With Innovative New Products and 'Gold Store' Retail Strategy, ConAgra Foods Fills Shopping Carts with Great-Tasting, Quality S
May 08 2006 - 10:30AM
Business Wire
'What's in Store' FMI Consumer Survey Shows Americans' Looking to
Improve Shopping Experience; New Products from Marie Callender's,
PAM, Healthy Choice & Egg Beaters Meet Specific Lifestyle Needs
If only you could pick up more time at the store. Crazy schedules,
too many hassles and too little time is making it harder than ever
for consumers today to take pleasure from what good food should be
all about - enjoying mealtime as a family, eating delicious,
quality home-cooked meals and feeling good about what you're eating
because you know it's good for you. Consumers today are looking for
solutions to help with their busy lifestyles and meet their
mealtime needs. ConAgra Foods and its portfolio of top brands are
delivering. At this year's Food Marketing Institute (FMI), ConAgra
Foods is unveiling a wide variety of innovative new products and a
research-rich 'Gold Store' strategy to give consumers what they are
looking for to enhance the flavor, quality and healthfulness of
what they and their families eat; and also to give consumers that
most precious and indulgent ingredient in today's world - more time
- to enjoy eating a sit-down dinner with their families and their
loved ones. ConAgra Foods also gives more time free from the
hassles and confusion that increasingly plague today's grocery
store shopper. With its new products and 'Gold Store' strategy,
ConAgra Foods has set its sights on product innovations and retail
value-adds to help ensure that shoppers can readily identify the
foods they want, and incorporate them easily into their lifestyles.
This approach, set forth by the company's new management team, is
designed to focus the company on proven products, top brands and
strategies to drive sales volume and profitable growth. "Consumers
today face an increasingly difficult task walking through grocery
store aisles and deciding what are the best food choices for their
families from the stunning array of brands and products available
to them," said Dean Hollis, president and chief operating officer,
ConAgra Foods Consumer Foods. "Our goal is to offer the innovative,
great-tasting meal solutions that consumers want to manage their
busy lives, and also make it easier for people to shop for those
products, so they have more time to spend on what matters most to
them. This is what we aim to achieve with our intense focus on
integrating our product-development strategies, marketing and
sales, as we drive to give consumers more reasons than ever to seek
our brands regularly." Innovative Products Lead the Way A new
"What's In Store" consumer survey commissioned by ConAgra Foods
reinforces recent research that consumers, more than ever, are
shopping for healthful food, great taste and convenience as they
zip in and out of the store, eager to prepare nutritious meals,
reduce their stress and spend more time with their families. In
fact, the top three responses given when asked what factors had a
lot of influence on their food shopping decisions over the past
year were (1) being able to prepare healthier meals (66 percent),
(2) finding meals that taste better (64 percent), and (3) being
able to spend more time with family (50 percent). These themes
reinforce the market relevance of new products launched by ConAgra
Foods and its brands at FMI this year. -- Egg Beaters(R) Ham &
Cheese gives Americans a classic, nutritious omelet in a carton. In
addition to its convenience, Egg Beaters has 60 percent fewer
calories than shell eggs but with all of the protein and great
taste. -- Healthy Choice(R) flour with Ultragrain(R), a blended,
all-purpose retail flour made with the revolutionary Ultragrain
whole-wheat flour with a taste and texture similar to traditional
white flour products. Used by commercial food manufacturers over
the past year to make best-selling bakery products and other foods,
this marks the first time Ultragrain is available to home cooks and
bakers. Nearly half of Americans say they are adding whole grains
to their menus, with almost half of those saying they use foods
with a portion or whole grain blend. Ultragrain's retail presence
will help consumers better meet the Dietary Guidelines' whole grain
recommendations. -- Marie Callender's(R) Crock-Pot Meals &
Soups make the warmth and comfort of grandma's slow cooking easy
for everyday meals. Nearly half of all Americans (43 percent) list
crock pots as a kitchen tool they rely on for simplifying meal
preparation, as hearty, savory crock-pot meals remove the need for
cooking time and give consumers time to enjoy themselves and their
families. -- Orville Redenbacher's(R) Shakeables & ACT II(R)
Buttery Cinnamon give families the savory and sweet flavors they
crave as they enjoy time together. These new products are also made
with 100 percent whole grains and have 0 grams trans fat, as is the
standard for Orville Redenbacher's and ACT II products. -- PAM(R)
Organic continues the company's commitment to providing organic
options. The certified organic cooking spray is available in two
five-ounce varieties, PAM Organic Canola Oil & PAM Organic
Olive Oil. PAM Organic gives organic consumers the convenience of a
spray and helps ensure cooking success. The Grand Opening of
ConAgra Foods' Gold Store Americans have less time to think and
plan today. Consumers not only want products to meet their needs,
they need these solutions to appear to them as they walk the
grocery aisles. The majority in the "What's In Store" survey said
they felt their overall grocery shopping experience could be
improved. As examples, they cited placing products that go together
in the same locations within the store, such as whipped-cream near
pudding in the refrigerated section. They also wanted their most
desired products and brands placed at eye level on shelves so they
are easier to locate. Consumers said placing their favorite
products in parts of the store they most frequent would take some
of the hassle out of food shopping. Finally, respondents wanted
their desired products clearly identified or flagged with displays
and promotions. "ConAgra Foods has an unmatched portfolio of
category-leading brands - like Chef Boyardee, Hunt's, PAM, Healthy
Choice, Kid Cuisine, Banquet, Hebrew National, Egg Beaters,
Reddi-Wip and Orville Redenbacher's," said Douglas A. Knudsen,
president, ConAgra Foods Sales. "In rolling out the 'Gold Store'
program, we are working with retailers to leverage the power of our
brands and inspire shoppers to pick-up our products as their first
choice for every meal occasion and nutrition need." New Bench
Strength Invigorating ConAgra Brands ConAgra Foods also benefits
from its powerful new leadership team, led by Gary Rodkin, who
joined the company last year from PepsiCo Beverages and Foods North
America, where he was president and CEO. His leadership team
includes accomplished professionals with strong track records of
driving profitable growth. FMI "What's In Store" Survey
Understanding consumers' attitudes and behaviors when it comes to
mealtime and food shopping gives ConAgra Foods the ability to
continue to refine its products and approach to meet consumers'
greatest needs. Additional insights revealed in the "What's In
Store" survey include: -- Want more family time - Spending time
with family (77 percent) and engaging in good conversation with
family around the dinner table (76 percent) are strongly held
desires, according to survey respondents. -- Stress solutions -
More than half of survey respondents (54 percent) cite the
importance of reducing stress around meal preparation. Two-thirds
of Americans (66 percent) are concerned about preparing meals that
are healthier for them and their families. And nearly half (44
percent) want meals that are easier to prepare. -- Kitchen time
savers - In pointing to solutions for saving time, a majority (62
percent) say their microwave oven is the most useful tool for
making convenient, easy to prepare, home-cooked meals. Also cited
for easy cooking were indoor or outdoor grills (54 percent), crock
pots (43 percent), pre-made meals or side dishes (31 percent) and
one-bowl meal recipes or products (29 percent). -- Home Cooking -
When anticipating cooking this year, more than two-thirds of
Americans said they planned to prepare some variation of a
home-cooked meal more often. About ConAgra Foods ConAgra Foods Inc.
(NYSE:CAG) is one of North America's largest packaged food
companies, serving grocery retailers, as well as restaurants and
other foodservice establishments. Popular ConAgra Foods consumer
brands include: Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy
Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's, Orville
Redenbacher's, PAM, and many others. For more information, visit
www.conagrafoods.com. The survey was conducted by Ipsos U.S.
Express on behalf of ConAgra Foods among a nationally
representative sample of 1,023 American adults from April 25-27,
2006. The margin of error for the findings is +/- 3 percentage
points.
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