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The American appetite for Asian style, frozen appetizers and entrees is growing by leaps and bounds, with an ever-expanding universe of choices that may someday earn these products a status similar to other ethnic favorites like Italian and Mexican foods.
Compared to those other ethnic foods, Asian foods remain undiscovered by most consumers, but restaurant goers who seek out the same taste experiences at home have contributed to several consecutive years of double digit sales growth by leading brands. And the breadth of assortments now available to retailers include multiple, hot-button product features such as the variety of seasonings and proteins they bring to family menus, the ease of preparation, and the addition of many products that are vegetarian and all-natural.
Among the leading brands in the category are: Asian Sensations, from Schwan's Consumer Brands; Kahiki Foods; Ethnic Gourmet, from The Hain Celestial Group; and one of the newest entries, Hibachi House, a subsidiary of Simply Simmered.
New Product News
"The household penetration for mainstream snacks is 60%, but for Asian products it is only 11%," explains Mark Jansen, vice president of marketing and product strategy for Asian Sensations, Schwan's Consumer Brands, Bloomington, Minn. "We believe there is an opportunity to make Asian more accessible and approachable. We also believe there are opportunities to go into the entrée area as well—bring the whole restaurant experience into the home. Asian Sensations has the potential to expand much more broadly in the world of Asian foods."
Additional expansion would be built upon the brand's current product foundation consisting of 16 products, which includes two new introductions announced in June. They are a sweet and sour chicken mini egg roll and a Kung Pao mini chicken egg roll. Current products in the Asian Sensations line also include Thai style chicken mini crisps, crab Rangoon, cream cheese Wontons, and shrimp spring rolls.
"Asian has been a core contributor to the growth of snack and handheld categories' growth. It is the most significant driver of that growth, and we are the market leader in this category. We see double digit growth for 2007 and we believe Asian will remain in that camp for a long time," he observes.
Kahiki Foods an-nounced four new products during the second quarter, a lemon chicken and a Teriyaki chicken in single serve, and for the Naturals line, an all-natural vegetable egg roll and an all-natural chicken egg roll.
With the company's merger in June with Abarta, a privately held Pennsylvania corporation, Kahiki is poised for growth.
"Our goals are to get new distribution and expand distribution with our current customers," says Tim Tsao, vice president of sales and marketing for the Gahanna, Ohio-based company. "And the third goal is to continue to focus on the natural and organic retail channel." He describes that planned expansion in distribution as being "pretty evenly spread across the board." Additional investments will also be made in marketing and promotional support for the brand and its products, he adds.
At Hain Celestial Group, its Ethnic Gourmet line of international foods consists of a remarkably diverse assortment of flavors and ingredients in single-serve dinners that reflect recipes from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and now, Malaysia (in addition to others from India and Cuba).
Ethnic Gourmet's current assortment consists of eight dinners, including two new introductions, a Malay chicken curry, part of the "Taste of Malaysia" country of origin line, and its Kaeng Kari Kai, "from its "Taste of Thai" line, in this case a chicken with coconut curry sauce with vegetables, topped with pineapple.
"Population trends are increasing ethnic diversity, and these demographic trends flow to purchasing trends," says Kim McGowan, brand manager for Hain's frozen foods, Melville, N.Y. "Ethnic foods are becoming more mainstream as consumers continue crossing over." Ethnic Gourmet, which is sharing in the Asian category's double-digit sales growth, is one of those brands whose products also offer the additional feature of being all-natural. The company has national distribution, and focuses on the traditional grocery channel as well as the natural retail channel, she adds.
Ethnic Gourmet goes to market with the slogan, "Exotic taste sensations from around the world." The brand also emphasizes that its products are authentic as well as being all natural. In describing the brand's consumer base, McGowan refers to young urban professionals, with higher incomes, who want more interesting foods. And then there is the other segment of families with an ethnic background who are looking for home-style choices. This second group finds Ethnic Gourmet's other line of ethnic foods, from India, especially appealing, she observes.
While acknowledging the remarkable success of Amy's Kitchen in the natural channel, McGowan reports that, "As an ethnic brand, we are number one in frozen entrees in the natural channel. And in the grocery channel, we are the fastest growing ethnic brand."
Hibachi House launched its brand of multi-serve, Asian style entrees in 2006.
Steve Galando, president, CEO and co-founder of the Seattle-based company, claims a first for the brand's ability to create a line of frozen entrees that capture the sizzle of the grill and the use of steam pouch technology that maintains that flavor and requires just five minutes of preparation in the microwave.
"Hibachi House is new and it is being very well received. I have never had a product that has been so well received at the consumer level," he says, comparing this experience with earlier launches in his 20-year career during which he was the "mastermind" behind Chef's Choice and skillet dinners, and collaborated with other industry veterans, Ralph Ardolino and David Essary, on Hibachi House.
The current product lineup consists of 10 multi-serve dinners in 24 oz. packages, with a suggested retail price of $5.99. Those choices include the brand's six new products, introduced in May. They are: Mandarin orange chicken, spicy Teriyaki chicken, chicken fried rice & shrimp fried rice, chicken with broccoli, and sweet & sour shrimp.
"My key from the past was to develop a different way of delivering frozen food to the consumer. We came out with the meal kits and the first skillet dinners, and these Asian foods are really at another level. They taste really good and preparation is just five minutes in the microwave because of the packaging technology we are using," adds Galando.
Hibachi House has already gained national distribution through most of Wal-Mart's regions, as well as Kroger/Fred Meyer, Albertsons, Winco and Costco.
Speaking of marketing and promotional programs to support the brand, he says, "We promote with the retailers and we use coupons to get trial. We also use in-store demos. We're trying to create that buzz. We want the consumer to believe in our products and be our advocate. Everybody is talking about healthy eating, and Asian products have that halo. Our product is a cleaner style and that is where the category is going. It's something different. People compare us to the Benihana (restaurant) experience in a box."
Galando describes steam cooking as a "rising tide," adding, "That is where we want to be. Just as other frozen guys will go in that direction, it's nice to be there."
Holiday Planning
With Asian foods fitting so comfortable within other frozen categories like appetizers and snacks, and dinners and entrees, some popular brands see opportunities to remind consumers that these ethnic foods can bring variety to holiday season meals and snacking events.
"Right now we are still in the process of planning for our promotions in late 2007 and early in 2008. There are, absolutely, opportunities during holiday entertaining and with the sporting events in the first quarter. There are some channels, like club stores, that drive Asian growth during these periods of peak seasonality and we think there are more opportunities across the whole scope of the category," says Jansen of Asian Sensation.
"We just came off a very successful promotion with Julie Roberts. We got an incredible lift in our business, and those connections are probably leverageable," he adds.
At Kahiki Foods, Tsao observes, "Gen-erally, that six-month period beginning prior to Thanksgiving, and through the Superbowl and March Madness in the first quarter is a great period for us. We have done party packs previously, and we will do that again."
author: By Michael Hartnett