New Options Galore
Delhaize America gets into nutritional drinks under Healthy Accents brand.
Private brands do double or even triple duty: organic, light and healthy.
“There’s a new whole grain option in town,” boasts Trader Joe’s, Monrovia, CA, on the package for one of its new products. But that isn’t a pasta, or even a cereal – it’s a drink, made with organic brown rice, amaranth, millet and quinoa, and enriched with vitamins A, D, B12 and calcium.
Soy milk and even rice milk are common in private label organic lines, but Trader Joe’s is thinking way outside the box with its nutritional whole grain drink. It’s the same in other categories. Organic soup in aseptic packs isn’t exactly a new idea, but Trader Joe’s offers low sodium organic tomato and roasted red pepper soup.
Organic, lite and healthy foods all have market sex appeal these days. But whereas the likes of Lady Gaga might turn off their fans if they showed any brains, retailers can combine different kinds of appeal in the same products. Whole Foods Market, Austin, TX, does it a different way by bringing pop favorites like cheese crackers and taco shells under its 365 umbrella, and mainstream retailers are pursuing similar strategies.
“Looking for healthier ideas for your family’s dinner?” Kroger, Cincinnati, OH, asks consumers at its website. “Try Private Selection organic chicken – it contains no preservatives or antibiotics.” Organic private label is increasingly showing up in meat departments as well as the shelf-stable and produce sections.
Private Selection Organic was introduced after Naturally Preferred, which was Kroger’s first venture into natural and organic foods. But the older brand is still out there, and getting promotional support at the website. Featured Naturally Preferred items there recently included: frozen blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries men’s and women’s multi vitamins, Healthy O’s multigrain cereal (low in fat and sodium) and organic peeled mini carrots – “nature’s version of fast food.”
Kroger is targeting one of the most basic food categories with Active Lifestyle™ Bread, featuring six varieties: Honey Oat, 100% Whole Wheat, Multigrain with Brown Rice, 5 Seed Whole Grain, Whole Grain White and Whole Grain with high fiber. “Studies suggest that plant sterols, which are found in these breads, can help to lower LDL cholesterol in the range of 8 to 15 percent,” the chain says at its website. The brand is also being used for fat-free milk, yogurt and smoothies.
Eating Right, which was introduced a few years ago by Safeway, Pleasanton, CA, but has since been franchised to other retailers, is surely the most widely distributed healthy foods private brand, offering more than 250 items across more than 20 food categories, from frozen entrees to bagged salads.
Eating Right products all feature the Spot Your Needs™ system, which consists of color-coded spots that correspond to a specific dietary attribute. Consumers can tell quickly and easily which items are right for them and their families. Each Eating Right product includes at least one Spot Your Needs dietary benefit, including high fiber, low sodium, low fat, multi-grain, and many more. An Orange Glazed Chicken entrée, for example, is spotted as high in protein.
A spin-off of Eating Right is Eating Right Kids,™ a collaboration with Warner Brothers Looney Tunes for meals, snacks, cereals and drinks kids will love – and parents feel good about. As on the adult products, Eating Right Kids packaging features the color-coded Spot Your Needs System call-outs on the front—so important nutritional information is available in seconds! Packaging also features games and activities for children.
Blue Menu, a sub-brand under President’s Choice at Loblaw’s, Toronto, ON, is Canada’s best known entry in the healthy foods; there had already been a President’s Choice Organic. Recent launches include light ranch salad dressing, Mediterranean chicken pot pies (with chick peas, eggplant, zucchini and peppers), and a Finesse yogurt line that is “fat-free, has no sugar added and is made with wholesome ingredients like skim milk and real fruit as well as all natural flavors” – varieties include raspberry, vanilla, mango-passion fruit. Fit & Active at Aldi, Batavia, IL (See cover story) started out as a sub-brand for lite and healthy products under various category brands.
Other retailers have gotten into lite and healthy foods without grouping them under special brands, with examples ranging from lean entrees at Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh, PA, to nutritional drinks under the Healthy Accents HBC brand at Delhaize America, Salisbury, NC.
Topco Associates, Skokie, IL, is offering more healthy food options without creating a special brand umbrella for then. Two examples are Food Club frozen breakfast items under the Essential Choice sub-brand (which is reserved items not quite as upscale as World Classics) and sugar free candies.
All three breakfast options – Multi Grain Waffles, Multi Grain Blueberry Pancakes and Multi Grain French Toast – are touted as a good source of fiber, low in sodium and containing essential omega-3 fatty acids, which can help lower the risk of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and cancer. Moreover, they all contain CoroWise™, a naturally sourced plant sterol said to have been proven to lower cholesterol.
For consumers who enjoy their sweets but want to avoid sugar due to weight concerns, diabetes or other health issues, there is another new option from Topco: Food Club sugar-free bagged candies. The five new items include starlight mints, cinnamon buttons, butterscotch buttons, fruit buttons and root bear barrels. All candy varieties are packaged in 4-oz. transparent bags.
Topco offers what may be the largest organic line for mainstream retailers – some 900 SKUs – with Full Circle. One recent introduction, no sugar added apple sauce, appeals to health concerns; other recent launches include European apricot fruit spread. Meanwhile, Topco has come out with lite syrup under its Clear Value economy brand – yet another example of private label synergy.
