Be Bold
In its February 2014 “Left Side of the Menu: Soup & Salad Consumer Trend Report,” Chicago-based Technomic Inc. notes that almost half (46 percent) of U.S. consumers it surveyed strongly agreed that they visit certain restaurants specifically because they enjoy the soup. And retailers that invest in on-trend fresh soup offerings for their store brand programs could find a similar percentage of consumers visiting their banners for the same reason.
Trends with traction
Although soup standbys such as chicken noodle and cream of mushroom continue to appeal to consumers, soup sales now are “being heavily influenced by the introduction of bolder and premium flavors,” states “Soup in the US,” a December 2013 report from London-based Euromonitor International. These types of flavors appeal to millennial consumers, who tend to prefer both bold flavors and variety when it comes to their meals.
Bob Sewall, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Blount Fine Foods, Fall River, Mass., agrees with the trends toward bolder flavors and a wider variety of flavors, and adds health- and wellness-related tweaks to the current fresh soup trend mix.
“Clean ingredient decks really are paramount,” he says. “A nice, simple ingredient deck that’s easy to read is just reinforcing the whole fresh food concept and why customers are buying fresh foods in deli areas.”
Organic soups also are beginning to get their due in terms of flavor, Sewall says.
“In the past, organic products have kind of been bland, if you will,” he notes. “They really weren’t based on having a great eating experience. We’ve created organic products that are full of particulates and full of bold flavors.”
Single-serve 10-ounce cups are yet another trend on the fresh soup side, Sewall offers.
“It’s what I call soup away from home,” he says. “People are buying three or four 10-ounce cups and putting them into their basket because they’re going to have soup [on different occasions]. Soup has really become a meal replacement.”
Trends on the horizon
Looking into the future, Euromonitor forecasts overall U.S. retail soup sales to grow by 8 percent in constant value terms to reach $5.4 billion in 2018.
Sewall says one trend on the horizon is that toward value-added nutrition. For example, sweet potatoes and kale might be added to chicken noodle soup to boost its health appeal.
And noting that soup has overtaken salad at restaurants as the No. 1 appetizer, he expects it to continue to play an important role in consumers’ diets.
“Retailers have to continue to offer enough variety, high quality and different packaging options as possible,” he says. “As trends emerge in the restaurant trade, we can adapt those recipes extremely quickly.”