Trade Events
United States

New Product Manufacturing Opportunities Identified for Frozen Foods

at the Winter Fancy Food Show, San Francisco, 2003

Prepared By: Dan Wuerch, MISB, AAFC Manitoba

The frozen food sector was under-represented at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. Traditionally, this show has a focus on showcasing high end, specialty foods that are not frozen. However, there were enough exhibitors and products at the 2003 show to make intelligence gathering possible and to answer the frozen Key Intelligence Topic.

The frozen food exhibitors in attendance did bring unique looking or tasting products to the Winter Fancy Food show. There appears to be a demand for frozen food appetizers, especially those that are easily turned into a meal. A Quebec company in the Canadian pavilion was making mini pizzas for the snack food market. The manufacturer had found a successful niche in the growing US frozen pizza market by keeping the product small. In addition, ethnic appetizers were commonly displayed throughout the show. With ethnic appetizers, a host could add an element of exotic to any dinner party. In general, The Fancy Food Show had plenty of ethnic sauces and spreads. It appears that a natural extension of consumer needs would be for ethnic frozen foods.

Unique appearance or taste of a traditional product was another trend observed. A french fry/potato wedge manufacturer was using dye coloured french fries and spicy potato wedges to successfully establish a market niche in the food service industry.

The packaging of frozen entrees is geared to the "meal in a bowl" concept, whereby there is no additional dish to dirty. The bowl allows the product to be attractively packaged and is functional at the same time. Most US homes now own a microwave oven and use it considerably to prepare a quick meal.

In conversations with Canadian exhibitors of frozen foods at the show, it was apparent that they did well as private label manufacturers for US retailers or distributors. They felt strongly about their competitiveness as a private label manufacturer and how non-competitive they were or would be as a brand based company in the United States.

Things to Consider

• Private label frozen food could be an affordable market entry strategy for Canadian manufacturers considering the US market.
• Canadian frozen food manufacturers should target the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) show in Chicago in lieu of The Fancy Food Show. This show has significant foodservice and retail appeal for buyers in the growing frozen food industry. Therefore, more Canadian exporters should use the PLMA to demonstrate their strengths in frozen food manufacturing.
• A frozen french fry/potato exhibitor at the WFFS needed approximately 10 million pounds of frozen potato products per year and was surprised to hear of Canada's supply capacity. I.e. Networking at any food show is very important and will pay dividends to those who work hard and smart, using good intelligence.