Rising Crusts and Sales
Trader Joe’s organic wood-fired Sicilian Style Pizza includes in the box a packet of organic extra virgin olive oil with organic red pepper flavor.
The nation’s leading food retailers continue to expand their pizza offerings in terms of variety, flavor and price points.
There’s nothing easier than ordering pizza for dinner, but you have to pay for the convenience of having your meal delivered to straight your door. Store-bought frozen pizza and take-and-bake refrigerated pizzas are an alternative to high-priced delivery pizza, and private labels offer even greater savings. Whether it’s the ever-popular pepperoni, or a Mediterranean Arugula & Tomato, frozen private label pizza has something for everyone.
The most popular pizza varieties, namely cheese, pepperoni, pepperoni and sausage, and supreme can be found in most grocer’s freezers.
At Wal-Mart, Bentonville, AR, and ALDI U.S., Batavia, IL, — while their private label selection may be smaller than other grocers — their savings are considerable: Wal-Mart’s line of rising crust pizzas are priced a full dollar less than their DiGiorno counterparts. ALDI’s own Mama Cozzi label offers several frozen lines including 28-30 oz Rising Crust and Stone Baked varieties for $3.89, as well as the 12-inch Mama Cozzi’s Classics line for a mere 99 cents.
Similar offerings were found on the first tiers of several other major grocery retailers including Giant Eagle, Pittsburg, PA, Meijer, Grand Rapids, MI, and Kroger, Cincinnati, OH. At Giant Eagle frozen pizzas come in many styles and crusts, packaged and shelved to compete brand-for-brand with the national labels. Like most of their competitors, Giant Eagle offers several lines of pizza. The Giant Eagle thin crust line comes in three varieties including a spinach and cheese (14 oz for $4.99) and a 25oz deep dish pie is just two dollars more. Their last variety, Giant Eagle’s Ultimate Rise “Self-Rising Pizzeria Style Pizza”, packaged to compete with DiGiorno, comes in five recipes and although it’s 6.5 oz heavier than DiGiorno, it sells for a full dollar less. Also priced a dollar less than the same national brand is Meijer’s 33 oz Authentic Pizzeria Style Self-Rising Crust Pizza.
Likewise, the first tier of frozen pizzas at the nation’s largest traditional grocery chain, Kroger, features multiple lines to compete directly with the big national labels. For example, Kroger sells a plastic-wrapped pizza beside Tombstone at a savings of 80 cents while farther down the aisle, other Kroger brand pizzas are packaged in boxes alongside DiGiorno.
Trader Joe’s Approach
Not surprisingly, Trader Joe’s, Monrovia, CA, has a dizzying array of frozen pizza choices in a stand-alone pizza display midway down the frozen aisle. First, there is Trader Giotto’s Arugula, Margherita, Four Fromaggi and Parlano 1 lb. pizzas for $3.99-$4.99. TJ’s Reduced Guilt 6.5 oz pie sells for $1.99 as does TJ’s Spinach Pizza and TJ’s Pesto pizza.
Some of the more eclectic frozen findings at Trader Joe’s include TJ’s Mushroom and Black Truffle Flatbread with Mozzarella Cheese (9 oz for $4.69) and Trader Joe’s Tarte aux Champignons, “a French-style flat bread with mushrooms, emmetal and parmesan cheese.” No other retailer surveyed had anything like Trader Joe’s Pizza al Pollo Asado (10 oz $1.99), which is “somewhere between a pizza, huarache and a sope.” This pizza boasts a corn masa crust with grilled chicken breast, refried beans, Jack cheese and tomatillo salsa.
For making pizza at home, Giant Eagle offers Nature’s Basket organic pizza sauce; Kroger offers pizza parlor style sauce and traditional style pizza crust mix; Walmart offers Great Value pizza crust mix.
Target, Minneapolis, MN, offers frozen pizzas under both their Market Pantry and Archer Farms labels. A 32 oz Market Pantry supreme pizza with a rising crust sells for $4.50. Boxed to match DiGiorno’s look, it out-prices the competition by 90 cents. Like Kroger, Target also features a plastic-wrapped Market Pantry pizza (20 oz for $2.99) shelved alongside Tombstone ($3.69).
For those with more sophisticated palates, Target’s premium tier, Archer Farms, offers eight pizza varieties (all $4.99) including Sicilian Vegetable, Mediterranean Arugula and Spinach Goat Cheese (shelved next to California Pizza Kitchen for $5.29 and Newman’s Own for $5.79). Packaged in their distinctive forest green boxes, the Archer Farms line boasts “handmade wood-fired pizzas imported from Italy.” Despite their proximity to brands like Newman’s Own, some Archer Farms pizzas bear an “all natural” label distinction, while others do not.
Whole Foods Market, Austin, TX, also features a moderate selection of frozen pizzas in their 365 Everyday Value line including 11-14 oz Tomato and Pesto or BBQ Chicken varieties for $4.99, two full dollars less than nearby Red Fork.
Kroger Goes Outside the Box
While all major retailers surveyed offered the traditional favorites, Kroger thought “outside the pizza box” to create artisan recipes to satisfy the most discerning tastes. Forever stroking the consumer’s ego, the Private Selection packaging promises to “ reward your sense of good taste” with contents “inspired by food artisans and crafted with authentic ingredients and tantalizing recipes” to “feed your passion for gourmet foods.”
Whereas Kroger’s first two tiers blend seamlessly in with the national brands, Kroger’s Private Selection line demands attention in its sleek, rectangular black boxes. Standing on their short edge, these pizzas literally stand out next to everything square. If the boxes don’t draw attention, these oval-shaped marble hearth baked pizzas feature a bright yellow “new offering” tab on their packaging.
A bit like Trader Joe’s, Kroger’s Private Selection packages entice readers with detailed descriptions of their contents. For example, the BBQ chicken pizza descriptively boasts a “thin and flaky crust topped with thick, sweet and zesty barbecue sauce, seasoned white meat chicken, hardwood smoked bacon, roasted red onion, mozzarella, white cheddar and parsley”, all on the front of the box. These 11-14 oz pizzas sell on average for $5.49 alongside California Pizza Kitchen (regularly priced at $6.99, on sale for $5.49).
Along with their frozen selections, many retailers also featured an entirely different store line of take-and-bake refrigerated pizzas shelved in their deli sections.
At Target, for example, boxes of Archer Farms take-and-bake pizzas (31-38 oz) sell in the deli aisle for $7.99-$8.99. Similarly, ALDI’s refrigerated section features Mama Cozzi’s Pizza Kitchen take-and-bake pizzas including a large 16-inch four-meat pizza packed with sausage, pepperoni, bacon and seasoned beef for $7.49. All five varieties claim to go from oven to table in less than 20 minutes. Even Wal-Mart couldn’t out-price ALDI in this category. Wal-Mart’s whopping 16-inch supreme pizza sells for $8.98.
Meijer had its own refrigerated end-cap display dedicated to its Markets of Meijer line of take-and-bake pizzas ranging in price from the 22 oz cheese for $4.99 to a 45 oz Traditional Crust Loaded Supreme pizza for $8.49.
Organic Options
Only two of the retailers surveyed feature organic frozen pizza and only one makes a vegan option. Not surprisingly, there were a few organic choices at Trader Joe’s. First, TJ’s Organic Three Cheese Pizza (13 oz) is available for $4.49. More interesting, however, is Trader Joe’s Organic Wood Fired Sicilian Style Pizza, made with red pepper, provolone and pearl mozzarella cheese (14 oz for $4.99). This pizza includes a packet of organic extra virgin olive oil with organic red pepper flavor, allowing consumers to season to taste.
While organic varieties usually cost more, surprisingly, Meijer’s organic pizzas cost the same as their non-organic counterparts. Meijer Organics, in their distinctive beige boxes, featured three varieties of thin crust organic frozen pizza for $4.99 including a spinach and feta selection. These are shelved alongside Freshcetta’s thin crust, which, while not organic, is priced the same as Meijer Organics. There are national brand organic frozen pizzas available clear at the other end of the frozen pizza aisle. Among them Amy’s organic pizza (regularly $6.49) was on sale at the same price as the Meijer brand.
Whole Foods Market offered the only vegan option found. Smaller in size, the 365 Vegan pizza is made without gluten ingredients and comes in two roasted vegetable varieties with a choice of either rice or whole wheat crust.
Mini Pizzas
Several retailers also deliver on individual portions. Wal-Mart’s Great Value line includes boxes of four mini flatbreads (28 oz) for $3.98 compared to the DiGiorno personal size pizza (only 8 oz) for $2.98. In Kroger’s frozen section, five different 8 oz microwaveable pizzas cook in three minutes for just a dollar whereas DiGiorno’s 10 oz pizza sells for $3.15. For consumers willing to wait a whole extra minute, Kroger also has 4-minute French bread pizzas for a dollar less than nearby Red Baron.
Two retailers go one step further and package frozen appetizer-size pizzas by the dozen. At Whole Foods, 12 mini 3-cheese pizzas sell for $4.99 compared to Trader Joe’s dozen at $2.99.
Lastly, Trader Joe’s (once again) is unique in the pizza category. TJ’s is the only retailer surveyed to sell refrigerated individual size private label take-and-bake pizzas. From their Fresh Basil Pesto Flatbread (16 oz $4.99) to their handy Pizza Bagel, TJ’s makes fresh personal pizza pleasantly possible and perfectly portable.
