Canny Marketing
By John J. Pierce

Chicken with Whole Grain Wild & Red Rice is a new concept in ready-to- serve soups from Kroger.

Canned goods don't have to be the same old thing. Savvy retailers are finding ways to bring new life to one of the oldest grocery segments.

Whole grain bread? Sure! Whole grain pasta? Right on! But whole grain canned soups?

You can find them in private label at Kroger, Cincinnati, OH, Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh, PA, and HyVee, West Des Moines, IA, which offer a ready to serve soup line that includes Minestrone with Whole Grain Penne Pasta, Beef with Whole Grain Barley, Chicken with Whole Grain Noodles and even Chicken with Whole Grain Wild and Red Rice.

Kroger also offers the same soups under the store brands at its Ralphs, Frys and Fred Meyer divisions. All carry the logo of the Whole Grains Council, with the number of grams of whole grain per serving (eight grams) plugged in. At its website, the Council promotes the logo as a guide to consumers, with links to hundreds of products–including those soups–that qualify.

That’s just one example of retailers going beyond the ordinary when it comes to canned goods in their own brands, and it isn’t even the only example at Kroger. Mindful of recent criticism of canned soups as too salty, it also offers a 50% reduced sodium chunky soup line (“with natural sea salt”) that includes Vegetable, Beef with Country Vegetables and Classic Chicken Noodle.

No-salt-added canned vegetables were pioneered by private label 25 years ago, along with canned fruits in natural juices. But at the Bloom banner stores of Delhaize Group US, Salisbury, NC, there are now canned fruit items like crushed pineapple “Sweetened with Splenda® Brand Sweetener” and carrying the Splenda logo as well as the Bloom brand–a tie-in that enhances marketing for both.

Canned and bottled private label vegetables have mostly been gaining at double digit rates, according to a report from Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Chicago, IL, for the 52 weeks ended 3/25/2009. The picture is a bit more spotty for canned and bottled fruit. Canned soups are showing relatively modest gains, but canned meats and meat spreads are up 36.1% to $60 million–this presumably includes chicken as well as corned beef and related items.

Private label lines are stressing variety even within traditional categories. There’s nothing particularly novel about tomatoes, for example, but Wegmans, Rochester, NY, offers consumers a choice of three kinds of diced tomatoes alone under three sub-brands. Wegmans Italian Classics offers petite diced tomatoes with garlic, olive oil and seasoning. Under the Wegmans Organic label are diced tomatoes with garlic, oregano and basil. The Food You Feel Good About sub-brand offers chili-style, “flavored for chili recipes.”

Meijer, Grand Rapids, MI, also has an Organics sub-brand that covers items like chicken noodle soup as well as vegetables–the chicken, egg noodles and vegetables are all organic, of course. Under the plain Meijer brand, no-salt-added vegetables include regional favorites like chopped mustard greens as well as standard peas and green beans and the like. The supercenter chain also has a sub-brand called Select (not the same as the Meijer Gold premium brand), as with Meijer Select butter beans (“All Meijer beans are the highest quality and have the finest flavor.”).

Canned tuna has been around for ages; at $130.8 million, up 20.6%, it’s still big business for store brands. But canned chicken, which isn’t even broken out in standard IRI reports, seems to be gaining ground. Kroger and other retailers offer two versions: premium chicken breast chunks and premium chunk chicken that isn’t necessarily breast meat.

At Target, Minneapolis, MN, there is a slight distinction between chicken breast chunks (98% fat free) and chunk chicken (96% fat free), both under the Market Pantry brand–but the latter is actually priced higher, at $2.44 versus $2.04 a 10 oz can. At Bloom, 10 oz breast meat chunks go for $2.19. Kroger offers chicken breast chunks in multi-packs of three 3 oz cans at $2.99, the same price as for 10 oz single cans of chunk chicken.

Canned corned beef and luncheon meat (the latter positioned against Spam) are perennials; Kroger offers the latter under its Kroger Value economy brand at $1.39. Safeway, Pleasanton, CA, gets its corned beef ($2.98 a 12 oz can) from Brazil. In a related category, corned beef hash, Price Chopper, Schenectady, NY, bills its store brand as “homestyle.” And Harris Teeter, Matthews, NC, makes a point of its canned ravioli being “overstuffed.”

Some retailers make a point of emulating leading brands. Stop & Shop, part of Ahold USA, Boston, MA, has come out with a Select line of ready-to-eat soups like Roasted Chicken with Rotini and Penne Pasta to match Campbell’s Select Harvest. But Delhaize Group US goes beyond the national brand with condensed all natural (no MSG, trans fat or artificial preservatives) New England Lobster Chowder under its Nature’s Place brand–not the sort of thing you’ll find in Campbell’s or most store brands.

Organic and natural canned goods are flourishing, as witness Harris Teeter Naturals small tender sweet peas. Harris Teeter is also known for specialty items like quartered artichoke hearts under its H.T. Traders brand. H•E•B, San Antonio, TX, has reached out to the Hispanic market with items like canned tortilla soup base. But times being what they are, retailers have to appeal to the economy segment too, as Price Chopper does with standard items like mixed vegetables under the Clear Value brand from Topco Associates, Skokie, IL.