Traceability in ingredients has become very important, as consumers look to support local businesses. Some frozen food producers say that for many consumers, global food brands and chains have less of an appeal. They are conscious of food provenance and make an effort to buy items that have come from closer to home.
By Dan Orehov
Consumers are also showing their willingness to buy frozen products made with ingredients of a higher quality, and are willing to pay a premium for these, according to research company Euromonitor International. In Italy for example, ingredients play a major role in both frozen pizza and ready meals, the latter seeing more dynamic growth in retail volume terms in 2017, compared to the CAGR seen over the previous year, increasing by 3%. Meanwhile, growth was more moderate in current value terms in light of the strong promotional activity implemented by large grocery retailers within all food categories as they looked to drive traffic to their stores. In the foodservice channel, on the contrary, consumption of ready meals saw slower growth in volume terms in 2017 as consumers increasingly favored freshly-made products that are considered healthier.
For the Italians, the most dynamic category in 2017 was frozen pizza, up by 5% in both current value and retail volume terms. Frozen pizza is increasingly outperforming its chilled counterpart in large retailers, given that it is easier to store as it has a longer shelf life. The presence of chilled pizza is in fact minimal and it is limited to local brands to ensure faster replenishment on shelves in line with consumer consumption trends. In the case of frozen pizza, innovation in terms of toppings, dough, shape and size was instrumental to growth in sales, says Euromonitor International.
You can read the entire article in the May-June issue of Frozen Food Europe
