Does Frozen Food Still Have an Image Problem?

According to dual reports coming from Modern Retail’s Gabriela Barkho and Fortune commentary writers Guy Yehiav and Darin Detweiler, frozen food is having a definitive moment in terms of the U.S. CPG business.

Barkho pointed to numbers coming from the Frozen Food Institute — in January, frozen foods accounted for $8.3 billion in sales that month alone — while Yehiav and Detweiler pulled figures from SmartSense’s “Frozenomics” study indicated that more than half of U.S. consumers polled had turned to frozen foods in response to budgetary concerns tied to a turbulent economy.

Regardless of the source, it appears that the frozen aisle has become a destination for American grocery shoppers of all ages, even if the appeal varies by age cohort.

A few key pieces of data from the “Frozenomics” survey:

• Times are tight: More than half (57%) of U.S. adults reported that their personal economic situation had taken a turn for the worse over the past year, and a greater proportion of nearly two-thirds (65%) said they’d tightened grocery budgets in the same time frame.
• And when times are tight: A substantial number (39%) switch to frozen food due to its longevity in the freezer, and 40% swap out for private label options to save a few dollars.
• Frozen foods seen as a value-based grocery safe haven: A majority (63%) indicated that sales and promotions spur them to stockpile frozen CPGs, and more than a third (34%) stated that economic uncertainty was a trigger to start buying frozen foods in bulk. This behavior, as noted by the study authors, can cause demand spikes which put pressure on cold chain operations.
• Gen Z viewing frozen foods as a “tool for financial survival,” while millennials see them as an “insurance policy”: About three quarters (73%) of Gen Zers said their economic situation had worsened over the last year, and 51% cited the stockpiling of frozen food as an “inflation-proof hack.” Meanwhile, a whopping 91% of millennials keep frozen food around as a “just in case” guarantee — versus an equally impressive 81% of baby boomers — and 70% said they would be buying more frozen CPGs if grocery prices continue to increase.

Despite Strong Demand From All Age Cohorts, Frozen Food Potentially Still Faces an Image Problem

In what Yehiav and Detweiler termed a “PR meltdown in the frozen aisle,” the Fortune report authors gestured toward the recent “radioactive shrimp” headline-grabbing news story as just one example of how bad PR can deeply damage consumer perception of frozen CPGs.

“Frozen products are especially vulnerable because they carry clear branding and often stay in freezers for months; when a recall happens, consumers remember the package and the name. Fresh produce, by contrast, is usually unbranded and long gone before a recall hits,” Yehiav and Detweiler wrote.

“People may also not realize flash freezing preserves freshness and often involves fewer additives than canning. Frozen food isn’t less safe by nature, but its current brand image causes a lingering perception problem,” they added.

The “Frozenomics” stats seem to line up with that claim: Approximately 62% of respondents had thrown out a frozen food item due to safety or quality concerns, 56% believe that inadequate handling during shipping or storage was a common reason for recalls of frozen CPGs, nearly half (45%) said they would quit buying a frozen food brand following a recall, and younger shoppers in particular (47% of Gen Zers) had already halted buying a frozen food brand in response to a recall.