16.07.2024
Study
Nestle, Tyson, and other food giants are betting on the deep fryer boom to boost sales
Campbell’s soup
The launch of the brand’s snacks made using patented technology is the latest example of how Big Food is capitalizing on consumers’ love of air frying.
According to the research company The NPD Group, in 2022, American consumers spent almost $1 billion on air fryers, which is 51% more than in 2019. Sales of the kitchen appliance have been growing rapidly since 2017, and they received an additional boost in the early days of the pandemic as people started cooking more at home.
And now that more workers are returning to the office and spending less time in the kitchen, consumers are increasingly turning to portable convection ovens. Joe Derochowski, a household advisor at NPD Group, said the main advantage is the ease and speed of using the appliance, as well as achieving a crispy texture without deep frying. And food manufacturers want to capitalize on this trend.
Large food companies such as Kraft Heinz and Nestle saw a surge in sales at the beginning of the pandemic. When consumers started eating out again and cooking less, sales for food producers were still growing thanks to double-digit price increases. But when shoppers’ grocery bills rose in 2022, they started buying cheaper options, leading to a decline in volumes.
As inflation declines and retailers put pressure on suppliers to stop raising prices, food companies have had to look elsewhere for growth.
Adam Graves, president of Nestle’s pizza and snacks division in the U.S., said the company is leaning into the deep fryer boom through its frozen food brands, specifically to offer customers more value.
“It’s the biggest trend we’re seeing in modern cooking right now,” said Graves, who owns two air fryers himself.
Last year, Nestle launched pizza under the DiGiorno and Stouffer’s brands. The packaging of both lines tells consumers: “Try this in your air fryer.” Other Nestle products, such as Hot Pockets, now include instructions for deep-frying along with microwave and oven reheating instructions.
Tyson Foods was a relatively early adopter of this trend, launching its air-fried convenience foods line in 2019. The products, ranging from chicken strips to the latest addition, Parmesan-seasoned chicken pieces, contain 75% less fat. Collin Hall, senior director of brand marketing for Tyson, said that the line’s annual retail sales have reached approximately $100 million.
Tyson is also one-third of the way to adding air fryer directions to the packaging for its frozen ready-to-eat products.
“If you look at how often it’s used as a cooking method, it’s about 5%,” Hall said. “I think consumers want to use it more, they need more options to use it. So it’s a good time to put it on our packaging.”
According to Hall, who cited recent brand health data, air fryer instructions are boosting Tyson’s brand awareness. She attributed this to the convenience of the appliance and the perceived health benefits of the cooking process.
For fish stick manufacturer Gorton’s Seafood, expanding air frying is a means of retaining customers it has gained during the pandemic quarantine.
“[The pandemic] was a pretty dramatic change that brought a lot of new households into our category and brand,” Jake Holbrook, vice president of marketing at Gorton’s, told CNBC. “We’ve been working hard on our messaging and our products to keep those consumers in the category and to encourage Americans to eat more seafood.”
The car is being filled
According to Holbrook, air frying is the second most popular way to reheat ready-to-eat frozen food.
The Nissui-owned company got in on the trend by posting air fryer cooking instructions on its website. They then added the instructions to the packaging. In January, the company introduced air-fried butterfly shrimp and air-fried fish fillets.
Gorton’s new butterfly shrimp and fish fillets were prepared by air frying before packaging, and consumers can choose to reheat the seafood by air frying it again or in the oven. The product’s packaging states that it contains 50% less fat.
Other food manufacturers following this trend include Kellogg, which in early 2021, in response to customer requests, began including deep-frying instructions for its Morningstar Farms plant-based products. Likewise, Hormel Foods is responding to consumer demand for air fryers by updating packaging and adding recipes to its website and YouTube cooking videos.
Nestle has gone even further, targeting consumers who have not yet purchased an air fryer. In December, the company partnered with Insta Brands, the maker of the Insta Pot and its own version of the air fryer, to give away the appliance. It organized a similar giveaway inside Nestle US for its employees.
Graves estimates that approximately 60% of households in the US currently own an air fryer.
“If you compare that to a microwave oven – there’s a microwave in almost every home – the air fryer has a long way to go,” said Harris.
Still, it is on its way to joining the microwave as a staple in kitchens. According to the NPD Group, in 2022, the air fryer overtook grills and slow cookers to become the No. 4 kitchen appliance.
“I think at first, people thought [the air fryer] was something that might be a fad,” said Tyson Hall. “It’s like the 1970s – people thought the same thing about the microwave.”