Of all the factors driving food purchases today, the spotlight perhaps shines brightest on fibre and high-quality protein, two trends significantly impacting cereal, meat and eggs — categories vital to the breakfast daypart.
The “need for protein” is a top trend Jennifer S. Johnson, Senior Product Manager-breakfast meat at Austin, Minnesota-based Hormel Foods, says the company has identified. The American Egg Board (AEB), based in Park Ridge, Illinois., has also identified protein as a key player in this year’s culinary lineup.
“Protein at all meals, especially breakfast, will be the power play of 2013,” according to a list of top trends the AEB and Egg Nutrition Center (ENC) compiled with the help of the NPD Group, based in Port Washington, New York., and AEB culinary advisor and research chef Walter Zuromski. According to Zuromski, formulators targeting consumers who skip breakfast or look for convenient nutritional alternatives can easily incorporate extra protein in microwaveable, portable breakfast bowls or hand-held meal solutions.
Although cereal sales have been somewhat flat over the past decade, category innovation is invigorating cereal’s reputation as a healthy breakfast choice. Between 2005 and 2011, ready-to-eat cereal’s nutritional profile dramatically improved, according to recent trends in ready-to-eat breakfast cereals in the US a study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and involving researchers from the USDA, General Mills and The Kellogg Co. Data from the study shows that in 2011, whole grain ingredients were found in at least two-thirds of cereals from General Mills, based in Minneapolis, and Battle Creek, Michigan-based Kellogg. The amount of fibre increased by 32 percent on average, while sugar and sodium decreased on average by 10 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
The popularity of eggs is on the upswing as consumers recognise the protein they deliver and the health benefits they bring. As AEB notes, “High-quality protein, found in foods like eggs, is the secret to staying fuller longer, helping people trim calories and their waistlines.”
Past worries are also falling by the wayside.“Egg consumption fell precipitously from about 375 eggs per person per year in 1950 to about 230 eggs person per year in 1990,” recalls Oklahoma State University professor Dr. Jayson Lusk, an expert in predicting and understanding consumer food purchasing behaviour. “But consumption has subsequently rebounded and is today around 250 eggs per person per year. Older concerns about cholesterol have been replaced with a recognition of the nutritional benefits of egg consumption.”
There has also been what Lusk calls “an explosion in choice at the retail level” where eggs are concerned. He cites innovations in packaging, nutritional content (the addition of omega-3s), egg colour, production method (cage-free, organic and free-range), and other claims, including fertile, natural and vegan-fed, as category trends. “The market share for organic and cage-free eggs, while small, continues to rise at a significant pace,” he adds.
Hidden Villa Ranch, Eggland’s Best, Sparboe Farms and The Happy Egg Co. are among those companies focussing on cage-free egg production.Fullerton, California-based Hidden Villa offers all cage-free eggs, including recently introduced NestFresh Pasture Raised eggs from hens that are raised by family farmers and have 25 square feet per hen of space to roam, and Nature Fed eggs, the first Non-GMO Project Verified egg brand in the United States.
Eggland’s Best, in Jeffersonville, Pennsylvania offers cage-free as well as white, brown and organic eggs, all with 115 milligrams of omega-3 and produced by hens fed an all-natural, all-vegetarian diet. And Sparboe Farms, based in Litchfield, Minnesota, offers a broad platform of white and specialty eggs, including brown eggs from hens that eat an all-vegetarian diet with no added hormones or antibiotics; Cage-Free Brown Plus eggs with 250 milligrams of omega-3, 300 micrograms of lutein, and vitamin E; and organic brown eggs certified organic by the Global Organic Alliance.
Retail data from major North American markets, in fact, shows cage-free egg sales doubled between 2004 and 2008, with a 55 percent increase in market share for organic eggs in the past year and a half alone.
Protein-rich meats haven’t fallen out of favour with consumers.“In the first quarter of 2013, total pounds of pork sold at retail were up 9.9 percent over first quarter last year, and total dollars in sales were up 4.7 percent,” says Chris Novak, CEO of the Des Moines, Iowa-based National Pork Board. “Average retail price was down due to higher supplies, but the increased volume more than offset the decrease in average price.”
Bacon — which the board says 53 percent of all households report always having on hand in the kitchen — remains a breakfast staple.
To satisfy consumers’ preferences for convenient, high-quality, flavourful protein, the company offers Hormel Black Label bacon and Hormel Cure 81 ham products. Johnson says shoppers seeking alternative nutritional profiles can turn to Hormel Black Label lower-sodium bacon, which comes in a microwave-ready variety as well as a fully cooked option consumers can eat right out of the package. And last year, Hormel Cure 81 introduced pre-cooked ham steaks for single servings, and packages of pre-cooked cubed or diced ham that can be easily added to breakfast recipes.
Today’s consumers are embracing Greek yogurt brands — a major catalyst for category growth. According to the March 2013 Packaged Facts report, The Yogurt Market and Yogurt Innovation: Greek Yogurt and Beyond (www.packagedfacts.com/Yogurt-Innovation-Greek-7206794/), retail dollar sales of Greek yogurt in the US market increased more than 50 percent in 2012 to reach $1.6 billion, with significant gains in the mass-market, natural and specialty retail channels.
The Sundale Research report Yogurt and Cottage Cheese in the US (www.sundaleresearch.com/Yogurt_Cottage_Cheese.html) echoes those findings. “From 2007 to 2012, US shipments of yogurt grew by an average of 6.2 percent per year, and even stronger growth is anticipated through 2016,” the report says, noting that Greek yogurt has been a strong driver of yogurt sales.
Yogurt — the food Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst at The NPD Group, in Port Washington, New York, recently dubbed the “food of the decade” — fits the profile of the healthy, lean, protein-rich foods more and more consumers are seeking.
Now, thanks to myriad yogurt products from the likes of Chobani, Karoun Dairies, Klondike Cheese Co. and Muller Quaker Dairy in response to consumer demand, retailers have more opportunity than ever to capitalise on the yogurt craze.
Retailers wondering how long yogurt’s performance will shine have only to look at industry predictions to see that the category holds promise for the next several years.
Rockville, Maryland-based Packaged Facts forecasts that US retail sales of yogurt will approach $9.3 billion by 2017, and predicts Greek yogurt will continue to post gains and set the direction for the overall yogurt market, though likely at a slower pace than it has over the past year.
Overall sales of frozen food have gone cold, with paltry 0.3 percent growth from 2011 to 2012, but one segment is warming up the category: the frozen breakfast segment — which includes waffles, hand-held items, entrées, other breakfast foods, bagels, muffins and egg substitutes — generated more than $1.7 billion in sales during the 52 weeks ending June 10, 2012, representing a 4 percent gain over the previous year.
That data, from the October 2012 Packaged Facts report Frozen Foods in the U.S, 4th Edition, underscores the important role frozen breakfast products can play in boosting the entire category at retail.
According to the report, 27 percent of US households use frozen breakfast items, a 3 percent increase from 2008. Families with children age 12 to 17 are 73 percent more likely to buy frozen breakfast entrées/sandwiches. Waffles are the largest frozen breakfast category, representing a 36.5 percent share, followed by breakfast hand-held foods, at more than 25 percent, and breakfast entrées, at 24 percent, the
report revealed.
