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Feeling the heat: a weak economy is holding down sales in the fully cooked sector, but merchandisers remain active.

Publication: Meat & Deli Retailer
Publication Date: 01-MAR-09 		Format: Online
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Full Article Title: Feeling the heat: a weak economy is holding down sales in the fully cooked sector, but merchandisers remain active.(MEAT CASE STRATEGIES)(Hormel Foods Corp.)(Lloyd's Barbecue Co.)(Dominick's Finer Foods Inc.)(Editorial)

Article Excerpt
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Convenient eating over the last decade has been an increasing important focus for meat and deli shoppers.

The strong interest by time-conscious consumers in tasty meals that are quick to prepare had led to a diverse array of fully cooked heat-and-serve items in supermarket meat and deli departments.

Though the refrigerated entrees and side dishes typically are more expensive than similar meals that are created from scratch, cost has not been a major deterrent to category expansion--until now.

Like many other food categories, the fully cooked sector is a victim of the economic malaise.

Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. reports that dollar sales for refrigerated dinners/ entrees fell 2.28 percent to $625 million for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 25, 2009 compared to the year-earlier period. Unit sales were down 6 percent to 113.7 million. The average price per unit was $5.49, up 21 cents.

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