Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Wetherspoons is the latest restaurant chain to “admit” selling McCain oven chips in their restaurants, reported The Sun, the United Kingdom’s largest circulation daily newspaper.

Admit? Poppycock! Chefs and cooks at Wetherspoons, as well as all others who transform frozen french fries into delicious side dishes and snacks, should proudly proclaim without hesitation that they have deliberately chosen frozen to assure that customers enjoy top-quality food fare while in their care.

The “breaking news” story published on February 27 by The Sun also noted that a bowl of chips at eating and drinking establishments operated by Wetherspoons “will set you back £2.80, whereas a 400g box of McCain chips from Asda will cost you just £1.”

Now that’s quite a piece of investigative journalism!

What will be the subject of the tabloid’s next exposé, one wonders? Perhaps an exclusive report comparing the economic rhyme and reason of the £1.25 price tag currently on a bottle of Wychwood Hobgobline Ale at Aldi retail stores in the Britain vs. £4 charged for a pint of lager tapped in local pubs? Go figure.

With all due respect to Captain Renault of Casablanca fame, one has to wonder how many customers would be “shocked, shocked!” to find that making a profit is what keeps restaurants and pubs in business and guarantees that staff remains gainfully employed. The availability of high quality frozen french fries and additional frozen ingredients used to create tasty menu selections at restaurants, pubs and other foodservice outlets not only controls costs to make profitability possible, but assures that customers are pleasantly satisfied in the bargain.

Unshakeable Shake Shack Lesson

For those who may insist that made-from-scratch french fries are superior to frozen fries – assuming that potato peelers and skilled kitchen personnel are readily employable to give it a go – let’s recall the experience that the Shake Shack chain had in the USA a few years ago.

“We decided to convert our classic crinkle-cut fry to a fresh, hand-cut, Russet potato [fry]…We set out to do what we thought was best and what we believed our guests wanted,” Randy Garutti, chief executive officer of Shake Shack, wrote in a open letter to customers. “We learned quickly that sourcing the best potatoes, cutting thousands of them by hand, soaking and double frying wasn’t easy. But that didn’t stop us. We converted kitchens, added and retrained team members, and successfully launched our hand-cut fries.”

However, real success in the restaurant business can only be measured my customer satisfaction. And it’s a sure bet that lovers of fries insist on crisp, hot, tasty servings of their favorite potato side dish without miss on a consistent basis. The reality is, however, that consistency in volume is difficult to deliver manually day in and day out during peak hours of feeding frenzy. This is the reason why high quality, reliable frozen french fries from specialist suppliers of value-added spuds are preferred by foodservice operators around the world.

Well-intentioned Shake Shack learned this lesson the democratic way, as consumers and staff alike voted by turning thumbs down to results of the fresh-cut, in-house experiment.

“We weren’t satisfied, and neither were the overwhelming majority of our fans,” confessed Garutti. “No matter how hard we tried, inconsistency remained and we found ourselves unable, 100% of the time, to deliver what our guests loved most about our crinkle cuts…”

“Now with the benefit of hindsight,” he continued, “ it’s clear that we underestimated the love for our classic crinkle-cut fry. We reacted to what we thought we heard. But in fact, while listening to a few outspoken critics, we never fully heard the legions of fans that loved our classic crinkle.”

The message from the masses has now been received loud and clear.

So, dear reader, especially if you’re a foodservice operator: Offer absolutely no excuses for making the decision to serve customers freshly prepared frozen french fries! All involved will profit from the wisdom, to be sure.

The post Those Serving Previously Frozen Fries Must ‘Admit’ Theirs is Best of the Rest appeared first on Frozen Foods Biz.

To Quote Mark Twain and/or Charles Dudley Warner of the Hartford Courant: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

This fall, just before the world’s leading food buyers and sellers beat a path to the SIAL exhibition in Paris, word was out about price rises in store, if not already at the door, for folks looking to purchase frozen vegetable and potato products. And if any confirmation was needed, it came in spades for those paying visits to suppliers’ booths at the show.

“The hot, dry summer in much of Europe has resulted in a significant shortage of carrots, green beans and peas. Potatoes, onions, leek and cauliflower are also problematic. So prices are going up – there’s no way around it,” said Herwig Dejonghe, managing director of Ychoux, France-based Antarctic Foods Aquitaine.

But all was not gloomy. As noted in Antarctic Foods’ recently issued Harvest Report: “By the end of August, the weather started to return to normal again and by September conditions were optimal for obtaining good quality and quantities of sweet corn and a second crop of green beans. Forecasting conditions for the end of the season is difficult, but if there will be no frost before the end of October, results for 2018 will be positive for sweet corn and beans, but problematic for carrots.”

Dejonghe’s team of agronomists was already preparing for the winter season, resuming intense production of Nanates carrots until the end of March 2019, in parallel with the production of young carrots and salsify in January.

Market analysis from Ardooie, Belgium-based Ardo, Europe’s largest producer of frozen vegetables, was similar in tone and wider in scope. Its October Actual bulletin, pointing out that 2018 was the third year in a row that farmers had to cope with pressing weather problems, said that field losses resulted in reduced and irregular supply of vegetables to processors which in turn led to increased production costs and a lessened quantity of processed product.

“Strikingly lower yields of 20% to 50% were reported for peas,” Actual stated. “The situation for beans was also alarming, with losses of up to 50%. The first harvest of beans in some southern European production areas was also affected by severe storms, floods and hail. Losses of 15% to 50% were recorded for onions. Courgettes and spinach were also affected, and in many areas there was no second harvest of spinach, beans or cauliflower due to drought.”

The Potato Patch

On-stand discussions that FrozenFoodsBiz.com personnel had at SIAL with leading Belgian, Dutch, French, British and German packers of frozen potato products were also rife with complaints about warm and dry weather conditions, as drought and heat waves took severe tolls on yields and harvest quality across much of the continent.

From April to July not a drop of rain fell in some areas of Germany. The months of May and April were the hottest on record, and yields for processing potatoes were dramatically below the historic five-year average. But somehow the major french fry and potato specialty producers were managing to cope with the hand dealt by Mother Nature.

“Until recently we were still processing carryover tuber stocks from last year’s abundant harvest, but that’s done with now. Old prices are also history, as prices reflecting current reality must now be paid,” the managing director of a major frozen potato products company told this writer.

Looking ahead, he forecast that one of the biggest problems in 2019 could be the seed potato supply. “The potato industry across Europe will plant early next year, of this I am certain,” he said. “Also, there will likely be nine-month rather than 12-month contracts.”

But such is life in the always exciting frozen potato and vegetable business. Supply is in God’s hands, while demand is in the minds and appetites of mankind. As long as the foodservice sector in general and the quick service restaurant segment in particular continues to grow worldwide, all should bode well for those who sell.

The post Let the Sun Shine and the Rain Fall: But Please, Not Too Much of Either! appeared first on Frozen Foods Biz.

Still recuperating from the fun, travel and adventure that Paris always presents SIAL visitors entering the City of Light from near and far, we are again all the better for the experience – though all was not exactly an epicurean delight. The 2018 rendition of the biennial showcase extravaganza for the international food trade, which ran from October 21-25, was by almost all accounts a total success.

The statistics speak for themselves, as 7,200 exhibitors from 119 countries (87% hailing from outside of France) showed their stuff at the expansive fairgrounds. A record attendance of more than 310,000 persons walked and talked their way through the halls, and it is likely that I met, bumped into or squeezed past half of them on extraordinarily cramped, standing room only rail commutes between the Gare du Nord station and Paris Nord Villepinte. One fellow traveler, dubbing the route the Sardine Can Express, was rebuked by another who reminded him that it was a local service train with numerous stops to be endured before reaching the desired destination. But I digress.

Once at the fairgrounds, it was immediately clear that the journey was well worth the time and en route discomfort suffered along the way. Bustling Hall 5A was where the main frozen food business action took place, though lots of business in the frozen sector was also transacted in the national pavilions, as well as in the busy seafood, poultry, meat and prepared food aisles in Hall 6.

From Ardo’s Veggie Snacks and Industrie Rolli Alimentari’s award winning Pesticide-free Frozen Vegetables in Paper-based Bag, to Doux Mini Chicken Fillets, Oppo Brothers’ Raspberry Cheesecake Puds, Holy Guacamole and Pumpkin Soup from Greenyard, Antarctic Foods’ Cornquet, Semi-Fried Falafel from Givrex, and loads more, there was a cornucopia of innovative frozen food products to see and sample at the show. We have reported on a number of these items during the last week, and will offer additional reports soon in the days to come. Please read all about it with pleasure at your leisure at www.frozenfoodsbiz.com.

Our team would like to salute the SIAL organizers for staging what was no doubt their best production ever. In doing so, a quote from Nicolas Trentesaux, the show’s network director, is apropos:

“This year, once again, we have succeeded in setting the bar still higher, to deliver to all professionals in the sector a truly exciting event with lots going on everywhere, all the time. Over the five days of the show, SIAL Paris promoted more than 400,000 products over an area equivalent to more than 100 supermarkets laid out end-to-end! It remains an event that nevertheless retains its human dimension, since it is about food, after all!”

Bravo, Monsieur Trentseaux and Company! See you at the next running of SIAL, Oct. 18-22. We wouldn’t miss it for the world, God willing. Maybe by then the advent of express train service from Gare du Nord to the fairgrounds will become a reality. Miracles can happen sometimes, right?

The post Attending SIAL is Worth the Commute Aboard the Packed Paris Metro System appeared first on Frozen Foods Biz.

It is with much sorrow that the FrozenFoodsBiz.com (FFB) team reports that one of our own, Mickey Kaplan, died suddenly on September 13, 2018, at St. Claire’s Hospital in Denville, New Jersey while receiving emergency medical attention for cardiac arrest. He was 68 years old.

The veteran advertising director headed up business development in North America for the online B2B news and information platform serving the global frozen food industry. A consummate salesman who transitioned in recent years from the world of print publications to take on the challenge digital commerce, he was well known and respected by key marketing communications personnel throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico who make media buying decisions for frozen food producers and distributors, refrigerated warehousing and transportation operators, packaging suppliers and equipment manufacturers.

His experience in the industry spanned over four decades, including more than 20 years as advertising director for Fort Lee, New Jersey-based Quick Frozen Foods International magazine. Prior to that he sold space for K-III Press, International Thomson Transport Press and Brandon’s Shipper & Forwarder in New York City.

Born and raised in the Bronx, Mark “Mickey” Kaplan was a lifetime resident of the Greater New York area and a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees baseball champions, having grown up near “The House that Ruth Built.” He was also an avid supporter of the New York Giants football franchise, the Knicks basketball squad and the Rangers ice hockey team.

Ever enthusiastic and optimistic, Mick was fiercely competitive in all endeavors – from scoring runs on baseball fields and shooting hoops on the basketball courts of his youth and early adulthood, to winning contracts in executive office suites and on trade show floors during a highly productive professional career that followed. He was an order maker, not an order taker.

Mickey combined a hard-driving work ethic with deft interpersonal skills and aplomb to secure and assure the confidence of advertisers. They trusted him for good reason, as he never sold a product or service that he did not believe in.

Mick learned the ropes of advertising sales the old fashioned way, by investing in shoe leather, tirelessly pounding the pavement and knocking on doors. Making successful cold calls after resourcefully generating hot leads was one of his specialties.

Established customers and potential clients welcomed his creative pitches, which were typically delivered with a charming sense of humor, often embellished with poetic prose laced with memorable rock ’n roll and pop song lyrics. He was energetically on the job 24/7, placing and receiving phone calls, sending e-mails and sometimes even posting hand-written snail mail appeals to prospects whom were hard to reach any other way.

Mickey Kaplan was a 1973 graduate of the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, where he majored in History and earned a Bachelor of Science degree. But he was keen on pointing out that his real education did not commence until his life as a traveling salesman began. The job took him across the USA from the streets of Manhattan to Boston Harbor and Chicago’s Lake Shore, to the West Coast and onward to the Hawaiian Islands, as well as to Canada, the Caribbean and Europe.

Son of the late Richard and Joan Kaplan, Mick is survived by a brother, Jeffrey, and his wife Lori of North Port, Florida; sons Keith and Justin, and their wives Heather and Jennifer; beloved granddaughters Jenna, Jordan and Jessie; and former spouse Kathy of Lakeside, California.

He leaves behind many friends as well, and this writer is among them. Having spent much time in the air and on the road with Mickey over the years, it is profoundly sad to now accept that he will no longer be a fellow traveler in this world. His knowledge of history, politics and sports was deep and wide, and I shall very much miss the engaging and colorful conversations about these and other subjects that we enjoyed.

In spirit, though, Mick will be forever present, urging us to “stay strong and optimistic,” and reminding us to remember “our greatest strength is effort and attitude, so keep on plugging.”

The FFB crew, friends and colleagues will be raising a glass in remembrance of Mickey during the upcoming SIAL exhibition in Paris. While he was not exactly a tippler, I can personally attest that Mick thoroughly enjoyed Killian’s Irish Red draught lager from time to time. And as the premium bière rousse just happens to be brewed in France, there will be no shortage of supply to tap into on the occasion of toasting the dearly departed.

Memorial contributions in the name of Mickey Kaplan may be made to any of his favorite charities, among them: METAvivor Metavivor.org (dedicated to metastatic breast cancer awareness, research and support); Disabled American Veterans (www.dav.org); Wounded Warrior Project (www.support.woundedwarriorproject.org).

Rest in Peace, Mick.

The post Rest in Peace Mark ‘Mickey’ Kaplan: Friend, Colleague and Ace Ad Salesman appeared first on Frozen Foods Biz.

Looking across the rows of empty white plates atop fancy white linen in the elegant dining room, I wonder if diners on either side of the florally divided table were asking themselves the obvious question: “Where’s the beef.”

The venue was Buenos Aires during the recently held G-20 Leaders Summit, and Argentine steak was most likely the main course to be served. But the pre-banquet menu was full of tariff talk as US President Donald J. Trump and PRC President Xi Jinping and their advisors sized each other up.

Not long after the end of the dinner it was announced that the United States would hold off on raising tariffs from 10% to 25% on more than $200 billion worth of Chinese imports for 90 days, pending further negotiations. So when January 1 rolls around a trade war ceasefire will be in effect that will last well through the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival holidays. Thereafter, who knows what’s in store.

Officials in the American meat and seafood commercial sectors responded positively to the truce. Encouraged that Washington and Beijing will return to the bargaining table, US Meat Export Federation President and CEO Dan Halstrom commented: “Global demand for US red meat is very strong, but exports cannot reach their full potential until the retaliatory duties imposed by Mexico, China and Canada on US pork and beef (in response to the imposition of tariffs on metals by the United States) are removed.”

John Connelly, president of the McLean, Virginia-based National Fisheries Institute (NFI), whose members are actively engaged in both the import and export of seafood products, said that “even a pause in trade hostilities can help return a degree of confidence to the market.”

He elaborated:

“Seafood exports to China and seafood imports from China both play an important role in growing and maintaining US jobs. The growing middle class in China is an important export market for US seafood products. At the same time, raw material from China fuels production of finished seafood products here. When it comes to seafood, the relationship between the United States and China has historically been symbiotic. Tariffs damage that partnership.”

While the NFI is pleased with the progress made at the G-20 Summit, it would like to have seen a commitment from China to pause or reduce the 25% tariffs it has already placed on US seafood exports to the PRC, much of which originates from Alaska and is reprocessed in China for re-export. Up until now, Beijing as imposed approximately $110 billion in retaliatory tariffs on US imports of various products.

“We’re hopeful these latest developments will lead to a long term solution,” said Connelly.

While details on the Buenos Aires dinner discussions were sketchy, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement on December 1 that said, in part:

“China will agree to purchase a not yet agreed upon, but very substantial, amount of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other product from the United States to reduce the trade imbalance between our two countries. China has agreed to start purchasing agricultural product from our farmers immediately…If at the end of this period of time, the parties are unable to reach an agreement, the 10% tariffs will be raised to 25%.”

News of the truce saw the US stock market rise significantly on Monday, December 3, only to see the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunge 800 points, or more than 3%, on Tuesday. Wall Street trading was suspended on Wednesday, as a federal holiday was declared to honor former President George H.W. Bush, who died at the age of 94 on November 30.

So, as investors wait to see what will happen when trading resumes on December 6, the political and financial pundits’ tongues are wagging every which way. Most, of course, hedge their bets by saying the devil is in the details. Thus far details have been few and far between.

University of Maryland economist Peter Morici recently told the Wall Street Journal: “The president has fallen into the same trap as Barack Obama, George W. Bush and even Bill Clinton. He will get more platitudes and promises and very few results.”

The comment was made before China’s Commerce Ministry predictably quoted an unnamed spokesman as saying the Buenos Aires meeting provided a “clear timeline and road map” and that the PRC intends to quickly implement “an agreed upon consensus.”

This writer, not at all sure what “agreed upon consensus” means, will endeavor to seek clarification from learned sources. But it could take a while to obtain a reliable translation, so please be patient.

Meanwhile, Yu Yongdin, a former advisor to China’s central bank and a current researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, offers the following advice: “China should prepare, but not rush to make concessions. This is a competition of endurance to see who breaks first.”

The whole world is watching what’s next from what President Xi has called “two major countries with great influence.” And as President Trump looks forward to the consummation of “an incredible deal,” perhaps he also remembers the wise words of Confucius (or was it Alexander the Great?) often discovered in fortune cookies served in Chinese restaurants outside of China: “There cannot be two suns in the heavens, nor two emperors on the earth.”

For what it’s worth, let’s refer leaders in both the East and West to the immortal words of Rodney King: “Can’t we all just get along?”

May they do the right thing to assure that global commerce and the livelihood of millions continues to swing positively.

The post Where’s the Beef, Mr. Presidents? That’s the Takeaway from Argentina appeared first on Frozen Foods Biz.

Outside on the sidewalks of New York the temperature was sizzling at 96°F. Inside the comfortably cool confines of the Javits Center the “heat” was mild to medium in four new Frontera Taco Bowls served up at Booth #5636 during the three-day Summer Fancy Food Show in Manhattan that concluded on July 2.

“We’re expanding our range of authentic flavors of Mexico offered to consumers at freezer aisles in retail stores across the United States for convenient, quick preparation at home,” said Conagra Culinary Director JeanMarie Brownson, who has overseen gourmet Mexican cuisine product development with Chef Rick Bayless since the Frontera brand’s inception in 1996.

Chicago-headquartered Conagra acquired Frontera two years ago and extended the brand, which was firmly rooted in salsas and sauces popularized by Chef Bayless, to the frozen food sector in 2017. Frontera Especial Tequila Borracha Salsa was a Sofi Award winner at the Summer Fancy Food Show, which is organized by the New York City-based Specialty Food Association (SFA).

Frontera’s new Taco Bowl single-serve meals, each weighing 11 ounces and selling for $3.99 to $4.99, include: Chicken Verde, boasting grilled chicken breast, fire-roasted peppers, creamy tomatillo-cilantro sauce, green beans and chayote; Three Bean, a vegan dish featuring black, white and pinto beans, New Mexico chili sauce, roasted peppers, plantains, chard and kale; Al Pastor, made of seared, braised pork, New Mexico chili sauce, roasted peppers and pineapple; and Chicken and Chorizo, featuring grilled chicken breast, pork chorizo, tomato chipotle sauce, red potatoes and roasted peppers.

Larger 20-ounce multi-serve gourmet Mexican Taco Skillet versions of Chicken Verde and Chicken and Chorizo have also been rolled out under the Frontera banner recently, as well as a Veggie and Bean offering. They join five other meals for two persons that typically retail for $7.99 to $8.99 apiece.

Fully cooked, big and bold flavors in bowls and pouches that contain top quality ingredients to meet the discerning specifications of an evolving cuisine of contemporary Mexico is what the Frontera portfolio is all about, said Brownson. Each dish is conveniently ready to eat in 10 minutes or post-freezer preparation. Reducing the time needed to prepare and serve the dishes is very important, as many consumers today are increasingly crunched for time, she explained.

Sweet Treats

Show-goers looking for dessert at the Fancy Food Show would have fared well by visiting the Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream stand to enjoy a sample of Black Sesame Ice Cream from the San Francisco-based company. The tasty treat won a Gold Sofi Award in the Ice Cream, Gelato and Frozen Treat category.

Another good choice would have been Bubbies Mochi Ice Cream Triple Chocolate, which received a New Product Sofi Award and was enthusiastically sampled at the exhibition. Made in Aiea, Hawaii, the frozen confectionery features a smooth blend of chocolate ice cream with premium chocolate chips enrobed in chocolate mochi rice dough.

Bubbies Ice Cream & Desserts was founded in 1985 by Keith Robbins, who opened his first ice cream parlor a few blocks from the Manoa Campus of the University of Hawaii, in Honolulu. The business was acquired by Chicago-based Kennex Holdings in 2017 as its second frozen food product investment after the purchase Imperial Frozen Foods in 2013.

The company’s Mochi Ice Cream offerings are available at premier restaurants in Hawaii, and at select specialty and independent stores throughout the USA mainland. Additionally, an online commercial platform has generated sales in France, Dubai, Norway, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, El Salvador, Mexico, Singapore, Ukraine, the Bahamas and elsewhere.

Among other frozen sweet treats especially popular with visitors were: Masala Chain Ice Cream from Bridgeport, Connecticut-based Tea-Riffic Ice Cream; Big ’Ole Peanut Butter Gelato from Gelato Fiasco of Brunswick, Maine; Cheesecake Cones from Aunt Butchie’s Desserts of Brooklyn, New York; gluten-free vanilla sponge Cannoli Cake soaked in rum from Dolci D Bakery of Boontown Township, New Jersey; Rio Style Cream Puff Skewers from the Brattleboro North Carolina unit of Wervik, Belgium-headquartered Delizza Patisserie; and Tartelette Framboises from Les Cerqueux, France-headquartered Brioche Pasquier.

The 64th running of the Summer Fancy Food Show profiled plenty of other frozen products at the stands of 2,400 exhibitors from 54 nations from around the world that displayed more than 200,000 specialty food items in space occupying the equivalent of six football fields.

Salute to High Achievers

The late Paul Prudhomme of Magic Seasoning Blends, who did so very much to popularize Cajun and Creole cuisine throughout the United States and beyond, was honored during the show by the Specialty Food Association along with Seymour Binstein, the founder of European Imports and a pioneer in specialty foods sales and foodservice distribution in America. Both entered the pantheon of Lifetime Achievement Award recipients.

The SFA also welcomed 11 new members into its Hall of Fame, each of whom was lauded for exemplifying the innovation and business acumen vital to growing and expanding the US $140 billion specialty food industry. Those inducted were: Doug Renfro, Renfro Foods, Inc.; Nassem Ziyad, Ziyad Brothers Importing; Fran Bigelow, Fran’s Chocolates; Annie Chun and Stephen Broad, Annie Chun’s/gimMe Snacks; Sue Conley and Peg Smith, Cowgirl Creamery; Craig and Cindy Makela, Santa Barbara Olive Co, California Coast Naturals, Oleavicin; Russell McCall, Gourmet Foods International; and Sam Mogannum, Bi-Rite Family of Businesses.

The post Hot Fun in the Good Old Summertime At the Fancy Food Show in New York appeared first on Frozen Foods Biz.

Frozen food is cool again, particularly among the 22 to 37-year-old millennial generation in the United States and Canada, according to Kellogg Co. CEO Steven A. Cahillane. His Battle Creek, Michigan-headquartered company, best known for shelf stable breakfast cereals, is pumped that sales of Eggo brand frozen waffles and MorningStar Farms veggie burgers have been, as Frosted Flakes cartoon character Tony the Tiger would say: “GREAT!” Indeed, volume was up 10% during the first quarter.

“Frozen foods categories are outpacing grocery overall, especially with millennials, who consider frozen closest to fresh, and who prize its convenience and value. We expect frozen food to continue to grow, even as its begins to lap its year-ago acceleration, in coming quarters,” Cahillane commented during a recent earnings conference call.

The company, which sells Pringles potato chips, Pop-Tarts, Keebler cookies, Town House crackers and a raft of other snack foods in addition cereals and frozen products, saw revenue rise almost 5% to $3.4 billion during Q1. Net income amounted to $444 million, up considerably from $266 million generated during the first quarter of 2017.

“I am bullish on our frozen business,” Cahillane told Kenneth Goldman of JPMorgan Securities during the earnings call, when asked if the company has plans to scale up its presence in the frozen sector with acquisitions. “I don’t think we’re disadvantaged in scale in any way, because both brands are growing at double digits. So we like the scale.”

The chief executive officer continued: “It’s not to say that we wouldn’t think about opportunities to scale up, but right now, we’ve got plans in place to really grow these businesses in meaningful ways that contribute to the top line and bottom line of the company.”

Rising Tides Near and Far

Meanwhile, a flurry of other positive reports on both sides of the Atlantic bode overall well for the retail frozen food business in North America and Europe.

The growing appetite for Conagra Brands’ frozen ready meals and entrees in the USA translated to a 21% increase in sales over the 12-week period through March 10, according to an advisory from the RBC Capital Markets global investment bank. Revenues for Chicago, Illinois-headquartered Conagra’s popular Banquet and Marie Callender’s lines advanced 13% and 12%, respectively.

In Europe, where the savory frozen food retail market worth approximately €25 billion in 2017, sales during the current year ending in February of 2018 rose in five of six major markets: Germany (valued overall at €10.1 billion), the United Kingdom (€5.5 billion), Spain, the Netherlands and Italy.

Premiumization, innovation, value and convenience are driving sales, according to Olly Abotorabi, senior insights manager at IRI International. What’s more, consumers are increasingly aware that frozen fare is often fresher than fresh.

“Consumer perceptions are changing as studies show although fresh food is best at harvest, that freshness quickly depletes. Food quickly frozen after harvest is able to retain a lot of nutrients,” said Abotorabi. “Italy is one market where consumers are intent on ensuring freshness of produce but they are becoming more open to frozen. Fish, for example, is growing in volume at 4.3% – well ahead of the sector as a whole at 1.2%.”

As FrozenFoodsBiz.com has emphasized time and again, consumers are bigger fans of frozen foods than they realize or admit. Just look at the smiles on faces of children of all ages eating ice cream, and see the satisfaction of folks enjoying previously frozen shrimp, pizza or steak and french fries. Always remember, dear reader that the opposite of fresh is not frozen. The opposite of both fresh and frozen is rotten.

The post Generation Y is Why Frozen Sales Are Heating Up GREAT for Kellogg appeared first on Frozen Foods Biz.

After sampling and writing a good deal about fish dishes in anticipation of Planet Blue’s big Seafood Expo Global in Brussels, the possibility of supplementing the menu with a beef burger tomorrow is luring – perhaps even with a faux meat Impossible Burger.

White Castle restaurants just rolled out the “Impossible Slider” at 140 outlets in New York, New Jersey and the Chicago area. It claims to be America’s first fast food burger joint to feature the meatless product made by Redwood City, California-based Impossible Foods. However, the product was first introduced by Chef David Chang at upscale Momofuki Nishi in New York City during the summer of 2016.

Ingredients include water, wheat protein, potato protein and coconut oil. There’s one more thing, heme, which the producer says “contributes to the characteristic taste of meat and catalyzes all the other flavors when meat is cooked.”

White Castle tops the plant-based burger, which sells for only $1.99, with smoked cheddar cheese, pickles and onions served on a round bun rather than the iconic chain’s signature square bun. I’m not sure if Harold & Kumar of the 2004 comedy film “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” would approve. But the munchies-driven duo would no doubt give it a try. As will I, in due course.

The quick service restaurant chain, which is regarded by most food historians in the United States as the nation’s first fast food operation, opened for business in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921. Today it is well known throughout the country’s Midwestern and Southern regions, and in the New York metropolitan area, for small-size square hamburgers generally referred to by devotees as “sliders.”

The company successfully extended its popular sliders product line to the freezer sections of grocery stores and supermarkets some years ago with the introduction of six packs of White Castle Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers.

“White Castle’s model has been often imitated but never duplicated – an impressive feat in the hypercompetitive fast-food sector,” said Dr. Patrick O. Brown, Impossible Foods’ founder and chief executive officer. “We look forward to working closely with White Castle, and together learning how to popularize plant-based meat with mainstream burger lovers.”

Impossible Foods discovered a scalable, affordable way to make heme without animals It engineers and ferments yeast to produce a heme protein naturally found in plants, called soy leghemoglobin. The heme in the Impossible Burger is said to be identical to the essential heme humans have been consuming for hundreds of thousands of years in meat — and while it delivers all the craveable depth of beef, it uses far fewer resources.

The Impossible Burger is produced without hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol or artificial flavors. It requires about 75% less water, generates about 87% fewer greenhouse gases, and utilizes around 95% less land than conventional ground beef from cows.

Impossible Foods began large-scale production last September at manufacturing plant, in Oakland, Calif. With demand still outstripping supply, the company aims to add a second shift and double production in the near term. Later this month, it plans to enter the Asian market.

The post White Castle’s ‘Impossible Slider’ Serves Cravers Faux Meat Burgers appeared first on Frozen Foods Biz.

It can get pretty cold during the winter in the Great White North, where the winds hit heavy way past the borderline and the snow drifts deep. But with a trusty supply of tasty frozen food in the icebox to heat and eat, the warm comfort of convenience cuisine is fully enjoyed during all seasons by Canadians and their neighbors to the south.

At the top of the people’s choice menu in Canada at the moment are Dr. Oetker Giuseppe Pizzeria Panini, Can’t Mess It Up! Wild Pink Salmon from High Liner Foods, and Oh Naturel! Black Bean Bites, Quinoa Mushroom Burger and Garden Vegetable Bites.

On March 26 it was announced that the above listed frozen fare received coveted BrandSpark International 2018 Best New Product Awards (BNPA). That’s quite an honor, considering that 15,000 Canadians were polled by the marketing research company that sponsors the annual survey of consumer buying habits in 48 different categories ranging from food and house wares to beauty and personal care items.

“With thousands of new products launched into the marketplace every year and new ways to buy products, including e-commerce, consumers are looking for ways to identify which products are truly the best and deserving of their dollars,” said Robert Levy, president of BrandSpark International and founder of the BNPAs. “Over the past fifteen years, the Best New Product Awards has become the most credible and influential awards program for CPG products.”

Dr. Oetker’s recently launched Giuseppe Panini Bruschetta, generously topped with cheese and tomatoes, is distributed in a 250-gram twin packages. A second variety, Supremo, features pepperoni and vegetables.

In the meat alternative category, the winning plant-based Black Bean Bites offering from Oh Naturel! is made of black beans, corn, brown rice, roasted green and red peppers and a blend of spices. Packed in 370-gram bags, the “mouthful of flavors” is promoted as a “perfect ingredient in a stir-fry or pasta” and “a crowd-pleaser as an appetizer with dips!”

On the fish front, High Liner Foods’ patent pending reverse sous vide Can’t Mess It Up! Wild Pink Salmon comes in a sealed pouch. Goof-proof preparation instructions call for consumers to simply boil a pot of water, then dial down the heat to zero, pop the sealed pouch into the pot and cover it, wait ten minutes, then remove the pouch. Let it stand for several minutes before opening and enjoying a perfectly prepared fish dish.

Halifax, Nova Scotia-based High Liner offers the high-protein product accented with a choice of flavors: honey balsamic, maple Dijon, teriyaki, and cilantro and lime. The suggested retail price for two fillet portions distributed in 284-gram boxes is $9.99.

True North Canadian consumers are truly embracing innovation, as seven in ten surveyed by BrandSpark International said they very much like trying new products.

“This number has remained steady since we started the Best New Product Awards 15 years ago,” said Levy. “There are still so many new products being launched to market that shoppers have a hard time keeping track…With so many of us pressed for time, two in three Canadian shoppers say they look for new products that will make their lives easier.”

He continued: “Other areas of innovation that resonate with Canadians include natural food products. Four in five shoppers place value on ‘natural’ food claims, including ‘free of hormones,’ ‘free of antibiotics,’ and ‘no artificial flavors.’ However, three in four surveyed agree that taste is still the most important factor in their food purchases.”

Bon appétit!

The post O True North Consumers of Canada Have Chosen Oh So Good Frozen Food appeared first on Frozen Foods Biz.

Happy 2018, dear reader! As the New Year is rung in, it is customary to take stock of the past 12 months and size up future prospects. For some more than others, out with the old and in with the new promises welcome relief – especially for folks who have endured trying times and conquered adversity along with way.

Having overcome health and business challenges during 2017, Herwig Dejonghe, the chief executive officer of Antarctic Foods Aquitaine SAS and longtime frozen food industry champion, may be counted among those who are optimistically looking ahead .

On June 19, only three weeks after being released from a hospital in Belgium following successful emergency coronary surgery precipitated by a heart attack suffered while sailing in the North Sea, the telephone rang as he was recuperating at home. The good news was that it was not a worrisome call from his cardiologist, whose post-operative prescription insisted on an extended period of rest and relaxation. The bad news was that the conversation was anything but relaxing, as Dejonghe was alarmingly informed that his frozen vegetable factory in Ychoux, southwestern France, was on fire.

CEO Herwig Dejonghe inspects a high-precision VERYX B140 digital sorter at his Antarctic Foods Aquitaine factory in France. The frozen vegetable plant continues to gear up following a fire that shut it down for about a month. Full operational capacity is to resume in May, just in time for the early carrots season. Just a month before, major investments in maintenance and equipment were made to further upgrade the facility. Now an accidental blaze had wreaked havoc in the maintenance workshop and boiler room. Luckily there were no casualties among employees, and a firewall stopped the flames from spreading beyond the compressor compartment, thus sparing the processing area. Unfortunately, however, widespread collateral damage forced a shutdown of the plant.

What to do then, as large quantities of contracted green beans and peas were being harvested and en route to the temporarily closed factory for processing?

Dejonghe immediately got in touch with colleagues in the north of Spain and south of France. Fortunately a number of them had spare production capacity and agreed to lend a hand. Over the next four weeks vegetables harvested from the fertile fields of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine farming region were trucked to eight independent plants near and far for trimming, cutting, blanching and freezing.

“After the fire, even though we stopped production, very little produce was lost – but the delay in processing the crops was accentuated by the fact that for the most part harvests came in early,” said Dejonghe.

A little more than one month following the blaze, packing resumed at the BRC-, Ecocert- and IFS-certified factory in Ychoux, though total reconstruction and repair of all the damage will not be completed before May of 2018.

“I am indeed proud that we managed to finish our 2017 vegetable season without letting down any suppliers or customers,” the chief executive officer told FrozenFoodsBiz.com shortly before Christmas.

He had just returned from an inspection of the plant, where all systems were “go” as the production of frozen baby carrots was in full swing. The recently installed VERYX B140 digital sorter from Key Technology, which went into action at the end of the green bean season, was working overtime.

In the months ahead, Antarctic Foods Aquitaine will primarily be engaged in packing diced, sliced and shredded carrots. Its overall portfolio includes sweet corn, salsify, romano beans, wax beans and Parisian potatoes.

Elaborating on the current state of the company in a recent letter to customers, Dejonghe wrote: “Every day of every week we are heading towards the time when we will once more be 100% operational. But we are not there yet…We assure you that we are doing all we can to speed up the process, and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and disruption this has caused you. We hope you will bear with us as we recover from the disaster…2018 will be a year of consolidation, and will allow us to get rid of all troubles occurred in 2017.”

Godspeed Herwig! 

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