Nestle, Tyson, food giants bet on air fryers

Kettle Foods, known for its kettle-cooked potato chips, recently unveiled what it calls “the future of the potato chip category”: air-fried chips.

of campbell soup The launch of branded snacks made with patent-pending technology is the latest example of Big Food betting on consumers’ love of everything air-fried.

U.S. consumers will spend about $1 billion on air fryers in 2022, a 51% increase from 2019, according to a market research firm. NPD GroupCookware sales have skyrocketed since 2017 and gained even more momentum early in the pandemic as people cooked more at home.

And now, with more workers returning to the office and spending less time in the kitchen, consumers are increasingly turning to portable convection ovens.Joe, Home Industry Advisor, NPD Group Derochowski said the main draw is the ease and speed of using the appliance, as well as the ability to achieve a crispy texture without frying. And food manufacturers want to capitalize on this trend.

Ken Harris, Managing Partner at Cadent Consulting Group, said: “The best way to increase sales is to take existing behaviors and find new uses for them.”

like a big food company craft heinz and Nestle Sales surged early in the pandemic. As consumers began eating out at restaurants again and refraining from cooking at home, the food manufacturer’s sales continued to grow thanks to his double-digit price increases. But as shoppers’ grocery bills rise in 2022, he’ll buy cheaper options instead, resulting in lower volumes.

As inflation subsides Retailers pressure suppliers to stop price increasefood companies had to look elsewhere for growth.

Adam Graves, president of Nestle US’ pizza and snacks division, said the company is leaning toward the air fryer boom, especially through its frozen food brands, to offer more value to its customers.

“It’s the biggest trend we’re seeing in modern cooking right now,” says Graves, who owns two air fryers himself.

Nestlé last year launched Pizza Bites under the DiGiorno and Stouffers brands. The packaging for both lines tells consumers, “Try it in your air fryer.” Other Nestlé products, such as Hot Pockets, now include air fryer cooking instructions, along with instructions for heating in the microwave or oven.

Tyson Foods We jumped on this trend relatively early on and launched our air frying line in 2019. From chicken strips to the latest Parmesan-seasoned chicken bites, he has 75% less fat in his products. According to Tyson Brand Sr. Colleen Hall, his marketing director, the line has reached about $100 million in annual retail sales.

Tyson also achieved one-third of the way to add air fryer instructions to frozen ready-to-eat packages.

“If you look at how often it’s used as a preparation method, it’s about 5 percent,” Hall said. We want more options for , so it’s a good time for us to put it in the package.”

According to Hall, who cited recent brand health data, air fryer instructions have increased Tyson’s brand favorability. I think it is caused by

For fish stick maker Gorton’s Seafood, increasing frying is a way to retain customers it has acquired during the pandemic lockdown.

“[The pandemic] Jake Holbrook, Gorton’s vice president of marketing, told CNBC: Put it in the category to keep Americans eating more seafood. ”

Other food manufacturers following this trend include: Kellogg’sbegan including air fryer instructions in its plant-based Morningstar Farm products in early 2021, in response to customer inquiries. Similarly Hormel Foods responds to consumer demand for air fryers by updating its packaging, adding recipes to its website, adding cooking videos to YouTube, and making Spam Fries and Mary Kitchen’s Corned Beef Hash.

Nestlé goes a step further and targets consumers who have not yet purchased an air fryer. In December, it partnered with Insta Brands, makers of the Insta Pot and its own version of the air fryer, to give away the appliance. Nestlé US conducted similar giveaways internally for its employees.

Graves estimates that about 60% of US households now have an air fryer. But it’s still not ubiquitous.

“If you compare that to the microwave, virtually every home has one, but air fryers still have a long way to go,” Harris said.

Still, it’s well on its way to joining the microwave as a staple in American kitchens. By 2022, the air fryer will leapfrog grills and multicookers to become the fourth-largest cooking appliance, according to NPD Group.

“I think people first thought [the air fryer] “It’s like the 1970s,” says Tysons-Hall. “People thought the same thing about microwaves.”