The Private Label Food Options
Aldi Süd offers frozen snacks under its Primana brand.
Edeka offers a potato and spinach gratin under its own store brand.
Hypermarkets, supermarkets and discounters offer German consumers different private label options. PLI’s roundup of German retailers includes Real, Kaufland, Edeka, Rewe, Aldi Süd and Lidl.
In the past few years, German retailers have considerably increased their activities in the private label segment. Among the two leading supermarket chains, Edeka has revamped its complete price-entry range and is currently updating its mid-priced Edeka brand, while its private label brands take center stage in Rewe’s TV ad campaigns.
Hypermarkets – Realand Kaufland
Among the leading hypermarkets, Real offers frozen convenience products under its mid-price Real Quality brand as well as the Tip economy products, while no ready meals are available within its organic (Real Bio) and premium (Real Selection) ranges. Real has also one of the biggest ranges of all German retailers of chilled ready meals. The fact that this range consists of approximate 20 products and occupies only the corner of one shelf speaks volumes about how underdeveloped that segment is in Germany.
Frozen products under Real Quality are available in two different packaging sizes: 600g bags and 400g trays. Products in 600g bags, all at €2.39, include Tagliatelle Salmone, Paella, Penne with Chicken Breast, Indian Chicken Curry and Bami Goreng. Meanwhile, meals in 400g trays include Tortelloni in a Creamy Cheese Sauce, and German standards such as Königsberg Meatballs, Meatballs in a Mushroom Sauce or Stuffed Cabbage Leafs.
Tip economy products in 600g bags at €1.69 include Swabian Noodle Stir Fry, Gyros Stir Fry, Nasi Goreng and Country Stir Fry. Tip meals in 400g or 450g trays (priced between €1.25 and 1.79) include Chicken Filet in a Vegetable Cream Sauce, Vegetable Lasagne, Tortelloni and Lasagne Bolognese.
Chilled ready meals also are available both within real, Quality and Tip (between 5 and 10 choices for each brand). Real Quality varieties (most sold in 400g plastic trays) mainly are German specialties, such as beef roulade with red cabbage (€3.99), Stuffed Cabbage with onion sauce and potatoes (€2.99), Sausages and sauerkraut (€2.99), Meat patty in onion sauce (€2.99), while examples of other dishes are Bami Goreng and Goulash with pasta (both €2.99). There are also two sweet dishes, including Crepes with Pear and Chocolate Sauce (€2.29). Tip dishes are just €1.59 for 400g, and varieties include Goulash with Pasta, Potato Gratin, Broccoli Gratin, Chop Suey, Chicken Fricassee as well as Rice Pudding with Cherries.
Kaufland
Meanwhile, Kaufland has the largest range of frozen ready meals in term of product number. By contrast, in outlets visited by PLI it did not offer any chilled ready meals.
It offers more than 10 varieties in 750g plastic bags (priced either EUR1.69 or EUR1.79), including Bami Goreng and Nasi Goreng, four pasta dishes (Penne Gorgonzola, Penne Bolognese, Gnocci in Tomato Sauce and Tagliatelle with Rucola and Mushrooms), Indian Chicken, Swabian Noodle Stir Fry, Paella and Gyros& Rice Stir Fry.
In 400g or 450g trays, Kaufland offers the usual Lasagne Bolognese and Vegetable Lasagne as well as German traditional dishes such as Königsberg Meatballs (served in a white sauce with capers) and chicken fricassee.
Kaufland’s most unique offering are several products within its K-Classic Well You range – the only better-for you range offered by a non-discounters (but even discounters don’t have frozen ready meals in their permanent better-for you ranges). Kaufland offers two product types - microwaveable products in 400g trays, and stir-fries in 500g bags – all at €1.99. Examples of the microwaveable products are Salmon Verdure and Thai Chicken, while stir fries include Wild Rice & Chicken Stir Fry, Pasta Stir Fry with White Fish and Potato and Chicken Stir Fry.
Supermarkets – Edeka and Rewe
Edeka offers frozen Shanghai style meals under its Gut & Günstig brand.
In the supermarket sector, market leader Edeka offers a range of mostly standards mainly under its Gut & Günstig entry level brand. By contrast, Germany’s second largest supermarket chain Rewe has a rather small PL range ready meals, but is making more attempts at introducing unique products than most of its rivals. Thus in the frozen segment, it is the only retailer to offer organic ready meals (sold under the Rewe Bio! umbrella brand) with varieties including Farmer’s Stew with Pumpkin, Swabian Noodle Stir Fry with Chicken and Vegetables, Chicken Curry with Honey – and two vegetarian dishes: Pasta with Pesto Rosso and Tagliatelle with Spinach, Spelt Grains and Gorgonzola (all €2.49 for 400g). By contrast, products offered under the Rewe brand pretty much cover the industry staples. Thus in 400g or 450g trays (priced at €1.99), choice are Macaroni Gratin, Tortelloni, Chicken Fricassee, Königsberg Meat Balls, Penne Spinach Gorgonzola, Lasagne Bolognese and Vegetable Lasagne. A new addition since PLI’s last article is a Potato & Vegetable Gratin. Meanwhile, only two products – Nasi Goreng and Gyros & Rice Stir Fry - were offered in a 750g plastic bag. PLI did not find any frozen ready meals either as part of the ja! economy range or as part of the Feine Welt premium range.
However, with Feine Welt -- Rewe was the only retailer to offer premium have a premium convenience products in the chilled segment, although the choice are not complete ready meals, but filled pasta. Varieties currently available include Pear & Gorgonzola and Truffel. Filled pasta varieties are also available under the Rewe mid-price and the Rewe Bio organic brands, with Rewe being the only retailer to offer organic filled pasta choices. Rewe also offers several chilled ready meals under the Rewe brand - the selection includes Königsberg Meatballs, Green Cabbage with Sausage, Fillet of Chicken Breast with Sauce, Chilli Con Carne, Chicken Fricassee with Rice, Stuffed Cabbage, Goulash and Rice Pudding, all priced between €1.99 and €2.79 for 350g.
Edeka supermarket
Edeka is currently in the process of relaunching its private label range. As a result, most of its frozen ready meals have seen a cautious packaging redesign. However, at least for the time being this is all that has been done as the range itself is pretty much unchanged compared to the 2010 PLI profile. All but two products are part of the economy Gut & Günstig rather than the Edeka midprice range which can be seen as a reflection of the status of ready meals as staple basics rather than distinctive products. That said, the two new products (a potato & spinach gratin and a potato & beef gratin) are actually Edeka-branded, although in terms of quality they would fit equally well into the Gut & Günstig range.
Products sold in 450g trays, priced between €1.29 and €1.79, include Italian-style pasta dishes such as Cannelloni and lasagna, Chicken fricassee, Chicken filets, Königsberg Meat Balls while PLI did not find some (more unique) products mentioned in the last article such as Indian Style Turkey Curry or Beef Stroganoff. Meanwhile, products sold in 750g bags priced in the region of €1.69 include also some Italian-style pasta dishes such as Penne Gorgonzola, as well as Paella, Nasi Goreng, German Noodle Stir Fry, Steakhouse Stir Fry and Swabian Noodle Stir Fry.
Discounters – Aldi Süd and Lidl
Aldi Süd’s main brand for frozen ready meals is Primana, while a small number of pasta-based products are sold within the Cucina range of Italian products. The range consists of a number of pasta dishes and traditional dishes in 600g and 750g bags, for example Fried Potatoes with Chicken, Swabian Noodle Stir Fry or Penne Gorgonzola. Furthermore, Aldi also offers the usual lasagne and cannelloni in 400g trays at €1.29.
A new Primana sub-range is Primana Dampfküche (Steam Cuisine) for microwave steaming, with varieties including Chicken Sweet & Sour, Pasta Four Cheese, and Thai Curry, one of the few Thai dishes available. On the other hand, a number of more unique and sophisticated Primana dishes that were offered when PLI last reviewed the German frozen ready meals market were not available in stores visited by PLI at the time of writing of this report. Neither were any products under the Primana Exquisit subbrand, or the BeLight better-for you brand.
Meanwhile, Lidl, Germany’s second largest discounter, offers the least consistency in terms of both branding as well as choice as it does not have a brand specifically devoted to frozen ready meals. Instead, they are part wider umbrella brands of, for example, Italian, Asian or other products. Although brand variety is highest, among stores visited by PLI, Lidl actually appeared to offer the smallest choice. Frozen pasta dishes are part of the Combino umbrella brand for Italian products with varieties including Tortelloni in a Creamy Cheese Sauce, Penne Bolognese, Tagliatelle Rucola, Penne Gorgonzola and Gnocchi Pomodoro, all sold in 750g bags at €1.79. Meanwhile, Gyros & Rice stir fry was offered under Eridanous, Lidl’s brand for everything Greek, and Bami Goreng and Nasi Goreng under Vitasia, Lidl’s brand for Asian food.
