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 Sauces/Salsa - January/February 2008  |
All Fired Up
Competition heats up, with more and more varieties. “They’re amazing for tortilla chips and dipping, but don’t stop there,” Wegmans, Rochester, NY, urged consumers in an introductory announcement for its fire-roasted salsas at the company website. “Our new Salsas are perfect for cooking or using as a base for a tangy sauce in recipes. Need some inspiration? Thumb through our Holiday 2007 issue of Wegmans Menu Magazine to see some recipes that feature them.” The salsas are Tomato, Sweet Pepper, Chipotle and Salsa Verde, and the recipes are for Braised Chicken Molé (which, besides the Chipotle salsa calls for Wegmans butternut squash and basting oil) and Red or Green Pozole (with tomato or salsa verde, and Wegmans Market Café rotisserie chicken). But as if that weren’t enough, the new line is promoted in an online video with Andrea Zuegel, advertising account manager, talking a blue streak about how she likes to treat company to “something a little different,” like those salsas. “The fire roasting brings the flavors to a whole new level,” she says—her favorite being the “really smoky” chipotle. “They’re great for dipping, or as a sauce for chicken or fish,” Zuegel goes on. “Here’s a cool trick: take half a jar of salsa verde and mix it with two avocados—instant guacamole.” Store brand sauces and salsas cover a much broader range than they used to. Retail programs just can’t compete any more on the basis of a few standard pasta, steak and barbecue sauces. Where ethnic sauces used to mean Mexican sauces, period, there are now any number of Caribbean and Asian entries. Beyond that, there are a raft of sauces for cooking, grilling and dipping, some especially formulated for red meat, poultry or seafood. Salsa, at $96.1 million (up 4.1% for the 52 weeks ended 12/2-2007); and spaghetti sauce at $92.5 million (up 8.4%) remain the largest single items reported by Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Chicago, IL. But in both cases, the market is split among a growing number of specific items–regular versus organic, first line versus premium versus economy. Ahold USA, Boston, MA, carries standard pasta sauces–traditional, meat and mushroom–under its store brands like Stop & Shop. But under the Nature’s Promise organic brand, it offers Traditional, Parmesan and Garden Vegetable, while the Simply Enjoy premium line includes Italian Eggplant, Vodka, Tomato Basil, Fra Diavolo, Roasted Garlic and Marinara. White as opposed to red pasta sauces are coming into favor. Harris Teeter, Matthews, NC, is among those offering an Alfredo sauce, under its H.T. Traders brand. Safeway, Pleasanton, CA, goes farther than that, with a refrigerated creamy parmesan sauce under the Safeway Select brand. In red sauces, retailers are always on the lookout for unique items–like Burgundy Marinara at Target, Minneapolis, MN, under the Archer Farms Organic brand. Mild, medium and hot salsas can be found in nearly every store brand. Popular variations like Black Bean & Corn salsa have spread beyond national chains and distributors to hip regional players like HyVee, West Des Moines, Iowa. But at Target, the Archer Farms line goes beyond that with varieties like Three Bean, Chipotle, Tequila Lime, Guajillo Pepper and Mango Peach–plus both white and yellow salsa con queso and an organic Garden Style. Target also goes beyond supermarket store brand programs in other segments, as witness an Archer Farms marinade line that includes Tandoori, Chardonnay & Herb, Fiery Jamaican Jerk and Mustard & Beer. Grilling sauces in the same brand include Hot Chile Pineapple, Ginger Orange and Mango Teriyaki. In barbecue sauces, where store brand performance generally has been weak, according to IRI, Target offers the popular Kansas City style, but also Texas and Hawaiian styles. And there are stir-fry sauces like General Tso. Williams-Sonoma, San Francisco, CA, is trying to be even more on the cutting edge than Target. The upscale cookware and dinnerware chain is also into exotic sauces, seasonings and other products, including a line of slow cooking sauces: American, Tuscan and Moroccan. Intending for braising meat dishes in a covered pot, as with traditional Moroccan specialties like tagines and fragrant stews, that last version is “made with premium dried apricots, tomatoes and classic Moroccan spices: coriander, cumin, cinnamon and bay leaf.” Given that IRI doesn’t report Wal-Mart, Bentonville, AR, its data aren’t necessarily an indicator of trends in the overall market. Yet Wal-Mart offers a relatively limited range in store brands, nearly all pasta sauces and salsas–and trends in some other sub-categories stand out stand out all the more because they reflect primarily supermarket sales at a time when supermarkets are feeling the pinch. Seafood sauces–not the standard cocktail and tartar sauces, but other varieties–accounted for only $800,000 in store brand sales over the past year. But that was a 78.8% increase, and private label already accounts for 13.4% of the dollar volume in a sub-category apparently neglected by national brands (Tartar sauce, meanwhile, was up 12.7% to $4.7 million.). Store brand soy sauce sales were up 25.2% to $6.8 million, and other Oriental sauces 13.9% to $7.1 million. Steak sauce was down, although worcestershire sauce was up; but meat marinades showed a 12.2% increase to $15.6 million. Pizza sauce gained 10.2% to $5 million, and “other” Mexican sauces were up 25% to $4.7 million. Next to salsa and spaghetti sauce, the third largest item is plain tomato sauce at $80.4 million, but that’s showing hardly any growth. Barbecue sauce sales totaled $24.4 million over the past year; the 3.8% decline may be related to the advent of more trendy grilling sauces and niche items like Spicy Garlic Win Sauce at Kroger, Cincinnati, OH; but some retailers–like Meijer, Grand Rapids, MI, with its Smooth & Spicy variation–are trying to breathe new life into the category. Recommended Suppliers
Products described or shown in this article are not necessarily available from these suppliers. For more suppliers see current Private Label Directory & Buyer’s Guide. |
