Supply Side Memo: Long Live Newman's Own and its Charitable Mission: Famous Name Food Maker on New Product Introduction Rampage; Next Up Frozen Pizza

Ladies and gentlemen, start your ovens -- natural and premium foods company Newman's Own is getting into the ready-to-bake frozen pizza business.

The food company founded by and named after actor, race car driver and entrepreneur Paul Newman, who passed away last month, plans to soon introduce four varieties of all-natural, premium, frozen ready-to-bake pizzas called Newman's Own Thin and Crispy frozen pizza. The all-natural and premium frozen pizza pies come in four varieties: Supreme; Four Cheese; Roasted Garlic and Chicken; and Uncured Pepperoni.

According to Mike Harvard, vice president of marketing for Newman's Own, the all-natural, premium frozen pizza's will be competitively priced with the leading national frozen pizza brands. This has been one of the keys to the fabulous success of the Newman's own brand in fact. While offering a premium-quality product, be it salad dressing, pasta sauce, popcorn or ready-to-drink lemon aid, the food company always made sure to price the brand close to or just slightly higher than other national, mass market brands in the respective categories, even though its products are all-natural and of premium quality.

Asked why frozen pizza's are the newest line extension for Newman's Own, Harvard says: "For 25 years, our consumers have loved our all-natural products that help make delicious meals. So, we figured, why not make it easier and provide the whole meal. Our new pizzas deliver what consumers want --delicious, convenient meal solutions the whole family will love."

"I guess you could say we've jumped from the salad bowl onto the pizza pan," Harvard adds.

Of course he is referring to the fact the very first category Newman's Own began with 26 years ago was ready-to-pour salad dressings. We see lots of potential synergies between the two product lines, such as salad dressing and frozen pizza FSI coupon cross promotions, in-store tie-ins and the like.

The new frozen pizza line is being launched in stores this month in five test market areas. Those market regions are: New England; Albany, NY; Milwaukee, WI; Minneapolis, MN; and Charlotte, NC. Harvard says Newman's Own has plans to expand to other U.S. markets next year and roll the frozen pizza line out nationally by 2010.

Newman's Own Thin and Crispy pizza retails for a suggested price of $6.49-$6.99 for pizzas that range from 12.3 oz. to 14.7 oz, according to marketing vice president Harvard.

Among the supermarket chains in the U.S. states mentioned above involved in the frozen, premium pizza pie line's introduction this month include: Shaw's supermarkets; Price Chopper; BigY; Hannaford; Demoula's Market Basket; Roche Bros.; Foodmaster; HarrisTeeter; CUB Foods; Piggly Wiggly; Woodman's Markets; Copps; Sentry; Byerly's; Lund's; Kowalski's and a number of others.

That Newman's Own is introducing its new line of frozen pizzas just shortly after the death of Paul Newman is particularly bittersweet because along with popcorn (and pasta and Lemonade), pizza is said to be the award winning actor's other favorite food.

The Newman's Own brand frozen pizza's go from the freezer to the oven, taking only 10-12 minutes to bake, according to the company.

All four of the premium, thin crust frozen pizzas are trans-fat-free. Additionally, The crust is made with flaxseed, all-natural cheeses are used in all the pizzas, the roasted garlic chicken pizzas are made with only all-natural white meat chicken, and the pepperoni on that variety and on the Supreme pizza is uncured. The Supreme Pizza variety contains sausage, uncured pepperoni, green, red, yellow peppers, onions and cheese.

There are no artificial ingredients or colorings in any of the Newman's Own frozen pizzas, according to company marketing chief Mike Harvard.

Newman's Own is on a new product introduction rampage.

The food marketer recently introduced a new line of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, Newman's Own Sweet Enough breakfast cereals. As is the case with the frozen pizza category, the new cereal line is the company's first entry into the shelf-stable ready-to-eat breakfast cereal category.

It's not an accident the food marketer's two newest product lines are both in the ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat segments.

Mike Harvard says a major segment focus of the company's new product development efforts is in the meal solutions sector. These are food products of various types that are ready-to-eat with either zero or only a slight (like adding milk to cereal or baking a frozen pizza) effort needing to be added by consumers. In other words, most of the value has already been created and added by the products' manufacturer.

Prior to introducing the new breakfast cereal line, Newman's Own introduced a new line of shelf-stable marinades named Dress Up Dinner Marinades, along with a new line of salad dressings in sprayer-style bottles called Newman's Own Natural Salad Mists.

These two new lines fit into the meal solutions strategy from the opposite end in that they are convenient, value added products that can be used by consumers to aid in the preparation of and to enhance a meal with very little preparation -- marinading chicken with the marinades and then simply baking or grilling, and spraying the salad dressing misters on a packaged salad mix and simply eating, for example.

Newman's Own was founded on a lark by Paul Newman and his buddy, the writer A.E. Hotchner, in 1982 in the kitchen of Newman's Westport, CT USA home. Newman and Hotcher, who wrote a best selling biography of Ernest Hemingway and the famous memoir King of the Hill about his life growing up in St Louis, Mo. during the Great Depression, along with many other works, made up a batch of Newman's favorite salad dressing -- the company's first commercial product sold at retail stores -- and gave it away to friends and family members for Christmas, creating a label that said "Newman's Own" in part as a tongue-in-cheek joke.

From there as is often said -- the rest is history. The company was launched by the pair with one key proviso -- that all of its profits after expenses would be donated to charity.

Newman and Hotchner followed up the salad dressing line with popcorn, ready-to-drink lemonade and pasta sauce. Today Newman's Own produces and markets 175 different varieties of food products in the U.S. and internationally.

And of course Newman's Own has even produced its own food company offspring, Santa Cruz, CA-based Newman's Own Organics, which was founded by and is run by Paul Newman's daughter, Nell Newman.

Still based in Westport, Conn., the charitable mission of Newman's Own is expressed in its Company motto: "Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the Common Good."

The food company's charitable mission is reflected in the following statement that will appear on every package of Newman's Own products: "The Newman's Own Foundation continues Paul Newman's commitment to donate all after tax net profits from this product and related royalties for educational and charitable purposes," says company marketing chief Mike Harvard.

The statement is being added to every Newman's Own product package to reflect Newman's wishes and plans that the company and its charitable mission live long after his death.

The Newman's Own Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the food company, have given over $250 million to thousands of charities since its founding in 1982. That's impressive. And a wonderful legacy for Paul Newman to leave.

New Product Trends Memo: Less is More: Salt & Pepper-Flavored Ready-to-Eat Snacks One of the Hottest New Product Trends in the Snack Foods Category

Sometimes the simple and minimal makes the most since when creating a new food product.

Such is the case with one of the hottest two-ingredient combinations -- salt and pepper --currently being used by numerous snack food product manufacturers in a variety of new ready-to-eat snack products hitting the market in the U.S.

Those simple two ingredients also just happen to be two seasonings no self-respecting chef or cook would even think about not including in the majority of dishes he or she prepares.

Salt (usually sea salt) and pepper (mostly black so far) are becoming all the rage as the primary two flavors in a variety of new snack food products hitting U.S. supermarkets, natural foods stores and retail formats.

For example, natural snack maker Kettle Foods was one of the first manufacturers to introduce a salt and pepper line of potato chips with its "Kettle Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper Crinkle Cut Potato Chips," which is proving to be a strong seller.

Newman's Own Organics also is one of the early players in the salt and pepper variety snack trend, with its "Newman's Own Salt and Pepper Pretzel Rounds."

Numerous other potato chip brands are now introducing salt and pepper varieties as well. These include "Tyrrell's Sea Salt and Black Pepper Potato Chips" and the Popchips brand's new salt and pepper variety of potato chips.

Tyrrell's salt and pepper chips are thicker cut and have a crisp texture to them, with a balance of salt and pepper taste.

On the other hand, Popchips' brand salt and pepper chips are lighter and airier, along with having a slightly more pronounced pepper taste to them. Both brands use balck pepper in them.

Specialty grocery chain Trader Joe's also recently introduced its own line of salt and pepper potato chips under its Trader Joe's store brand. When the 312-store specialty grocery chain introduces a new flavor combination under one of it's own store brands, that's usually a good sign a new food product trend is blooming, in this particular case in the ready-to-eat snack food category.

Discount store chain Target also recently introduced a new line of salt and pepper snack chips under its Archer Farms store brand and is placing it in all of its Target discount stores and Super Target combination grocery and general merchandise Supercenters in the U.S.

It's not just various brands of potato chips and pretzels that are being introduced featuring salt and pepper as their primary taste profile though. Nut snack product marketer Diamond Foods has recently introduced "Sea Salt and Pepper Cashews" under its popular Emerald brand. The snack food company says it likely will soon be introducing other nut varieties seasoned with sea salt and pepper.

It's interesting that when it comes to ready-to-eat snacks like potato chips, pretzels and nuts it seems like nearly every flavor combination has previously been introduced -- ranging from lime, barbeque and mesquite flavors to ranch dressing and even wasabi-flavored. However, sometimes the simplest ingredients like salt and pepper -- those common flavor profiles staring product developers right in the eyes -- are those not thought of until later on in the product development process.

We think simple and basic flavor profiles like salt and pepper fit in with the times. In bad economic times like the present, consumers tend to behave in more minimalistic ways -- less excess and the like -- both out of economic need as well as based on psychological motivations.

Often consumer food preferences in such times also trend more towards the minimal. There's just something about buying and eating a Wasabi and green-chili and lime potato chip that feels a bit over the top when the credit card is maxed out, the job is on the ropes, it's becoming increasingly difficult to pay the utility bill, food costs are soaring, and you just found out little Suzi (or maybe Bristol these days) needs braces and the company dental plan doesn't pay for them.

Minimalistic snacks like salt and pepper chips or nuts fit the more basic mindset, as do comfort foods like macaroni and cheese and meatloaf and traditional snacks like chocolate chip cookies and brownies.

Also, less can often be more -- often the more simple and minimal ingredient profiles end up tasting the best in foods.

We expect to see many more snack manufacturers introduce salt and pepper varieties of chips, pretzels, nuts and other ready-to-eat snack products, both in conventional and natural, organic and gourmet varieties.

Further, we expect to see specialty snack marketers introduce new ready-to-eat salt and pepper variety snack items using more exotic and gourmet varieties of sea salts combined with pepper (along with using different pepper varieties like red pepper and chipotle), since sea salt happens to be an exploding specialty seasoning category on its own.

Lastly, we're also betting on soon seeing a three-ingredient combination develop in the salt and pepper flavor profile. For example, a combination of sea salt, black pepper and garlic for potato chips and other ready-to-eat snack products. Or sea salt, black pepper and lime, along with other three-ingredient combinations.

Marketing Memo: Drinks' Giant Pepsi is Getting 'Raw' and 'Natural' With its First New Cola Introduction in Over Ten Years

Food and beverage industry giant PepsiCo, maker and marketer of the Pepsi cola drink brand, is getting raw and natural with a new cola it will introduce soon in the United Kingdom called Pepsi Raw. The new cola was created by Pepsi's UK drinks division.

The beverage, the first new cola the marketer has launched in over a decade, will not only contain all natural ingredients, but the drink maker will depart from the age-old soda pop industry paractice of not listing all the ingredients of a cola on its container, and list all of Pepsi Raw's ingredients on the can or bottle.

The ingredients which make up Pepsi Raw are: pure cane sugar (instead of fructose or another corn sweetner), apple extract, natural carmel coloring (we aren't sure what that is), coffee leaf, tantric acid extracted from grapes, gum arabic from acacia trees and sparkling water. Petty clean--and "raw."

Pepsi says the new drink will not contain any artificial preservatives, colors, flavors or sweetners. Hence the raw name, we imagine. This is in contrast to the company's other Pepsi branded colas and soft drinks which contain fructose corn syrup, artificial coloring and preservatives.

Pepsi Raw is paler in color than the other Pepsi cola drinks and has less carbonation or fizz to it. The beverage marketer will initially introduce the new cola later this year in the UK, first in a select number of clubs and bars in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Brighton, Glasgow and Birmingham. It then plans to launch the natural cola in UK food and beverage retail stores and supermarkets, as well as in foodservice, before it markets Pepsi Raw in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world.

The UK has become a leader in natural and organic food and drink--both from a consumer demand standpoint and retailer push perspective--so the UK launch makes good sense to us. It offers a test in a hip food and drink market, where "natural," "organic," "ethical," and "green" are becoming a part of the everyday language of consumers.

By departing from the time-honored soft drink maker's code of keeping at least some of their cola ingredients secret (natural flavors is meaningless for example), Pepsi is blazing a new path with its "Raw" cola by listing everything the drink contains on the label. To this day, Coca Cola goes to great lengths--and expenses--to maintain the "secret ingredient" or two in its famous Coca Cola, even though it lists the primary ingredients on the can or bottle. Cola marketers also have believed leaving a little something out, the "secret ingredient," creates an illusiveness which creates new drinkers. We think that once might have been true, but it isn't likely the case today.

Of course, since Pepsi Raw is geared to a more health-oriented consumer, it makes perfect sense to "break the code" and list all the ingredients on the cola's container. In fact, not doing so would likely create a buying barrier among healthier-oriented shoppers who demand full-disclosure on food and beverage labels. The new cola has far-less calories, 90 calories per 300ml bottle for example, than Pepsi's other colas in the same size bottle, which have about 130 calories.

Pepsi's marketing director Bruno Gruwex is touting the new natural cola as the marketer's "most significant new product innovation in 15 years." In terms of breaking the cola mold for the bottler, we probably agree with him.

It's not like a wild band of hippies have just invaded PepsiCo though. The food and beverage company has been getting deeper into the natural and organic products categories over the last five years or so. Its Frito Lay snack food division has introduced organic potato and vegetable snack chips. It's created all natural snack products with far less salt, and with no preservatives or other artificial ingredients as well.

Late last year, PepsiCo even acquired a company called Sabre, which produces and markets a popular all natural, fresh prepared hummus under the Sabre brand. Since buying the company, the food and beverage marketer has launched it into thousands of new supermarkets nationally in the U.S., and put substantial marketing funds behind promoting the hummus brand.

In the beverage category, PepsiCo recently bought the Naked Juice brand of fresh, all natural and organic juices. Naked Juice is similar to Odwalla, which is owned by Coca Cola. It's an all natural, super-fresh juice which requires refrigeration in merchandising and has a relatively short shelf-life because of its pure nature. The New York-based company is expanding its direct sales force to sell the brand, launching it nationally, and spending a sizeable chunk of cash to buy floor space in supermarkets for the Naked Juice point-of-sale refrigerated merchandising units.

Looking at PepsiCo's corporate strategic marketing push into the natural food and beverage categories illuminates the marketer's motivation behind creating a product such as Pepsi Raw. It wants to capture more health conscious consumers, as well as younger, hipper folks who want alternatives to basic cola's and have switched to new age soft drinks and other beverages. The Naked Juice and (the marketer hopes) Pepsi Raw consumer are very similar in many demographic characteristics.

In fact, it's no accident Pepsi is introducing "Raw" first in clubs and bars in the UK cities we mentioned above. The marketer's hope we are certain is to create word of mouth buzz among the trendsters who frequent these establishments, thereby creating more widespread demand for the new cola. These clubers tend to be early adopters, and are always looking for the latest next new thing, be it in food, fashion or cola drinks.

We think Pepsi Raw is a pretty good name for the cola drink. It's short, describes the natural elements of the cola well, and lends itself to various positive brand connotations that consumers can make in their own minds. Of course, taste as always will be key. If people don't like the drink's taste, they might connote negative definitions of raw, which that won't be a good thing for the brand at all. But, good branding is generally always a potential double-edged sword.