Shreds and Spreads
Buffalo Wing is one of a number of cheddar cheese spreads prepared at Wegmans’ in-store delis to offer customers something different.
Convenience cheese spreads add new appeal to deli departments, even as retailers also pursue new initiatives in packaged shredded and other natural cheeses.
Ever hear of Buffalo Wing Cheese Spread? Probably not, unless you shop at Wegmans, Rochester, NY, where specialty cheese spreads are made in-store every day.
Here’s how the chain describes the line at its website:
“Looking for quick snack ideas for your party? Our fresh Cheese Spreads are great cold, but even better warmed up. Warm them in oven or microwave; try one with an artisan bread bowl for an easy party food idea. Or try spreading your favorite flavor on baguette slices and broiling briefly for another quick, easy appetizer.”
Besides Buffalo Wing, varieties include Artichoke Asiago, Garlic & Herb, Jalapeno, Artichoke & Roasted Tomato, and Bacon Chive. All use shredded cheddar cheese as a base, and the program may be a spin-off from Wegmans deli-made cream cheese line, which includes Strawberry, Pumpkin Pie, Vanilla Walnut, Peach, Cranberry, Lox, Raisin, Honey Pecan, and Raisin, Apple & Cinnamon varieties – but unlike the cheddar spreads, they aren’t recommended as accompaniments to “your favorite beer or ale.”
Price Chopper, Schenectady, NY, has had an in-store cream cheese line for years. Fairway, New York, NY, an up-and-coming chic chain in the New York area, also has a raft of in-store cream cheese spreads, including not only lox and salmon & dill, but whitefish, caramel, blueberry, strawberry, sour cream & onion and hot horseradish. Wegmans and Fairway alike may be trying to steal a march on bagel chains like Einstein/Manhattan Bagel, Golden, CO, which offer specialty cream cheeses under their brands.
Cheese is one of the largest segments of the private label industry, and still growing at a healthy pace. Sales of store natural shreds were up 4.7% to $1.366 billion for the 52 weeks ended 11/29/2009, according to Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Chicago, IL, and chunks posted a 1.4% gain to $1.004 billion. That’s not counting Walmart, Bentonville, AR, which recently repackaged its Great Value line in mostly white packaging to show up better in displays, and perhaps to remind shoppers of the generic lines of old.
Both natural and processed products are generally doing well. Shelf stable grated cheese showed a 15.4% increase, to $82,3 million, while refrigerated grated gained 14.3% to $63.4 million. Crumbled cheeses were up 19.3% to $33 million, processed slices off 0.2% to $377.7 million, shreds and balls up 2.8% to $29.5 million, processed loaf up 16.1% to $12.7 million, processed shredded up 13.9% to $5.1 million, and all other processed cheese up 7.6% to $52.9 million.
Economy brand cheeses are finding a place in supermarkets during the current recession, The Clear Value line from Topco Associates, Skokie, IL, includes shredded imitation cheddar and mozzarella and grated imitation parmesan as well as American and imitation cheese slices. Topco’s alternate Valu Time line offers those, plus imitation Swiss cheese slices and shreds natural (not imitation) cheddar, mozzarella and colby-monterey jack, plus bricks of cheddar, mozzarella, colby and soft colby-jack. Delhaize U.S., Salisbury, NC, is marketing grated cheese under the economy Smart Option brand.
On the premium side, one trend is party cheese trays. Under it’s World ClassicsTrading Company brand, Topco offers both traditional (mild cheddar, Swiss, colby jack and pepper jack) and gourmet (sharp cheddar, imported Swiss, gouda and havarti). White cheddar cheese aged for six years is part of the President’s Choice line at Loblaws, Toronto, ON; so are Garlic & Herb and Tomato & Basil versions of goat’s milk feta cheese, and triple cream blue brie cheese.
There are more places to buy store brand cheese than there used to be. Basic natural cheese products are available at convenience store chain Wawa, Wawa, PA; and even, under the Deerfield Farms brand, at drug chain Walgreens, Deerfield, IL. Limited assortment retailers go beyond the basics; under the Happy Farms brand, Aldi, Batavia, IL, carries Mexican and taco (cheddar and asadero with taco seasoning) as well as sharp cheddar, mild cheddar and mozzarella – the six varieties are cross-merchandised on Aldi’s packaging. There are also novel variations on economy items: at Sobey’s, Missisauga, ON, a “process cheese product” is marketed in 500 g jars.
But there are also new trends in first-line and premium/specialty cheeses. Under the Simply Enjoy brand, Ahold USA, Boston, MA, offers fresh mozzarella ciliegine – mozzarella in the form of little balls swimming in water. Trader Joe’s, Monrovia, CA, has come out with sliced yogurt cheese that is lactose free, and even with soy cheese. Whole Foods Market, Austin, TX, markets cheddar cheese balls covered with almonds and hazelnuts; like Trader Joe’s yogurt cheese, they use milk from cows not raised on hormones. On the organic front, Delhaize has moved into Mexican blend and other shreds under its Nature’s Place brand. An innovation at Wegmans that may have gone by shoppers is a nine-month aged shredded percorino-romano blend in the kind of tubs usually reserved for grated cheese – indeed, the label refers to “grated or shredded cheese imported from Italy,” so the chain has slapped on “Shredded” stickers.
Glitches like that may create problems with some IRI figures for private label cheese sales, and there are other issues IRI doesn’t address. For example, it reports sliced natural cheese sales up 10.6% to $361.5 million, but doesn’t distinguish between traditional sleeve packs and the increasingly popular tray packs (Hannaford, Scarborough, ME, part of Delhaize, calls its tray packs E-Z-OPEN, but they aren’t any different from the rest). String cheese sales increased 20.4% to $187.6 million, but does that include only cheeses that are labeled as “string,” or similar products like pepper jack sticks at Roundy’s, Milwaukee, WI?
Shelf stable grated cheese showed a 15.4% increase, to $82 million, while refrigerated grated gained 14.3% to $63 million. Crumbled cheeses were up 19.3% to $33 million, processed slices off 0.2% to $378 million, shreds and balls up 2.8% to $21 million, processed loaf up 16.1% to $13 million, processed shredded up 13.9% to $5 million, and all other processed cheese up 7.6% to $53 million.
