By Lorrie Baumann
Bean sales went through the roof this spring as the COVID-19 pandemic sent grocery shoppers to their supermarkets with the same motives that prompted the original Paleolithic hunters and gatherers to stalk herds of meat on the hoof and make their annual visits to the same patches of maguey that their parents had harvested. Specialty items on grocers’ shelves were initially passed over when shoppers began stocking their pantries in mid-March, looking first for the conventional brands that they already knew and then, as grocers’ shelves cleared when supply chains couldn’t keep up with panic-buying, picking up specialty items despite their higher prices, said David Browne, a market research consultant who works with the Specialty Food Association on its tracking of the specialty food market. He noted that specialty brands that had surged during the first panic-buying continued to sell well once the panic had subsided, buoyed by shoppers who’d become introduced to them as they stocked their pantries and continued to buy afterwards.
“It was a good opportunity for a lot of specialty brands to get some shelf placement,” added David Lockwood, Consulting Director for Mintel, the market research firm that compiles the data that goes into the SFA’s annual “State of the Specialty Food Industry” report. “This is the year of essentials,” he said as he noted that sales growth of specialty food items in essential categories like bread, meat and beans, rice and grains has been much higher this year than in either of the past two years, outpacing even the growth of plant-based foods.
A Dozen Cousins is one of those brands that has benefited from consumer interest in shelf-stable essentials, said Ibraheem Basir, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of A Dozen Cousins, which makes prepared bean dishes that reflect the culinary traditions behind the bean dishes that his mother used to serve her family when he was a child growing up in a culturally diverse New York City neighborhood. He launched his company in 2018 and sold his first products in 2019. This year, he’s selling his bean dishes to people who’ve suddenly been inspired by the pandemic to stock up, and beans are on their shopping lists. “The business has seen explosive growth. There was just a big boom when people were stocking up and looking for nutritious things to eat,” he said. “As things settled into a routine, we’ve maintained our retail velocity.”
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“Previously, people might have gone out for lunch. They’re now preparing lunch in the middle of the day. That’s not a totally new occasion, but it’s something that they’re doing now,” Basir said. “We’ve seen people looking for solid meal options that don’t include meat, and beans are classic options for that. They’re high in protein, they’re very natural, they’re shelf-stable…. People are buying more and taking fewer trips to the supermarket. As a result, products like ours that are shelf-stable have a renewed benefit.”
A Dozen Cousins launched its most recent products in August of this year with Refried Black Beans and Classic Refried Pinto Beans. They join an existing product line comprising Cuban Black Beans, Mexican Cowboy Pinto Beans and Trini Chickpea Curry. Packaged in 10-ounce pouches that provide two servings, they’re all ready in 60 seconds in the microwave oven.
“The goal for the next year is just to continue growing the business,” Basir said. “We have a product line that we’re excited about, and we think there are many more retailers for whom this would be a great addition to the category.”