focus on... jams & spreads
Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 13 January 2018 | The Grocer | 4552 New frontiers
Chocolate kebab, anyone?
Are there no limits to what
you can do with Nutella?51 Innovation
Organic, caramel, gin, the
nest cocoa... how NPD is
transforming spreads46 Kantar lifts the lid
The winners and losers in
jams & spreads with Kantar
Worldpanel
A focus on versatility has won a wider audience for spreads. So
could the same makeover effect help revive flagging jam sales?
with values up 6% to £512.4m and volumes
up 1.7% [Kantar]. Shoppers have bought an
extra 3.9 million kilos of honey, peanut but-
ter and chocolate spread in the past year.
“Shopper numbers haven’t decreased despite
all spread sectors becoming more expensive,”
says Kantar analyst Sam Jenner. “Shoppers
are willing to spend more on the category.
They’re choosing more premium products.”
So how much of this is down to players
marketing their products as more than mere
spreads, but as cooking ingredients andI
t’s time this category rethought its
name. Spreads are no longer just
for smearing on toast or lling a
sandwich; they’re for dolloping
on pancakes, drizzling over porridge, stirring
into sauces and much more besides.
A reinvention of the category could be
timely, given that the classic jam on toast is
facing plenty of pressure. Bread is struggling–
the supers sold 39.3 million, or 2.8%, fewer
loaves last year [Nielsen 52 w/e 9 September
2017]. What’s more, costs of spreads are
soaring and criticism over sugar content is
mounting. Average prices are up 4.2% [Kantar
Worldpanel 52 w/e 8 October 2017]. Action
on Sugar wants Nutella to stop calling itself
a hazelnut spread, pointing out that it con-
tains four times more sugar than it does nuts.
Nevertheless, the sector is in ne fettle,
Natalie Brown indulgent accompaniments to other dishes?
Which brands are driving the growth? And
how are the movers and shakers respond-
ing to increasing cost pressures and criticism
from lobbyists such as Action on Sugar?
Many are playing the culinary card. Last
May saw the opening of Chicago’s Nutella
Café, selling such dishes as chocolate kebabs
and fondues. In October, Whole Earth ran a
pop-up nut butter fondue bar in Shoreditch.
A month earlier, the Peanut Butter Bar
began serving shakes and gelato to punters
in Sydney and the Hilton Manhattan began
harvesting roo op beehives for its growing
menu of honey-infused dishes and cocktails.
Clearly, peanut butter or honey on toast
isn’t going to wash with the clientèle at such
destinations. “Our nut butter fondue bar
was a unique dining experience that gave
consumers the opportunity to experiment
with di erent dipping combinations,”
“ Our nut butter fondue
bar o ered trying out
di erent dipping
combinations”52 New frontiers
Chocolate kebab, anyone?
Are there no limits to what
you can do with Nutella?51 Innovation
Organic, caramel, gin, the
nest cocoa... how NPD is
transforming spreads46 Kantar lifts the lid
The winners and losers in
jams & spreads with Kantar
Worldpanel