Standout Performances by Frozen and Refrigerated Foods in September

National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association’s Frozen and Refrigerated Foods Performance Review.

With fuel prices climbing back to their peak levels seen in May, consumers were once more forced to balance grocery and gasoline budgets. Across all food and beverages, this led to flat unit sales with mild inflation-driven growth. Frozen and refrigerated foods were a meaningful exception with growing demand across many categories.

Week by Week Sales — Frozen Foods and Refrigerated

Frozen foods posted dollar gains all September weeks, while unit sales grew during three out of the four weeks. Patterns were also fairly stable for refrigerated foods, with deflation pulling dollar sales below year ago levels, while unit sales grew all four September weeks.

Refrigerated Food

Dairy brought stability to the refrigerated department, with $6.7 billion in September sales and flat unit sales. Driven by deflation in eggs, cheese, butter, cream cheese and whipped toppings, dollar sales were down 1.3%, however, milk, yogurt and cottage cheese posted substantial gains. Cottage cheese dollar, unit and volume gains accelerated further.

Source: Circana, Integrated Fresh 

—  Anne-Marie Roerink, president, 210 Analytics