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California Pizza Kitchen Dressings to Land on Store Shelves

California Pizza Kitchen has formed a strategic retail partnership with Litehouse Inc., the leading refrigerated salad dressing brand in the United States, according to IRI.

The partnership, designed to leverage growing consumer demand for creating restaurant-quality experiences in the home, will introduce a collection of new CPK-branded salad dressings inspired by the popular salads found on the brand’s in-restaurant menu. Scheduled for early 2023, the salad dressing launch will include a range of new flavor varieties and lean heavily into CPK’s reputation for creativity, fresh ingredients, and unexpected combinations.

CPK and Litehouse restaurant brands bring immediate consumer familiarity, trust and innovation credentials to retail categories that may need fresh thinking. The CPK brand consistently ranks at or near the top for “Brand Image” and “Trend Setting” in the Technomic restaurant brand quarterly report, giving the new dressings partnership built-in momentum.

“Our guests tell us they want more of their favorite CPK items available to bring to their at-home meal experiences,” said Jim Hyatt, CEO and president of CPK. “Our chefs make everything in-house from scratch daily, including our delicious salad dressings. Because we hold ourselves to the highest standards in quality and taste, it was important that our partner share the same exacting standards, and Litehouse is that perfect partner. We are proud to collaborate with a like-minded company to bring CPK dressings to the grocery store shelves for all the fans across the country who crave more than just our pizza.”

Recognized as a leader in refrigerated salad dressings, dips, sauces, cheese, and other innovative consumer packaged goods, Litehouse has made aggressive moves to expand its footprint into different sections of the grocery store, including center store. The CPK partnership allows Litehouse to build on its deep 50+ year history as a leader in freshness and quality, continue expanding into center store, and give consumers and retailers more of what they want – fresh and creative new products that can shake up and reinvigorate traditional categories.

“The Litehouse name is synonymous with best-in-class flavors and product innovations in the dressings and dips categories, just as CPK is in the restaurant category, making this partnership a perfect match,” said Kelly Prior, CEO of Litehouse. “Our category expertise, culinary excellence, and manufacturing capabilities allow us to bring innovative new products to market on an efficient timeline, and we are thrilled to partner with CPK to bring its beloved restaurant dressing recipes to life at retail.”

CPK-branded salad dressings will be available in the salad dressing aisle at grocery retailers nationwide in early 2023.

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UNFI Adds Meal Kits, Frozen Meals to Meet Growing Demand

United Natural Foods, Inc. has added two meal solutions – meal kits and frozen meals – to its offering to better allow retailers to meet the growing demand for quick, restaurant quality meals, while reducing in-store labor and the time required to create similar products on their own. The meal solutions are available nationwide to the more than 30,000 customer locations UNFI services.

The on-trend meal solutions, fresh meal kits from Cook•Able and flash-frozen meals from Cadence Kitchen, allow UNFI to quickly deliver additional high quality product choices that help customers differentiate their offerings at a time when consumers increasingly rely on their local retailer for meal options.

“With consumers continuing to favor eating at home versus away, retailers are looking to offer delicious and effortless products to time-challenged consumers that replicate the restaurant experience at budget friendly pricing,” said Jody Barrick, vice president of Bakery/Deli at UNFI. “These chef-inspired offerings from Cook•Able and Cadence Kitchen give retailers a fast, delicious and reasonably priced turnkey experience, affording their teams additional time to focus on serving their customers.”

The fresh, simple and flavorful meal kits from Cook•Able feature quick and convenient recipes with pre-portioned ingredients that serve 2-4 individuals and are ready in 20-25 minutes. Shelf stable for 14 days and available at a suggested retail price of $12.99 to $19.99, the meal kits come in familiar flavors, including:

  • Chipotle Chicken Tacos
  • Creamy Bacon & Parmesan Pasta with Broccoli
  • Hot Honey Chicken with Seared Garlic Broccoli and BBQ Roasted Potatoes
  • Mediterranean Chicken with Olives, Feta & Rice
  • Pan Seared Orange Chicken with Broccoli
  • Tuscan Herb Chicken in a Creamy Parmesan Sauce
  • Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowls with Broccoli & Peanuts
  • Weeknight Chicken Pad Thai with Broccoli and Peanuts

With a wide range of international menu items, creative flavor profiles and thoughtfully sourced ingredients, Cadence Kitchen meals go from flash-frozen to ready-to-eat in 15 minutes or less. Designed to provide consumers with planning flexibility, the following frozen entrees and sides are available at a suggested retail price of $5.99 to $9.99.

Entrees:

  • American Beef Stew
  • Chicken and Andouille Sausage Jambalaya
  • Chicken Tikka Masala
  • Five Cheese Pasta (Fiocchetti) in Bolognese Sauce
  • Gluten Free BBQ Mac and Cheese
  • Lobster Tortellini
  • Prime Rib Stroganoff
  • Prime Rib Beef and Broccoli
  • Prime Rib with Mushroom Gravy
  • Shrimp Scampi

Sides:

  • Four Cheese Mac and Cheese
  • Mexican Style Street Corn
  • Vegan Latin Bowl

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Food Industry Investing to Meet Shoppers’ Tastes, FMI Says

Despite a challenging year marked by a persisting pandemic, historic inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and labor shortages, the food industry is making significant investments to meet shoppers’ evolving tastes, according to FMI—The Food Industry Association’s annual comprehensive research report, “The Food Retailing Industry Speaks 2022.”

The survey finds that food retailers are focusing on investments in new technologies (73 percent) like foodservice ordering and delivery, dynamic pricing, and mobile checkout systems. They are also increasing labor allocation for online purchase fulfillment (52 percent) and in-store/curbside pick-up (48 percent).

Retailers report they are also expanding numerous fresh or perimeter departments. More than 80 percent are increasing the space they allocate to fresh-prepared grab-and-go products as well as offering foods with beneficial nutrition attributes for health and well-being (70 percent). The departments expected to grow include locally sourced (72 percent) and organic produce (62 percent), plant-based foods and animal protein alternatives (64 percent), allergen-free (38 percent) and gluten-free (35 percent) SKUs.

“A major trend that has emerged from the pandemic is shoppers are looking for fresher, healthier, more convenient options at their grocery store,” said Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO of FMI—The Food Industry Association. “Food retailers have absorbed this feedback and are making great strides to create both online and in-person shopping destinations that cater to shoppers’ evolving tastes.”

Despite the macroeconomic challenges, a majority of retailers (61%) pointed to a positive impact on business sales and profits in 2021 from local and national economies. On the other hand, food suppliers – surveyed for the first time in the 74-year history of the Speaks report – were less upbeat (50 percent positive, 36 percent negative). Both retailers and suppliers agree that the current economic climate will not be as favorable, with both retailers and suppliers anticipating that inflation will cause operating costs to increase (78 percent retailers, 90 percent suppliers).

“While inflation is a cause for concern for the food industry, it is much more concerning for American families who work hard to put food on their tables,” said Sarasin. “The food industry is committed to addressing these challenges so we can support families in the communities in which we operate by providing access to healthy and affordable foods.”

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