Weekly Roundup – Week of 4.24.2023
April 28, 2023
Find the latest top trending food and beverage-related stories in today’s weekly roundup – curated by our team of strategists and food enthusiasts:
New Study Finds Consumers Believe CPGs Are Involved in Greedflation
With skyrocketing grocery prices, consumers are feeling uneasy about CPGs continuing to use inflation as the sole source behind ongoing, rapid spikes in food prices. A new consumer survey conducted by Attest found that “four out of five consumers” believe brands are involved in “greedflation” with “seven in 10 saying they are likely to switch food and drink brands” to save money. While companies like Nestlé and Unilever reported price increases of 10.1% and 13.3% respectively, other companies such as Kraft Heinz paused raising prices last quarter, per the FoodDive article. Constellation Brands CEO Bill Newlands “noted that consumers were becoming overly sensitive to pricing actions” and as a result, the company said it was winding down its price increases to 1% to 2%. Get The Full Story.
Are Reusable Food Delivery Containers Making Traction?
In NYC, Uber Eats is testing a pilot program with DeliverZero that allows customers the choice of reusable containers for a $1 additional fee when placing delivery orders. How does it work? After orders requesting reusable packaging are placed, DeliverZero sends a text to the customer with instructions for returning the containers directly or utilizing DeliverZero’s pickup program. DeliverZero tracks orders and return rates so Uber Eats can monitor participation. Uber Eats’ Daniza Muliawan admits that “there are no incentives for customers to return the containers; however, about 70% of existing DeliverZero customers return the packaging at a participating restaurant instead of scheduling a pickup.” Learn More.
Better-For-You Might Not Be Better For Foodservice
While better-for-you beverages have filled grocery and convenience store aisles and refrigerated cases for some time, the transition into foodservice has lagged. A couple of reasons for this include the expense of new equipment and supplies while also ensuring a restaurant or foodservice venue maximizes revenue and margins with additional offerings. Will consumers be willing to potentially pay more for better-for-you drink alternatives at QSRs, for example? Bob Vergidis, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer at pointofsale.cloud explains, “Consumers are always tempted to add a drink to their order, and when they have the option to add a “real” healthy choice, that will be a serious consideration. There is elasticity in how much a consumer is willing to spend, however, on a QSR transaction.” Read More.
Retailers Compare Private Label Products With New Tool
As more consumers switch to store brands to save money, retailers are looking for ways to offset price increases even further. A new Product Matching Tool created by Datasembly offers an automated way for CPGs and retailers to match and compare items they make or stock against competitive products. The system pulls out product information from Datasembly’s database and “generates hypotheses about what shoppers think makes products comparable with one another, helping retailers position and price items in ways that reflect people’s actual preferences”. Read Article.
New Product News
Kraft Heinz announced the purchase of the German-based spice brand Just Spices to add to its Taste Elevation platform – which the company expects will bring a 25% growth to the platform by 2027. The initial Just Spices launch in the U.S. market will include 10 popular products according to European consumers’ purchasing history. Kraft Heinz is hoping to leverage the brand’s relevance with Gen Z consumers and use the successful direct-to-consumer model that accelerated growth in European markets.
Upside Foods plans to add cultivated chicken to its lineup with ground meat-style products that range from chicken sausages, dumplings, and ground meat sandwiches. “The ground chicken product can be produced at a substantially lower price point and greater scale than the animal-derived meat,” Chief Operating Officer Amy Chen said. As a result, Upside will be able to produce more products, faster, with lower production costs. The restaurant sector is the primary focus; however, Upside is still awaiting FDA approval.
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