Posts tagged with "Kraft Heinz"

Above, Kraft Heinz is introducing IHOP Original and Butter Pecan syrups to grocery shelves nationwide, (Photo source: Business Wire)

Kraft Heinz brings new IHOP Syrups to homes nationwide

July 30, 2024

Kraft Heinz has announced that it is introducing pancake-inspired IHOP syrups to homes across the country. IHOP sells more than 400 million pancakes per year—and now, it’s easier than ever to bring the flavors you enjoy to your own dining table.

As the number-one player in condiments worldwide, Kraft Heinz joined efforts with the breakfast expert IHOP to disrupt the breakfast aisle with a syrup for breakfast items like pancakes, waffles, and French toast. IHOP says its retail syrups will not contain high-fructose corn syrup and feature the same iconic flavors that have made IHOP the leader in breakfast.

“At Kraft Heinz, we’re committed to making the lives of our consumers delicious and we’re doing just that through our partnership with IHOP—bringing its indulgent syrups to grocery stores nationwide so that fans can elevate their homemade breakfasts,” says Danielle Coopersmith, associate director of Marketing.

“Pancakes and syrup are what we do best, and expanding our partnership with Kraft Heinz to develop IHOP syrups for retail was simply a no-brainer,” says Candice Jacobson, executive director of Brand Communications at IHOP.

IHOP syrups are the first breakfast innovation within Kraft Heinz’s Taste Elevation platform which focuses on flavor enhancement and represents 41% of the company’s global portfolio. Following the introduction of IHOP coffee to grocery aisles, the launch of the new IHOP Original and Butter Pecan syrups underscores the central role partnerships and Taste Elevation play in accelerating innovation and driving continued growth for the company.

Research contact: @KraftHeinz

Above, NotHotDogs and NotSausages join The Kraft Heinz Not Co.’s existing portfolio of plant-based macaroni and cheese, mayonnaise and cheese slices.(Photo source: Business Wire)

Kraft Heinz, NotCo develop hot dog alternative

March 11, 2024

Kraft Heinz brand Oscar Mayer has launched NotHotDogs and NotSausages, marking the brand’s first plant-based product, reports Food Business News.

The offering was created through The Kraft Heinz Not Co. joint venture with TheNotCompany in response to a lack of hot dog and dinner sausage alternatives—and commonly cited taste and texture issues within the plant-based category, according to the company.

Both products are debuting in Bratwurst and Italian varieties at the Natural Products Expo West this month, with plans for a national retail launch later in 2024.

“Our goal is to create mouthwatering, plant-based foods that are delicious and accessible for everyone — from the devoted vegan to the plant-based curious,” said Lucho Lopez-May, chief executive officer of The Kraft Heinz Not Co.

“We know people are hungry for plant-based meat options from brands they know and trust. In launching the joint venture’s first product in the plant-based meat category, we saw an opportunity to satisfy these consumer cravings, leveraging NotCo’s revolutionary AI technology and the power, equity and legacy of the Oscar Mayer brand.”

NotHotDogs and NotSausages join The Kraft Heinz Not Co.’s existing portfolio of plant-based macaroni and cheese, mayonnaise, and cheese slices.

Research contact: @FoodBizNews

Above1, A Friendly Bread, wanted to offer consumers a convenient frozen product that would be perceived as a premium item. (Photo source: A Friendly Bread)

A Friendly Bread innovates grilled cheese for gourmet convenience

December 20, 2023

Before Kraft Heinz introduced its Lunchables Grilled Cheesies frozen sandwich in September 2023, the Baltimore-based startup, A Friendly Bread, offered an adult version of the concept that uses sourdough bread in March 2022. Lane Levine, founder of A Friendly Bread, wanted to offer consumers a convenient frozen product that would be perceived as a premium item, reports Food Business News.

“I originally began [this] as a fresh bread business in 2018 and started selling at farmers markets and doing bread delivery,” Levine said. “When we would be at farmers markets, customers would come up to me and show me photos of what they were doing with my sourdough product—turning them into gourmet foods.”

The ideas inspired Levine to begin experimenting with his bread and turn it into his grilled cheese sandwiches. Grilled cheese night dinners at a local apartment complex is where he developed flavors and learned how well the sourdough bread transformed into a grilled cheese sandwich.

“We brought premade ones (grilled cheese sandwiches) so it would be easier to heat them up at the event,” Mr. Levine said. “I also had them sitting at home in the fridge and friends would start heating them up and that’s the first time it hit me to make a packaged product that was scalable because you could preserve it through freezing or refrigeration and you could get a lot more value out of an individual loaf of bread.”

Since launching the frozen grilled cheese sandwiches in March 2022, Levine’s target audience has grown from work-from-home millennials to grandmothers enjoying the sandwiches with their grandchildren.

“Our initial target audience out the gate was the millennial who is busy all day in meetings, and they can take ten minutes to throw the sandwich in the toaster oven, sit back, work and it’s done,” he said. “But we also found that an even more devoted demographic is older women—specifically, [those] who are only cooking for one and don’t want to make a whole thing about it, but also want something comforting but high quality. It’s also the older ladies within the categories of grandmas getting them for their grandkids and sharing them.”

Levine said specialty retail has been the company’s sweet spot and the product has gained entry in Fresh Market, Giant Food, and The Giant Co., both owned by Ahold-Delhaize.

“We’re more concerned with growing recognition on a regional basis in the mid-Atlantic and the East Coast more broadly,” he said. “If we do launch with more conventional stores, as long as we’re able to do demos and build awareness, we’re willing to give it a try in our region.”

Levine also is giving direct-to-consumer a go, but said the business currently is mostly retail focused. “Online really isn’t our focus; it’s really hard to ship,” he said. “We started to see a few orders come (in for a) full case of grilled cheese (sandwiches), but logistically it’s just not our wheelhouse.”

The company also has identified demand on college campuses, convenience stores, and quick foodservice. “College campuses are perfect because, like Starbucks, you get the grilled cheese and they’ll heat it up for you in their TurboChef,” Levine said.

“So, at these college campus coffee shops they’re able to do the same thing with ours: Throw it into a TurboChef; it takes 90 seconds and it’s done.”

Levine said they also are doing research to see if the product can be stored in refrigerated sections of stores and outlets. “We’re currently doing shelf-life testing with a lab right now; because, within the quick-service setting, it makes it that much more convenient to grab it out of the fridge, slap it in the oven, and it only takes 45 seconds instead of 90,” he said.

The company currently is self-manufacturing its products.

Research contact: FoodBizNews

Above, Heinz has unveiled a new pickle-flavored ketchup, expected to be on store shelves in 2024. (Photo source: Kraft Heinz)

Kraft Heinz to roll out pickled-flavored ketchup

November 10, 2023

Kraft Heinz announced Monday, November 6, that it soon will be offering a pickle-flavored ketchup as its latest condiment creation. The company says, “It’s a big dill,” according to a report by Fox Business.

In a press release, the company pointed to Datassential proprietary research released in October indicating that 73% of Americans reported that they enjoy the taste of pickles, and Heinz wants to capitalize on love for the flavor.

“Increased desire for tasty, yet unexpected, condiments has served as our innovation north star for the last several years,” Heinz director of Innovation Katie Peterson comments.

“The current pickle craze in America mirrors the irrational love Heinz fans have for the brand, so it only made sense for our newest ketchup to blend these two beloved tastes together,” Peterson adds.

Heinz Pickle Ketchup will begin showing up on store shelves in the United States in early 2024, and is already available at select locations in the United Kingdom.

Research contact: @FoxBusiness

Above, Kraft Heinz is revamping Lunchables for the school cafeteria. (Image source: Emil Lendof/The Wall Street Journal)

Kraft Heinz sees a $25 billion opportunity—in schools

August 22, 2023

Across America this fall, school cafeterias will serve children familiar staples such as pasta and hamburgers. Some might also offer Lunchables—Kraft Heinz’s prepackaged meal kits—in a move that has raised concerns over adding processed, branded foods to school menus, reports The Wall Street Journal.

For Kraft Heinz, making the iconic yellow meals eligible for school lunch is part of a strategy of marketing its brands to a new generation of consumers. Shoppers for years had been gravitating toward upstart brands that promoted more natural and less-processed products. That changed during the pandemic, when many returned to familiar foods and big-name products.

Miguel Patricio, Kraft Heinz’s chief executive, and Carlos Abrams-Rivera, the company’s head of North America, said in an interview that the company identified schools as a key way to expand its food-service division; which it sees as helping drive supermarket sales too. Lunchables, already a billion-dollar business, were a natural fit.

“The kids have it and then they go to retail and they see it,” Abrams-Rivera said. “[It’s] a penetration machine,” Patricio added. In a quarterly report in May, the company estimated education food service as an untapped, $25 billion potential market.

Earlier this year, Kraft Heinz unveiled new versions of its turkey-and-cheese and pizza Lunchables, re-engineered to comply with federal guidelines for the National School Lunch Program. The company has been pitching the products to schools since last summer as a way for cafeterias to save on labor.

The move has drawn pushback from some child-nutrition advocates, school-meal officials, and others who see the products as a step backward for school-meal programs, as concerns grow over children’s nutrition and processed foods’ impact on health.

Since February, more than 100 people have submitted letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture mentioning Lunchables, largely in response to the agency’s request for comments on proposed new school nutrition guidelines.

“While it’s brilliant marketing on the part of Kraft, we have sold out our kids for Kraft to build market share this way,” Barbara Whitaker, a mother from Washington State, wrote.

Kraft Heinz said it made its Lunchables for schools more nutritious—introducing whole grains, adding protein, and cutting saturated fat. A spokesperson said the products can be part of a well-balanced school meal, with both varieties also offering a good source of calcium. She said improved nutrition is a pillar of Kraft Heinz’s current efforts—reflected in its global targets to limit sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and calories; and boost helpful nutrients across the company’s brands.

School lunch has been a battleground, with some pushing for years to make offerings healthier, fresher and more locally produced. The Biden Administration earlier this year proposed new rules under which schools will be required to gradually limit the amount of sugar and salt in meals served to children. This month, the Administration unveiled $30 million in grants to boost school nutrition in more than 250 small and rural communities.

Jo Dawson, a consultant and former child-nutrition programs director for the State of Alaska, said Lunchables could occasionally fill a need for some schools, such as those in small, rural towns where staffing shortages can be acute.

Some advocacy groups, including the Center for Science in the Public Interest and school-meal officials, said the potential addition of Lunchables to school lunch menus reflects a broken system for feeding children.

Jessica Willis, who manages cafeterias in a Mississippi school district, said she offers children scratch-cooked meals such as a gumbo or red beans and rice as often as possible, but that she would consider serving Lunchables on field-trip days.

“The goal is to give them the best we can,” Willis said. “Some days that may be a Lunchable.”

Child-nutrition advocates said Lunchables might be too good a deal to pass up for some underfunded and overburdened school cafeterias.

But not all school districts are on board. Public-school meals in New York City are largely freshly prepared and no longer include deli meat, according to a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Education. The spokesperson said: “We will not be offering a prepackaged option like Lunchables in our schools.”

Research contact: @WSJ

Above, Ed Sheeran and Kraft Heinz wanted to create the 'ketchup' of hot sauces. (Photo source: Kraft Heinz/Fox News)

Ed Sheeran and Kraft Heinz release new Tingly Ted’s hot sauce

February 23, 2023

British singer Ed Sheeran is taking a dip into the condiment business. He and Kraft Heinz announced the launch of Tingly Ted’s hot sauce on Tuesday, February 21—the sauce, a collaboration between the brand and the award-winning recording artist, reports Fox Business.

Sheeran, a self-proclaimed sauce fanatic, according to a press release, sought out Kraft Heinz to bring his “ultimate” hot sauce dreams to life. The dream: to create the “ketchup” of hot sauces.

“I love sauces, that’s no secret,” Sheeran wrote in a statement provided to Fox Business, adding, “But the older I’ve got, the more I love and need spice with every single meal. I travel a lot, so having a bottle in my suitcase wherever I go that can spice up any and every meal seemed like a good idea.”

Sheeran explained that he didn’t want to develop a “watery hot sauce,” since the other products “usually all get relegated to the same shelf of other random hot sauces.”

“I wanted to make a sauce that took the same pride of place as ketchup,” he said.

The “Thinking Out Loud” singer said he spent a year “whittling down” his perfect flavors alongside a “great mixing team.”

“And we settled on two absolute belters,” he said.

These include “Tingly” and “Xtra Tingly” hot sauce flavors, made using red jalapenos and capsicum chilies. The hot sauces also feature lemon notes, a smoky flavor, and a mix of herbs and spices, according to the brand.

“I’ve had them on tour with me recently to try them with all sorts of meals, and there really isn’t anything they don’t go with—except bananas, don’t do that,” Sheeran advised.

“I’m so excited to bring this product out; it’s genuinely something I use every day on all three meals,” he said. “I hope you love them as much as I do.”

Rafael Oliveira, EVP and president of International Markets at Kraft Heinz, said in a statement that it’s “rare to find someone who is as passionate about sauces as we are. And it’s no secret Ed is already one of the biggest Heinz Tomato Ketchup fans you can find,” he said. “So when we heard he wanted to make his own hot sauce, we, of course, wanted in.”

Oliveira added, “We invited Ed to collaborate and moved quickly to develop a recipe that brought his vision to life—delivering a prototype within just five weeks. The rest is history.”

Sheeran’s childhood nickname, Teddy—is the latest insight-led innovation from Kraft Heinz on the path toward growing its global “Taste Elevation” platform.

Kraft Heinz expects its hot sauce category to swell at a rate of 6.3% to $5.4 billion by 2027, according to the company.

“Here we are with a delicious addition to our Taste Elevation platform, which is all about enhancing food with great flavor,” Oliveira said. “We can’t wait for people to try it.”

Tingly Ted’s hot sauce is now available for pre-order at tinglyteds.com.

Research contact: @FoxBusiness

Above, Heinz promotes its limited-edition Jubilee products outside Windsor Castle. (Photo source: Matt Alexander for Zuma Press)

Brands release special products, packaging for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee

May 26, 2022

Buckingham Palace is pulling out all the stops to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the British throne—and brands are following suit with an array of limited-edition products and packaging, reports The Wall Street Journal.

British consumers in the run-up to the celebrations from June 2 through June 5 can shop for Platinum Jubilee-themed potato chips, lipsticks, condiments, and gins. There also is a Jubilee-themed stuffed toy shaped like an anthropomorphic carrot dressed as the Queen.

A Jubilee refrigerator, adorned with a Union Jack recolored in “Clean Black,” “Glam Lavender,” and “Glam Peach” hit the market this month courtesy of Samsung Electronics. So did Mattel’s “Queen Barbie,” which department store John Lewis & Partners said sold out in minutes. And stores across the U.K. are displaying window signs calling out to “Get Jubilee Ready.”

Companies hope to cash in on a long weekend of partying with packaging and product designs aiming to connect their brands to the national celebration of the Queen herself rather than the monarchy, which divides public opinion.

“In the U.K. we treat Jubilees as a moment of shared celebration, so it’s not only a time for brands that see themselves as super royalist,” said Jo Arden, chief strategy officer at advertising agency Ogilvy UK. “It is about being part of the national conversation.”

Royal commemorative objects first appeared in the U.K. in the 16th century, and the quantity and diversity of souvenirs boomed following the Industrial Revolution, said Amy Dobson, curator of the London Museum of Brands’ “Jubilation: 200 Years of Royal Souvenirs” exhibition.

Aligning brands with royalty adds a premium air to products, and introducing limited-edition lines creates a sense of urgency to buy, Dobson said.

Brands also view the Platinum Jubilee as a once-in-a-lifetime cultural moment they can lean on to sell more products amid a nationwide economic squeeze, marketers said.

Indeed, the Centre for Retail Research estimated consumers will spend the equivalent of $510 million during the Jubilee, including about $350 million for souvenirs and memorabilia and $150 million on festivities.

“Tapping into moments like the Jubilee helps bring our brands top of mind and ultimately drives sales,” said Anke von Hanstein, senior brand manager for sauces at Kraft Heinz .

Heinz for the Jubilee renamed two sauces: Its HP brown sauce has become HM—a nod to “Her Majesty”—and its Salad Cream is for a limited time Salad Queen. Heinz hopes the quirky branding will encourage consumers to buy bottles for street parties during the long weekend, von Hanstein said, adding the branding keeps its focus on the Queen, not the monarchy.

The label for Right Royal Pickle, a special-edition jarred pickled chutney from condiment company Tracklements, likewise focuses on the Queen, with a cartoon of her and her corgis.

“We don’t feel this is showing a political bias because [the Jubilee] seems like quite a mutual, fun celebration—everyone coming out of COVID; everyone being able to get back together again, the spirit of the street party,” said Sally Dorling, marketing manager of Tims Dairy which released a new “Strawberry Royale” flavor yogurt around the Jubilee.

The limited-edition yogurt, which is mixed with a strawberry-champagne conserve, features a small, tiara-like design drawing, similar to illustrations of crowns on Heinz’s sauce labels. The Platinum Jubilee design of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate also features a simple line drawing of a crown, the official emblem for the celebration.

Meanwhile, the U.K.’s flag has been employed very subtly, if at all, on limited-edition packaging. Designs are more likely to feature the flag with muted colors and a matte finish in contrast to earlier Jubilees, including the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, when the U.K. was gearing up to host the Olympic Games and the flag in traditional red, white and blue was flying everywhere, said the Museum of Brands’ Dobson.

“I wonder if the new designs for the Platinum Jubilee are reflective of consumer sentiment this year,” she said. “We’re going through turbulent times. Perhaps some of the brands are playing it just a little bit safer.”