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Article excerpted from Nutrition Business Journal, March 1999: Organic Markets
Prepared Foods Market Heats Up
Amy's and Annie's lead in growing market for natural convenience foods.
Consumers raised on convenience foods, such as Stouffer's frozen dinners or Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, are now seeking out healthier alternatives-fueling increasing demand for natural versions of familiar favorites. "Our average growth rate has been xx% annually," said Andy Berliner, president of Amy's Kitchen Inc. (Petaluma, Calif.), a manufacturer of organic and natural frozen meals.
Berliner and his wife founded the company, which is named for their daughter, in 1988. For its first product, the company introduced a vegetable pot pie designed as an alternative to Swanson's turkey and chicken pot pies. The concept struck a chord with on-the-go consumers. Since then, Amy's product line has expanded to include approximately 50 items. Best-sellers include Mexican foods, pizzas and Italian entrees. In natural food distribution channels, Amy's commands a 40% share of the frozen pizza market, over xx% of the frozen lunch and dinner entree category, and xx% of the hand-held meals (pocket sandwiches, etc.) category, according to SPINS.
"We are approaching x million meals a month," said Berliner, who won't disclose revenues of the privately held company. (NBJ estimates sales are nearing $xx million.) The company has successfully crossed over into mainstream grocery stores, where it has captured xx% of the total natural frozen foods category. "It hasn't been very difficult," Berliner said. "We found there was some concern at first from health food retailers that it might hurt their sales, but it hasn't at all. In fact, it's helped." When Amy's gained distribution into Publix, a mainstream grocery chain in Florida, the company's sales in natural food stores soared on an "unprecedented basis."
Berliner attributes Amy's success to good taste, high quality, and mouth-watering food photography on packaging. "There's no marketing wizardry involved here. We don't have an agency," he said. "We're really a big version of an old-fashioned Mom and Pop." Big enough, however, to sell products in foreign markets including Japan and "little tropical ...
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