FDBuyer: Isn't it time that frozen food came out of the Ice Age?
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from Frozen & Dairy Buyer magazine.
Okay, here is one thing I never got: Unlike the rest of the food departments, frozen has the ability to be a total store within itself. By this I mean you can choose an appetizer, side dish, bread, vegetable, potato, entrée, and dessert all inside the same department. But few if any retailers lay out the department this way.
Frozen food is a key piece of real estate that's not paying its way. Instead of ice cream, dinners, vegetables and so on, you might as well name the frozen categories what they really are: "quick/easy," "belly-filler," "don't want to cook," "can't afford to eat out," and "don't have taste buds." No wonder many people don't even go down the aisle anymore.
Isn't it time that frozen food came out of the Ice Age? I get that improving the quality will raise the retails. But then again, I've found that you can only sell poor quality once -- unless you're selling to people who accept items from the "categories" I just listed.
Quality drives sales. Just look at the red box guy (Stouffer) who is the best that frozen has. Last I looked, his sales were better than the rest.
There are tons of ways to improve frozen food and bring new customers, sales and profit into this category. For me the question is when and by whom? I'm betting on Al Gore, since if he is right with global warming, then change can't be too far off.
Discussion Questions: Is the quality of frozen food on par with products in other departments in the store? What can frozen food manufacturers and retailers do to improve the department's sales and profits?