ConAgra has been fighting slow frozen sales growth on fronts beyond concern about health. The company is trying to show that frozen foods are convenient, tasty and affordable.
In March, during “Frozen Food Month,” it created a shared campaign for its Healthy Choice and Marie Callender's brands, with a video showing two busy, health-conscious urban women shopping for frozen meals. The company said it is “helping consumers to better understand the benefits of frozen meals and experience frozen foods in a new way.”
Phil Lempert, a supermarket expert and consultant for ConAgra, said frozen food has come a long way in flavor, nutritional quality and freshness. But it's hard to show customers the bright colors of vegetables that have been blanched and frozen right out of the fields when they're held behind glass.
“Food is very primal,” he said. Consumers like to be able to hold, see and smell it.
He pointed to a Food and Drug Administration statement that there is virtually no nutritional difference between fresh and frozen produce, and said frozen dinners including Healthy Choice use ingredients like red wine, sea salt and spices to lower the amount of sodium.
“We really have to do a good job of educating people so they shop the entire store,” Lempert said.
Hy-Vee nutritionist Elisa Sloss agreed it's a misconception that all frozen foods are unhealthy. She tells shoppers at her Omaha store that while there are things to avoid, there are “really good options” in the freezer case.
“People think frozen food is very processed, and really that's not true,” she said. Frozen dinners can be helpful for people trying to lose weight, she said, as they are portion-controlled and contain a balanced variety of foods including protein, grains and vegetables.
Changing shoppers' attitudes is not something ConAgra can do by itself. The firm has the third-biggest market share in frozen at 7.4 percent, according to IBISWorld, behind Schwan and market leader Nestle, whose brands include Lean Cuisine, Hot Pockets, Stouffer's and Tombstone pizza. Packaged Facts lists ConAgra as second behind Nestle but doesn't share figures.
Frozen food manufacturers don't want to settle for what Packaged Facts predicts will be a “sluggish” 2 percent annual growth in frozen food over the next five years.
So they're uniting in an unusual shared campaign that may kick off late this year or early next year, said Corey Henry, spokesman for the American Frozen Food Institute.
The Roundtable's new advertising campaign will target baby boomers, millennials and Hispanic shoppers, AdAge said. It will combat “apathy” toward frozen food and fight consumer concerns that frozen food is not as nutritious or as fresh.
“There's a very significant national debate on food and nutrition, and consumers are being bombarded from numerous sources on what they should eat and buy and what they shouldn't eat and buy,” Henry said. “We think they need to hear from the frozen foods makers themselves. We want consumers to understand the full range of options that are available to them in the frozen food aisle and how frozen food can help them meet any kind of nutritional or culinary need they're looking to fill.”
Will it work?
Shoppers have told ConAgra pollsters that their attitudes could be improved with more information about how frozen food is made and with an improved shopping experience, including better organization and stronger visual appeal.
But all the focus on nutrition may not be the best way to hook shoppers. Balzer said shoppers are more concerned with saving time and money.
“We want to eat healthy,” he said, but “health plays such a little role in what we do. We like things that we like and we like things that are easier.”
Packaged Facts' surveys show the same thing. More than two-thirds of people who bought frozen foods said “taste appeal” was the top consideration, followed by price, quality and convenience. Nutrition and calorie control were the least important factors.
That suggests more shoppers are like Cathy Harland of Omaha, who had a big stack of inexpensive frozen pizzas in her cart at Hy-Vee.
A bartender, Harland said she usually finishes work at 7 p.m., and frozen food is easy and convenient.
“When you're working, you can come home and just throw one in the oven.”
