Lite and Lively
Kroger leads the charge of the private label lite soup brigade, with Italian-style Vegetable and other varieties.
Reduced calorie, ethnic and exotic, and even organic soups are cutting-edge store brands.
Lite soups are hot at Kroger, Cincinnati, OH, and they’re just part of a wave of private label innovation in one of the oldest grocery categories that includes ethnic, whole wheat and other specialties in canned, dry mix, bottled, refrigerated and even frozen versions.
Positioned against Progresso lite soups, the new Kroger line includes Chicken Noodle, Italian Style Vegetable, Vegetable Rice and Vegetable Noodle. Calorie and fiber counts are featured prominently on the labels and at point-of-sale displays, as with 60 calories and four grams of fiber for vegetable noodle – the only one to also bear a fat count, .59 grams.
Exotic varieties are trendy. Bottled soups under the Archer Farms brand at Target, Minneaplis, MN, include Butternut Squash, Roasted Red Bell Pepper, Cream of Asparagus, Lentil, Indian-inspired Curried Lentil and Mexican-inspired Chicken Tortilla. Packaged soup mixes under the same brand are Roasted Red Asparagus, Chile Congreso, Baked Potato, Southwestern Baked Bean and Chili Broccoli.
Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh, PA, offers Grilled Chicken & Sausage Gumbo, Steak & Potato, Roasted Chicken with Long Grain and Wild Rice along with more familiar varieties like Italian Wedding and Sirloin Burger in its chunky soup line, positioned at $1.79 a can versus $2 for Progresso.
Whole grain soups are also trendy. Acme markets, part of Supervalu, Eden Prairie, MN, offers Whole Grain Minestrone with penne pasta; Stop & Shop, part of Ahold USA, Boston, MA, matches that, and adds a Beef Barley soup with whole grain barley. The Stop & Shop lineup also includes natural-sounding varieties like Roasted Chicken with Long Grain Wild Rice, and Steak & Potato.
Frozen Creamy Baked Potato soup is another innovation at Stop & Shop under the Simply Enjoy premium brand, which also includes French Onion and Forest Mushroom. And in the refrigerated soups section, under the Stop & Shop flower icon but without the Stop & Shop name, are ethnic-regional varieties: Chicken & Poblano Pepper and Chicken Tortilla, along with Beef Chili, Minestrone, Chicken Noodle and New England Clam Chowder.
New England-style is the default setting for clam chowder in most store brand programs, but under the Signature Café brand at Safeway, Pleasanton, CA, shoppers can find fresh Pacific Coast Clam Chowder, plus such exotic offerings as Stuffed Pepper with Beef, Autumn Harvest Butternut Squash; Chicken, Broccoli, Cheese & Potato, Tuscan Tomato & Basil Bisque, Rosemary Chicken & White Bean, Coconut & Red Curry Chicken Bisque and Fajita Chicken. There are even two organic entries: Chicken Noodle and Southwestern Style Bean.
Fresh soups, although they led growth in the soup category for several years, have slowed down over the past year: private label sales for the 52 weeks ended 10/4/2009 were up just 3.3% to $107.5 million, according to Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Chicago, IL. Condensed canned soups made a comeback, up 10.4% to $195.8 million, whereas ready-to-serve canned soups were off slightly to $83.6 million. Ready-to-serve broth items actually led in growth, at 16.8% to $112.8 million. Dry soup mixes gained 7.7% to $25.4 million. Frozen soup sales in store brands posted an 8.7% percent gain, but were still a minor factor at $3.4 million.
Wegmans, Rochester, NY, touches nearly all the bases with familiar condensed canned soups like Bean & Bacon, ready-to-serve varieties like Italian Wedding with meatballs and chicken, and even reduced sodium options like condensed tomato and RTS Chicken Noodle. Fresh soups under the Food You Feel Good About sub-brand include Moroccan Lentil with Chick Peas, Tomato Basil with Orzo, Spicy Thai Ginger & Rice, and Escarole & Bean with Sausage, plus kettle soups to go – Chicken Noodle, Chili, Italian Wedding, Shrimp Bisque and more. Wegmans’ broths come in both cans and aseptic packs, and the chain even offers private label soup bowls.
Convenience store chain Wawa, Wawa, PA, is making a big push in take-out soups. “They’re hot to go!” Wawa boasts at its website, noting that the selection “varies daily by store location,” but that all are available in small, medium, large and family sizes. Varieties include Chicken Noodle, Cream of Broccoli, Chicken Corn Chowder, Italian Wedding, Maryland Crab (“with an array of vegetables and potatoes, simmered in a spicy tomato broth”), Santa Fe Chicken (with roasted bell peppers, green chilies, corn and spices), Clam Chowder, Loaded Potato (“with smoky bacon, fire-roasted onion and cheddar and parmesan cheeses”), Tomato, and Sausage & Escarole – “a delicious combination of mild Italian sausage, white beans, pastini, miniature pasta, and tender escarole seasoned with parmesan in a rich chicken broth.”
Private label sales are doing better in gravy than in soups, although there has been little innovation in the category lately. Liquid gravy sales, IRI reports, were up 12.% to $32.4 million for the 52 weeks to 10/4/2009, while dry gravy mixes gained 13.9% to $37.7 million. Wegmans seems to be the only retailer to have gotten into aseptic packaging, used for its culinary gravies. Bottles and cans are still standard at retailers like Stop & Shop and A&P, Montvale, NJ.
Even Topco Associates, Skokie, IL, doesn’t seem to be setting the world on fire in the gravy category, but it’s doing more than most. On the economy side, there are new packet mixes under the Clear Value and Valu Time brands. Under the Food Club brand, Topco offers a new country gravy mix with sausage flavor, an au jus mix, and an onion mix. Topco members Schnucks, St. Louis, MO, and Stater Brothers, Colton, CA, offer new or at least revamped canned and bottled lines; two others, Lowes Foods, Winston-Salem, NC, and Haggen, Bellingham, WA, have come out with new mixes.
