Variety Matters
New stuffings, flavorings, packaging formats and even usages could help retailers boost growth within the store brand olive category.
Olives have been around for thousands of years, but that doesn't mean consumers have grown tired of them. The large number of olive varieties available today, combined with a growing sea of gourmet stuffings and flavor treatments, should help ensure continued consumer interest in the years to come.
Trends with traction
Noteworthy trends within the olive segment that show no signs of waning include cheese-based stuffings such as bleu, feta and white cheddar, notes Dan Kelly, vice president of sales for Musco Family Olive Co., Tracy, Calif.
"Most of what is new in table olives has been in the specialty segment, with greater variety and, in some cases, improved flavor on stuffings," he says.
Packaging, too, has been evolving, with various glass jar designs working to differentiate products within the specialty olive arena, Kelly says. He also points to several introductions of olives within pouches — both with and without brine.
"We also have seen a broadened interest in reduced- or low-sodium products across ripe and Spanish olives," he says.
To make the most of current trends in the olive category — a seasonal and impulse-driven segment — Kelly says retailers must focus on merchandising.
"We have had the most success by far in creating display modulars and shippers for products such as pitted ripe and sliced olives," he says. "We have also created a sliced rack program that many of our customers are utilizing to cross-merchandise sliced ripe olives outside of the traditional olive department with other related products to a meal solution."
And because olives have "a very narrow high-user base as a percent of households," Kelly stresses that retailers really need to maximize their shopper insight data to concentrate efforts on those households.
Trends on the horizon
Looking ahead, retailers also will want to consider new flavorings or usage suggestions to spur growth in the olive category. And they could look to trends already well underway on the restaurant side for inspiration.
"I definitely feel that there are some new flavorings that could be added," notes Kara Nielsen, trendologist with the Center for Culinary Development, San Francisco. "For example, I think they could take olives to a Moroccan place, especially if it's an olive bar situation, but even in a jar. They could pack them with preserved lemon or flavor them with harissa, which is a hot chili condiment. Look at some of the Middle Eastern and North African cuisines, where olives are part of the cuisine already, and play with the flavor profile."
Fried olives also are showing up on restaurant menus, she adds, and "frying everything" is really popular right now. So retailers could have an opportunity on the frozen appetizer side — perhaps in breaded and fried cheese-stuffed olives.
Another potential future opportunity lies in suggesting store brand olives as an ingredient within a recipe. Again, restaurant trends could provide inspiration for recipe creation.
"Olives have always been a staple ingredient for traditional pizzas, Italian sandwiches and salads," notes Laura McGuire, editorial manager for Chicago-based Technomic Inc. "Now olives are being featured in these dishes, but paired with nontraditional ingredients."