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The leading brands of hummus have created a broad assortment of good-for-you, all-natural products for the dips and spreads category, complete with the pleasing tastes of roasted garlic, peppers, olives, eggplant and now, jalapeno peppers, to create healthy dips that happen to be downright irresistible.
Surging sales by leading brands such as Sabra, Tribe and Athenos, are also being aided by a cultural pedigree which links these products with a Mediterranean lifestyle originating in the Middle East and Greece. And the remarkable consumer response to these products is also reflected in leading retailers' decisions to quickly develop their own private label programs.
Top selling brands have developed extensive product lineups, with active new product introductions, and rapid expansion into multiple retail channels—from traditional supermarkets to all-natural chains, convenience stores, mom and pop operators, and food service. This expansion is being driven by consumer enthusiasm for hummus as well as heightened competition among category leaders who convey a sense of urgency about being first to develop new markets for their products.
Sabra's Go Mediterranean product line consists 15 varieties of dips and spreads in four sizes: 7 oz., 10 oz., 14 oz., and 23 oz. The individual flavors are all natural and kosher certified. They range from: classic hummus, hummus with roasted pine nuts, roasted red pepper, hummus tahini, roasted garlic, Greek olive, lemon hummus, and roasted eggplant.
Tribe Mediterranean Foods' offers 17 flavors that are all-natural, and with four new introductions that are organic. The organic flavors are: classic, roasted garlic, toasted red pepper, and a cracked chili pepper. Other flavors in the Tribe line are: zesty lemon, jalapeno, sun dried tomato basil, spicy chipotle, and horse radish.
Athenos, from the Churny Company, a division of Kraft Foods, offers 11 varieties of hummus, in 7 oz. containers and three party-size packages in 14 oz. Individual flavors include: roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, spicy three pepper, Greek style with lemon, garlic & oregano, artichoke & garlic, black olive, pesto, cucumber dill, and scallion. Kraft Foods is headquartered in Northfield, Ill.
"We have quadrupled our market share and quadrupled our ACV distribution in just one year," reports John McGuckin, executive vice president of sales, Sabra, Astoria, N.Y. "And we did that without any sort of advertising. It's PR work, word of mouth and a lot of demos. Sabra is having an impact on the whole category. We are doubling the size of the category in stores, as reflected by the (allocated) space. The category's growth is being fueled by Sabra's growth. Virtually ever player in the category is up, but nowhere near our sales.
"Current household penetration is just 3% to 4%, so the growth potential is huge. In Israel, 30 years ago, there was no hummus market, but today it is comparable to ketchup here in the U.S. The current trend toward all things Mediterranean—the clothing and the parties, has at its core the food and the ingredients. These are high quality foods, and we're talking great margins for retailers," he observes.
Based on Sabra's success with its hummus dips and spreads, the company has expanded its lineup with its Mediterranean Salsa, launched this summer. The current line has two varieties, original and zesty.
"These are all-natural, refrigerated products and they are very different from traditional salsa, with a multitude of Mediterranean ingredients," he notes. This new direction for Sabra is also consistent with its recent introduction of a jalapeno hummus dip.
Tribe Mediterranean Foods, Taunton, Mass., which recently split off from former owner Ocean Beauty Seafood, is an independent company as of June 2007, and now focuses exclusively on its business with a dedicated sales force.
"The growth of hummus is off the charts," says Rick Schaffer, vice president of sales and marketing. "The most recent 52-week IRI report has category sales up by 30% for the year. And that is just the measurable data that doesn't include Costco, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's—and their growth is off the chart. We believe this is happening because hummus is a healthy, good-for-you product that is great tasting, and more people are choosing products that they can eat on the run."
Tribe has also expanded into new markets with its Snackers, a 2 oz. aluminum foil package for food service, including schools and colleges, along with a four pack of Snackers. In addition, Tribe has introduced its Hummus and Crackers product for convenience stores, vending, and as a grab-and-go product for grocers. "At the NRA show (National Restaurant Association), all kinds of major universities wanted the product," he notes.
"Tribe is doing lots of different things. We are going after sub segments of the market with the 2 oz. Snackers and the Hummus and Crackers format for grocery stores. And nobody else is doing party trays. These are aggressive pieces of our business," Schaffer reports.
Athenos hummus was launched in 1996 and lays claim to being the top brand in the U.S.
"Interest in Mediterranean foods has been on the rise over the last several years and does not show any sign of slowing down," says Paula Shikany, senior brand manager, the Churny Company. And she points to several major trends that help explain why consumers are embracing these foods.
First, consumers are becoming more adventurous and are looking for more distinctive and flavorful foods. Increasingly, they are bringing home the great tastes of Mediterranean foods they enjoy in restaurants—like hummus and feta cheese for snacking and entertaining. Next, there is the flavor and the versatility of these foods with their bold tastes and the options they provide as ingredients in salads, pasta, pizza, burgers and, of course, dips and spreads. And lastly, Shikany notes, "There has been a terrific buzz around Mediterranean foods generated by both the media and consumers. Consumers love to share their 'discoveries' with friends and family."
In describing Athenos' message to retailers and consumers, Shikany observes, "Great taste, health and wellness and wholesome ingredients are important messages that we highlight with retailers and those who enjoy our products.
"We also see snacking as an important trend, so we believe Athenos hummus is an appealing snacking product that tastes great and is in the 'better-for-you' category. Athenos hummus also bears Kraft's Sensible Solution flag," he says.
Marketing and Demographics
Athenos promotes its products with in-store signage that describes products and offers usage ideas, along with cross-promoting its hummus with complementary products like pitch chips, and cut vegetables. The company has regular FSI drops, along with in-store coupons and shelf talkers. "We may also place IRCs on Athenos products on an occasional basis," adds Shikany.
Tribe's Schaffer says, "The growth of hummus is due to the young adults aged 18 to 30, male and female." He supports that contention by pointing out that Boston is the number one market for hummus. "We believe Boston is the top market because it is a big schools town with all the various universities, and the city skews very young. The (local) supermarkets, Stop & Shop and Shaw's, have a larger section for the (hummus) category than anywhere else. We do some pretty unique things with advertising on 200 taxi tops in Boston."
Tribe's other marketing and promotional programs include trade advertising, cents off coupons, internet promotions, in-store demos, displays, billboards, radio advertising and direct marketing.
The brand's message also includes its pasteurization of all its products, using its own state-of-the-art facility in Taunton. "We have a very clean product going into stores with a 90-day shelf life for out all-natural products and 80-days for organic," says Schaffer.
McGuckin, at Sabra, observes, "The king of our success is the product itself, the critically important repeat purchases, along with the vibrancy of the packaging. We put our products out there at the regular price and they fly off the shelf. There is no reason to discount the product. Some of our competitors have gone to the tactics of BOGOs and low-balling the category, but that has not had an impact on us."
Growth Forecast
"The consumer has come to believe that Mediterranean foods, like hummus, are an upscale, beneficial, tasty product," says Schaffer. "Europe is three to five years ahead of the U.S. in the growing popularity of these foods, and the Mediterranean lifestyle fits with growth trends in the U.S. All of those products from the Middle East and Greece are considered good for you, great tasting and more beneficial. And consumers equate that with the word Mediterranean," he concludes.
author: By Michael Hartnett