From The Spring 2005 Issue of Natural Grocery Buyer

Natural entrees emerge from the deep freeze

Frozen foods appeal to a panoply of healthy tastes

Mitchell Clute

For retailers looking to increase natural products sales, the freezer is a great place to start. The variety and quality of prepared natural foods is better than ever, and price points are often surprisingly close to mainstream offerings. Frozen snacks and entrees appeal not only to vegetarian shoppers, but to a wide range of consumers looking for healthier food choices.

Amy’s Kitchen, based in Petaluma, Calif., for example, covers all the frozen-food bases. Many stores stock Amy’s pizzas and pocket sandwiches, but recently the company has rolled out a number of new frozen meals that appeal to shoppers looking for flavorful ethnic options, including noodle stir-fry and Indian dishes, to complement its original enchilada and pasta dishes.

“We tend to look at product areas that [can] grow but where quality and flavor are lacking,” says Steve Warnert, director of sales and marketing for Amy’s Kitchen. “We are most interested in categories where we know we can offer a significant quality improvement. So far, this approach has rewarded the retailer with growth through higher sales and new customers.”

Amy’s pizzas have topped $20 million in annual sales—a 17 percent increase in the past year, according to Information Resources Inc.—and its frozen dinners and entrees have shown similar growth, compared with falling sales for many mainstream brands in these categories.

Fairfield Farm Kitchens, based in Brockton, Mass., is a relative newcomer to the frozen food aisle, but the company offers a product mix designed to entice meat-eating customers looking for healthier meal choices. The company’s Moosewood line offers a variety of vegetarian entrees, but it also produces a variety of organic beef and chicken dishes, including chicken marsala, Thai chicken curry, meatloaf with vegetables and penne pasta with meatballs.

Consumers are listening to the news, says Shayna Worby, consumer relations and marketing coordinator for Fairfield Farm Kitchens. “They’re worried about mad cow disease, avian flu and the hormones used in raising conventional cattle. There are no hormones in organic poultry or beef, so consumers are getting a healthier product.”

Fairfield Farm Kitchens is the first company to offer organic beef and chicken entrees, and the products have struck a chord with consumers. “We’re seeing a lot of movement on the conventional supermarket side of our business,” Worby says.

“According to the Organic Trade Association, the organic meats and poultry category grew by 78 percent in 2003.” With numbers like those, it would be a mistake to assume that naturals shoppers are looking only for vegetarian options.

However, meat analogs—vegetarian products that resemble meats—have shown a vast improvement in flavor and texture, luring not only committed vegetarians

but meat-eaters looking for lower fat and cholesterol.

Quorn recently taste-tested its chicken-style nuggets versus a leading brand of real chicken nuggets in a variety of markets and found that 70 percent of consumers preferred Quorn even before being told that the product was meatless and lower in fat and cholesterol than chicken.

“People are easily able to make healthful changes in their diets without sacrificing taste when they use our products,” Miniter-Griffin says. “About a third of our sales are through mainstream channels, and we’re growing faster there because there’s simply more room to grow.”

With the wealth of new choices in frozen natural foods, retailers have more options than ever before. And most importantly, consumers need to know that they no longer have to sacrifice flavor to look after their health.

Mitchell Clute (mitchellclute@earthlink.net) is a writer, poet and musician in Crestone, Colo.