' entry into ready-to-eat baked goods as
an example of how the company is

converting its capabilities into action.
"We know that C-store consumers
are looking for baked goods in the
morning as the packaged bakery category generates nearly $2 billion in
sales," she said. "We have been testing several baked goods products
with a national C-store customer with
great results, so a new line of Pillsbury
ready-to-eat bakery products will hit
shelves later this year."
By innovating in the fastest-growing food service channels, Ms. Quam
said General Mills sees great opportunities to grow its business in fiscal
2015 and beyond.
Fast-food fuel
General Mills also is driving growth
by partnering with key restaurant
customers. Earlier this month McDonald's began offering GoGurt yogurt in
a tube in its Happy Meals. This is a side
option in Happy Meals at 14,000 McDonald's locations across the United
States. Ms. Quam said General Mills
expects to sell "millions of tubes" of
GoGurt through McDonald's in the
next 52 weeks.
"This will be significant incremental volume for us in 2015 but it is
also a great sampling opportunity for
GoGurt, and when you include the
advertising McDonald's will be doing
to support this initiative, this partnership will provide millions and millions of impressions for our GoGurt
brand," she said. MBN

McKee introducing Little
Debbie muffins for c-stores
COLLEGEDALE, TENN. - McKee
Foods Corp. is introducing singleserve premium muffins under the
Little Debbie brand. The muffins
will be available in banana nut and
blueberry flavors and will be sold
in convenience stores, beginning in
September.
The company said the product
is designed specifically for convenience-store shoppers seeking an
"on-the-go snack."
Citing Nielsen data, McKee said
muffins represent a $155 million
segment in the baked sweet goods
category in convenience stores.
While noting the category experienced a small decline in the 52 weeks
ended June 7, McKee said the Little
Debbie brand is "known for making a positive impact on sales and
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

profits" when it enters a
category.
"Little Debbie is the No.
1 baked sweet goods brand
in convenience stores and
one of the leading brands
of muffins in supermarkets
and supercenters," said
Chuck Clevenger, Little
Debbie snacks product
manager. "We are combining our expertise in muffins with the direct store
service of our independent distributor network to grow sales and profits
for the convenience store channel."
Sold in 48 count cases of 4-oz packages, the single-serve muffins have a suggested retail price of $1.59 per muffin
and a suggested wholesale price of 95c.
Little Debbie's current product

line includes chocolate chip and
blueberry flavors of mini-muffins
and chocolate chip, blueberry and
banana nut muffins sold in multiserve packages. Other products include brownies, cakes, cookies, donuts, pastries, pieces, snack bars and
seasonal snacks. MBN
Milling & Baking News July 22, 2014 / 21

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Milling & Baking News - July 22, 2014

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