Category: Canned & Preserved Foods

Nestlé’s Stouffer’s line has carved out a dominant presence in frozen comfort foods with meals such as lasagna, chicken enchiladas and beef pot roast. Now, the company is hoping to bring that success to shelf-stable products.

The brand is making its first foray into the space this month with Stouffer’s Supreme Shells & Cheese in two flavors: Cheddar Cheese and Three Cheese. Additional innovations are expected to reach the market starting in 2025.

“We want to shake up the aisle, literally, in terms of what we’re bringing to the consumer,” Tom Moe, president of Nestlé’s meal division, said in an interview. “And when you think about that aisle, it’s been a while since you’ve had a significant brand enter [macaroni & cheese] with a prominent proposition, and now’s the opportunity.”

The shelf-stable macaroni and cheese market is a massive category representing a $2.9 billion market. The segment also is ripe for growth, with a near-term opportunity topping $100 million, Nestlé found.

Stouffer’s is no stranger to macaroni and cheese, producing 13 different frozen variations of the product. But while consumers eat macaroni and cheese 22 times a year, 15 of those occasions involve dried pasta, according to the packaged food company.

“We want to bring that same experience [from frozen] into where the majority of the purchases are,” Moe said. 

Nestlé’s noted that 67% of shoppers who purchase Stouffer’s frozen macaroni and cheese also bought shelf-stable options. The figure was more than double the roughly third of consumers who purchased both a frozen and shelf-stable product, an indication that a new macaroni and cheese launch would especially resonate with Stouffer’s’ existing user base.

The Switzerland-based company said 70% of current shelf-stable macaroni and cheese users expressed interest in purchasing the Stouffer’s offering alongside the brands they already buy.

Nestlé is using a dominant red, horizontal packaging for the shelf-stable macaroni and cheese that resembles the box it has in frozen. This allows the company to tap into the brand equity of Stouffer’s that people recognize while allowing the new product to stand out on shelves against its competitors, Moe said.

Nestlé said its Stouffer’s Supreme Shells & Cheese has 10% more cheese sauce than the leading shelf-stable shells and a more cheese-forward flavor profile that will help it resonate with consumers. Both blinded and branded taste tests between Stouffer’s and the leading shelf-stable brand showed Nestlé’s was preferred, Moe said.

Stouffer’s traces its history to the 1920s when the restaurant Stouffer Lunch opened in Cleveland. The brand entered frozen meals in 1954, and Nestlé acquired the brand nearly two decades later.

During the pandemic, companies such as Nestlé cut back on innovation to focus on keeping shelves stocked with their most popular items. While the impact of COVID-19 is less prominent, the food environment is dealing with inflation that has prompted cash-strapped consumers to cut back on what and how much they buy.

Moe said the new macaroni and cheese is competitively priced with other frozen and shelf-stable products on the market. It also “provides a different dimension” by giving consumers the ability to be more involved in the cooking process — a factor that doesn’t exist when a frozen meal is heated in the microwave or oven.

“There is a very distinct consumer differential there that we want to make sure that we addressed,” he added.

The shelf-stable macaroni and cheese is the latest major offering Nestlé announced in 2024. In May, the company announced it was rolling out its first major U.S. brand in nearly three decades to meet the needs of consumers taking GLP-1 medications and other individuals focusing on weight management. The line, called Vital Pursuit, is expected to reach store shelves this month.

Dive Brief:

• Life cereal is again reviving Mikey, a picky eater kid that first appeared in commercials in the early ‘70s and rose to pop cultural prominence, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
• The spokesperson stars in a new musical commercial with a jingle that draws inspiration from the original “Mikey likes it” tagline. The creative depicting a hectic morning in a busy household also bows a new tagline, “I really love my life.” 
• The spot, available in 15- and 30-second cuts, is running on streamers, social media, retail media and audio channels. Life is positioning the campaign as a brand refresh focused on messy mornings and how families can be united around breakfast. 

Dive Insight:

Life’s Mikey character first made a splash in the heyday of TV advertising, becoming a fixture over the course of decades with a tagline that entered the broader pop culture lexicon. Life has searched for its “next Mikey” on a few occasions, including in 1997 and in 2019, when the character was gender-flipped to be a young girl in a campaign titled “Stand off.”

Now, amid a wave of marketing centered on consumer nostalgia, the Quaker-owned brand is bringing the spokesperson back as part of a larger refresh and with some additions, including a new tagline and musical bent. PepsiCo’s internal D3 creative agency is behind the effort. 

Ads that launched on Sept. 12 show the latest Mikey, played by Hudson Uebelhardt, as he details a morning full of mishaps, such as toothpaste getting snagged in his mom’s hair, in song. The turbulence settles when his family gathers around the dining table, recreating an iconic moment as picky eater Mikey enjoys a bowl of Life, leading his siblings to exclaim, “He likes it! Hey Mikey!” The spot closes on Mikey repeating, “I really love my life!”

The upbeat commercials have a heavily digital media plan, appearing on Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Canela, Amazon, YouTube, TikTok, Meta and SiriusXM. Life is also taking advantage of retail media through Walmart Connect, the big-box store’s advertising arm that helps brands place messages close to the point of sale with help from first-party shopper data. 

A deluge of brands have recently dusted off old catchphrases, characters and jingles to tap into a sense of consumer familiarity, while modernizing those assets to recognize that media consumption habits have drifted toward smartphones and streaming. Maybelline New York earlier this month resurrected “Maybe It’s Maybelline,” a tagline that debuted in 1991, with a focus on TikTok and social media influencers.

PepsiCo, Quaker’s parent, has contended with slumping U.S. demand as consumers grapple with rising prices. The Quaker Foods division saw volumes plunge 17% in Q2 in North America, a dip attributed to product recalls over salmonella contamination. Quaker has introduced other marketing initiatives to boost consumer favor. The core Quaker line in February launched its first global brand platform, which spotlights everyday heroes like parents.

Dive Brief:

• Cal-Maine, the largest U.S. egg producer, announced a majority stake in wrap and crepe maker Crepini, part of a new joint venture as the company looks to expand into ready-to-eat and prepared foods.

• The investment creates a venture called Crepini Foods to be headquartered in Hopewell Junction, New York. Cal-Maine has a 51% stake in the venture and will spend $6.75 million to purchase additional equipment and assets. 

• Crepini is primarily known for its egg wraps, billed as a carb-free and keto-friendly alternative to tortillas. The company, founded in 2007, also offers protein pancakes, wrap-ups and other ready-to-eat products. 

Dive Insight:

Traditional players in the meat and poultry industry, including Cal-Maine and JBS, have made a concerted effort to expand their presence in value-added foods, which presents an enticing new stream of revenue as more consumers rely on the frozen aisle for home-cooked meals.

Egg products, which include those sold in liquid or frozen form, made up 3.8% of Cal-Maine’s revenue in fiscal 2024, and the producer is looking to expand its share through new acquisitions. The venture with Crepini “aligns with our growth strategy to enhance our product portfolio and focus on value-added products and other egg product opportunities,” Cal-Maine President and CEO Sherman Miller said in a statement.

“We have a proven ability to derive value from our other strategic investments and believe there are significant opportunities to use our scale and established customer relationships to further expand our egg products business,” Miller added.

Cal-Maine has previously eyed expansions both into prepared foods and foodservice. The company in 2023 announced a joint venture called MeadowCreek Food, which supplies eggs to restaurants and institutional customers.

“We believe there is long-term growth potential in value-added products such as hard-cooked eggs, which will enable us to leverage our existing distribution channels, expand our reach in foodservice and retail marketplaces and bring new opportunities in the restaurant, institutional and industrial food products arenas,” Cal-Maine said in its annual report.

Acquisitions and investments have played heavily into Cal-Maine’s growth strategy. Earlier this summer, the company purchased competitor ISE America for $110 million in the producer’s 25th acquisition since its founding in 1989.

Dive Brief:

• T. Hasegawa USA acquired Abelei Flavors on Sept. 3. The purchase broadened its flavor portfolio within North America, according to a press release. Financial details were not disclosed.
• “The acquisition of Abelei Flavors, Inc. expands our geographical footprint, technical capabilities and overall flavor portfolio so we can better serve our customers,” said CEO Tom Damiano. 
• Abelei Flavors specializes in sweet brown, citrus, fruit and other flavors for the food, beverage, confection, dairy, health and nutrition industries. The purchase of Abelei will bring more flavor tools to the California-based company.

Dive Insight:

T. Hasegawa has been expanding its U.S. presence for years to make its portfolio more attractive to food and beverage companies.

“We couldn’t find a more perfect partner in joining the T. Hasegawa USA, Inc. team in continued growth and expansion within the US marketplace,” Shelley Henderson, vice president of operations at Abelei Flavors, said in a press release. “The collaboration of resources, talent and innovation will be a tremendous recipe for success expanding upon our existing capabilities.”

T. Hasegawa has a broad portfolio of flavor solutions that serve industries such as alcoholic beverages, bakery items and confections, botanical, seafood, dips, dressings and sauces. 

The Abelei deal follows T. Hasegawa’s purchase of Mission Flavors and Fragrances in 2020, a manufacturer of custom flavors based in Foothill Ranch, California. A year later, T. Hasegawa opened a facility in Southern California dedicated to the production of sweet food and beverage flavors. The facility increased T. Hasegawa’s manufacturing capacity in the U.S. market by 50%.

With a bigger U.S. presence, the company also has deepened its leadership ranks.

Last year, T. Hasegawa expanded its R&D leadership team with the promotion of Lauren Mayberry and Toshifumi Nozawa. Both executives oversee a team of flavorists focusing on sweet food and beverage projects and formula management, among other processes. 

Campbell Soup plans to drop “soup” from its name as the manufacturer of chips, sauces, cookies and beverages aims to show that its future includes more than its signature dish.

Shareholders at Campbell Soup’s annual meeting in November will be asked to vote on whether to change the name to The Campbell’s Company.

Soup remains an integral part of the 155-year-old business, with more than $1 billion in sales annually. But the acquisitions of snacks manufacturer Snyder’s-Lance and Rao’s sauces maker Sovos Brands, along with growth in Campbell’s own offerings such as Goldfish and Pepperidge Farm, now mean soup makes up a smaller portion of its operations.

Campbell Soup’s core soup lineup now accounts for only 25% of total sales, down from more than 40% in fiscal 2017, according to a research note from Erin Lash, a director of consumer equity research at Morningstar.  At the same time, snacks make up around half, up from less than 30%

“We will always love soup, and we’ll never take our eye off of this critical business,” Mark Clouse, Campbell Soup’s CEO, told an audience at the company’s investor day in New York City. “But today, we’re so much more than soup.”

Clouse said soup sales need to remain stable for the company to meet its financial targets. But as the U.S. population ages, soup sales should rise because the food is more popular with older consumers.

He added that Campbell Soup has 16 so-called “leadership brands” in its two divisions — meals and beverages, and snacking — that it is prioritizing. The New Jersey company, with nearly $10 billion in annual net sales, also owns products such as Late July, Pacific, Prego, Swanson and V8. Executives forecast Goldfish alone will become its largest brand by its 2027 fiscal year with $1.3 billion in sales.

While name changes in food and beverages are rare, they do occur as companies broaden beyond the category or brand they are known for.

In 2019, Molson Coors Brewing announced it would change its name to Molson Coors Beverage Company “to better reflect its strategic intent to expand beyond beer and into other growth adjacencies.” Along with its namesake beers, Molson Coors now has a presence in spirits, better-for-you energy drinks as well as spiked lemonade and hard seltzer through its Coca-Cola partnership. 

Vital Farms named Joe Holland as chief supply chain officer, a newly created role for the company starting Sept. 1, according to an Aug. 20 press release.

Holland is leading Vital Farms’ diversified supply chain team which includes the company’s egg washing and packing facility located in Springfield, Missouri, also known as Egg Central Station. He will also lead the company’s future facility in Seymour, Indiana, and dairy operations for its growing butter business.

The supply chain executive will also be responsible of tasks held from the former Chief Operating Officer Jason Dale. Dale served as COO since 2019 but will now remain in an advisory role until the end of 2024, according to the release.

Before joining Vital Farms, Holland was EVP of operations and supply chain at Curaleaf Holdings, a provider of consumer cannabis products. He has over 25 years of experience in operations where he served in various supply chain and distribution roles with Dean Foods, Cadbury Schweppes and Ventura Foods.

“Joe’s unwavering commitment to service, quality, and cost principles will help us further innovate and deliver long-term resilience across our supply chain,” Russell Diez-Canseco, CEO and President of Vital Farms, said in the release. “I’m excited for Joe to dig into the incredible work our supply chain team already does every day to continue expanding our leadership in ethical food and making progress towards our goal of $1B in net revenue by 2027.”

Hershey is debuting Shaq-A-Licious XL Gummies as part of its partnership with basketball star Shaquille O’Neal.

Shaq-A-Licious XL Gummies come in Original and Sour varieties. The Original features peach, berry punch and orange flavors shaped like the legendary player’s head. The sour version includes gummies shaped like Shaq’s legendary nicknames, Diesel, The Big Cactus and the Big Shamrock. They come in pineapple, mixed berry and watermelon flavors.

The extra-large size is a nod to the 15-time all-star’s self-proclamation of being the “biggest kid in the candy store.” Shaq-A-Licious XL Gummies are rolling out to major retailers this month.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Shaq, a candy lover and cultural icon, to bring more fun to our gummy products,” Vivek Mehrotra, Hershey’s brand manager for sweets, said in a comment provided to Food Dive. “The gummy market is booming, growing nearly twice as fast as chocolate, offering us a dynamic space for innovation and creativity.”

Hershey first touted the Shaq gummies in February at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York gathering in Florida.

At the time, CEO Michele Buck said the offering provided an opportunity to tap into the basketball great’s “connectivity with consumers, especially young diverse consumers, who are our key target on the gummy segment.”

Demand for gummies spiked during COVID-19 as consumers snacked more at home. Since then, the popularity hasn’t let up. The gummy candy market is forecast to reach $750 million in 2032 from $495 million this year, a compound annual growth rate of 6.4%, according to data from Market Growth Report.  

Hershey has spent millions of dollars to shore up its gummies production capacity, which is expected to surge 50% in 2024. As a result, the food manufacturer now has additional flexibility to boost innovation, invest more in promotions and get additional SKUs carried at retail.

Along with the Shaq gummies, Hershey’s Jolly Rancher brand earlier this year debuted Awesome Reds, a sour gummy mix with flavors like cherry, pomegranate, watermelon and fruit punch. This month, it is launching Jolly Rancher Ropes in two flavors – Green Apple & Watermelon and Blue Raspberry & Cherry.

Gummies have proven to be a popular platform for innovation among the major confection companies, including Hershey, Mars Wrigley and Ferrara. They have attributes such as being shareable and viewed by consumers as a more permissible indulgence.

The candy also allows companies to leverage the reputation of well-known and easily recognizable brands. For example, Jolly Rancher is known for its fruit-flavored hard candy, and companies can extend this brand into new categories such as gummies.

Ferrero Rocher unwraps a new chocolate bar

Ferrero Rocher, the popular globe-shaped sweet, is taking a bigger bite of the confectionery space.

The brand is launching Ferrero Rocher Dark Hazelnut and Crunchy Salted Caramel bars. The new products feature crunchy hazelnut pieces, caramel with a touch of salt and a dark chocolate shell with 55% cocoa. Inspired by the original Ferrero Rocher pralines, they are wrapped in the brand’s signature gold foil. 

The bars are available this month online and at retailers nationwide.  

The new product is part of an effort by Ferrero to turn Ferrero Rocher into a $1 billion brand in the U.S.

“Innovation within our portfolio of products is a consideration as we drive towards that goal,” Ferrero said in an email to Food Dive. “Our primary focus is on establishing a larger share of everyday consumption.”

The Ferrero Rocher Dark Hazelnut and Crunchy Salted Caramel bar is being launched as part of a promotion to encourage people to take part in a four-week “Reading is a Treat” challenge. 

Once readers complete the challenge – which features curated, fall-inspired reading prompts that pair with Ferrero Rocher chocolate – they’ll receive a complimentary bar. 

Ferrero has been aggressively expanding its U.S. presence during the past seven years through a series of deals that pushed it deeper into candy and new categories, such as ice cream and cookies. 

But it hasn’t lost sight of its core brands like Ferrro Rocher or Tic Tac. In May, Ferrero launched Tic Tac Chewy, a fruit candy with a crunchy exterior and chewy inside. It’s the first product for the giant outside of the chocolate or mints section.

— Christopher Doering

Tabasco takes on Tex-Mex

The popular hot sauce is leaning in to Mexican cuisine.

McIlhenney Company’s Tabasco brand has launched Salsa Picante hot sauce, a rich and thick sauce designed to add heat to tacos, guacamole and burritos. The star ingredient of the sauce is red-jalapeño peppers.

“Innovation has always been a priority for us, and we’ve been experimenting with this style of sauce for a while now,” Lee Susen, the chief sales and marketing officer at McIlhenney, said in a statement.

As a thicker sauce, the bottle was designed for easier drizzling and dipping, according to the company.

The product is now available on shelves, joining the array of unique hot sauces Tabasco has launched in recent years, including Sriracha, Buffalo and Sweet & Spicy.

Founded in 1868, Tabasco hails from Avery Island, Louisiana. Its signature sauce is consistently ranked in the top five of the most popular hot sauces in the U.S.

Mexican flavors continue to dominate new food and beverage product launches, as Gen Z marks the first generation to prefer the cuisine to Italian food as their favorite, according to Datassential research sent to Food Dive. Sales in the Mexican food segment are projected to increasing by $113.8 billion through 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 6.65%, according to Technavio. 

Popular hot sauce brands have expanded their product lineups in recent years to meet the demand, including McCormick & Co.’s Cholula expanding into salsa and frozen meals.

— Chris Casey

Good Culture falls into pumpkin 

Snacking brand Good Culture is the latest company to hop on the pumpkin spice bandwagon. 

The company is launching its first-ever seasonal flavor, Organic Pumpkin & Spice Cottage Cheese, which is a limited-edition offering only available at Whole Foods Market nationwide. 

The new offering combines the “the rich, creamy texture that fans love with fall’s warm, comforting taste,” the company said in a press release. 

“Our unique take on a fall classic features the wholesome, simple ingredients we’re known for, alongside the classic taste of pumpkin and spice,” said Jesse Merrill, CEO and Co-Founder of Good Culture.

The offering uses ingredients like real pumpkin and live and active cultures sourced from pasture-raised cows, it said. 

Pumpkin spice online searches have been up 444,000 per month, according to the company, and other food and beverage manufacturers have been responding to the craze earlier and earlier. 

Last week, Bimbo Bakeries brand Thomas’ English Muffins relaunched its Pumpkin Spice English Muffins and Bagels and earlier in August, Hostess got in on the celebration with its limited-edition Autumn and Halloween Snacks.

Cottage cheese is a trending product category. 

Fueled by an increased consumer interest in protein intake and virality on social media, cottage cheese has gone through somewhat of a renaissance in recent years. 

Over the last year the hashtag #cottagecheese has had half a billion views on TikTok, with videos like cottage cheese being turned into pizza crusts taking the forefront.

Good Culture has touted itself as the brand that revolutionized cottage cheese for the modern age. 

Besides its new season limited edition offering, the company also offers Strawberry Chia and Pineapple cottage cheeses.

— Elizabeth Flood

Dive Brief:

• California-based Nura has launched several new ingredient products, including Yestein Yeast Protein, Postbiotics EF-2001 and beLP1 and its sweetener Madblend Stevia Extract Blend.   
• The company is focusing its new products to address the latest consumer trends of healthier, eco-friendly ingredients and will allow more CPGs to create products in alignment with these ideas, said Caydie Carrizosa, marketing manager at Nura in a press release. 
• The company’s product expansion comes on the heels of a research & development initiative expansion, which involved application-specific ingredient recommendations, including guidance throughout the process of ideation to manufacturing. The company also has plans to open a new R&D innovation center.

Dive Insight:

Nura’s Yeast Protein product is a vegan alternative to traditional protein sources. The protein product comes in a powder form in both savory and neutral offerings. It also has a complete amino acid profile.

The company’s new postbiotics product known as Postbiotics EF-2001 is designed to support the gut microbiome and its new Stevia Extract blend, Madblend. is a natural sweetener solution described as low calorie, and is meant to improve taste and stability in food products. 

The protein ingredients market is projected to grow to $86 billion by 2028. As more consumers are flocking to the macronutrient, they are also paying closer attention to the source of the ingredient itself. 

In addition to nutrition, proteins are widely used for their functional properties. These include texturing, emulsifying, solubility, stabilizing and binding. These properties have allowed food manufacturers to lower their raw material costs as they act as substitutes for food additives.

The company’s new sweetener solution, Madblend, offers a low calorie alternative to sugar. 

Across the globe, most consumers (55%) are concerned about their sugar intake, according to a report from HealthFocus International, and sugar reduction is the number one dietary trend globally. As a result, many companies have been turning to stevia and monkfruit products to deliver on the sweet taste sugar conventionally gives to food. 

Nura’s new product has a sucrose-like taste, the company said.  The is produced through Fluid Bed Technology —  a process that turns dry powders into soluble, ready-to-use products, to ensure uniform, rapid drying and even distribution of high-intensity sweetness.

Dive Brief:

• Egg prices are back on the rise as a devastating bird flu outbreak and swelling consumer demand eats into supply.

• Wholesale egg prices surpassed about $3 per dozen in August, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, up from the usual $1 to $2 range. Retail egg prices were up 19% in August compared to last year, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data, while the broader grocery category increased only 1%. 

• Marc Dresner, director of communications for the American Egg Board, said highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, has forced egg supplies to be “less robust than normal.” At the same time, U.S. sales have jumped to levels not seen since the pandemic.

Dive Insight:

Wild swings in egg prices have roiled the market over the past few years: After hitting a record at the end of 2022, prices crashed before climbing again at the end of last year.    

Despite the price fluctuations, consumers continue to buy eggs — and more of them, as of the last few months. August egg sales were up more than 5% compared to 2023, and producers sold 237 million eggs in the most recent four-week period, Dresner said, citing Nielsen data.

“We haven’t seen that number since the first year of COVID,” he said, when sales soared as consumers stocked up on staples including eggs and toilet paper. 

As domestic demand stays strong, other countries are also buying more U.S. eggs. According to the U.S. Egg Export Council, total exports for the first four months of the year increased by 22% to 63.5 million dozen eggs, though values were down 22%.

Demand is expected to rise further during the fall and winter months with the holiday baking season entering full swing. That could further pressure the commercial egg supply, especially as bird flu also spreads more easily in colder climates. 

Approximately 18.7 million egg laying hens and pullets across seven states have died as a result of the avian virus since the start of the year, according to the USDA. Cal-Maine Foods, the largest U.S. egg producer, temporarily halted production at one of its Texas plants after detecting bird flu. 

After two years of the current outbreak, producers have been able to better respond to the threat of bird flu and are “now recovering faster than ever when they are impacted,” Dresner said. Still, rebuilding flocks takes time.

“Farmers are doing everything they can to protect their flocks from disease and keep the eggs coming,” Dresner said. “We are definitely not letting our guard down when it comes to bird flu.”