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Inventive new frozen food products giving private label marketers an edge: commodity vegetables may still account for the greatest volume, but creative value-added products are offering higher margins and double-digit growth. (Frozen Food in North America).

Article Excerpt
Poultry, pizza, and dinners-entrees head the list of star performers in private label frozen food sold in the USA. Although frozen vegetables and juices still dominate the freezer cabinets, cutting edge value-added products are where the action is -- and store brands often go beyond national brands in creativity.

In most categories, private label has always gone for national brand equivalence. Yet in frozen dinners and entrees and meat and poultry products, retailers seem to be following the beat of their own drummers with often unique products -- and in the process, they're drumming up a lot of new business.

At US supermarkets private label sales of dinners and entrees recently soared 25.6%, to $97 million, according to Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Chicago, Illinois. Private label poultry sales were up 13.3% to $429.6 million, and store brand frozen pizza sales jumped 15.8% to $143.4 million. One hot new category that's too early to track yet: rice bowls.

The Kroger, chain, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, which has become the largest supermarket mega-retailer in the United States since the acquisition of Fred Meyer a couple of years ago, is now in coast-to-coast distribution with its Private Selection premium brand -- which in frozen foods includes items rarely if ever seen in national brands, let alone private label.

There are Bread Bowl party appetizers, for example. These are round artisan breads,...

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