Kraft product nibbling at Hamburger Helper market share
Share Now on:
Kraft product nibbling at Hamburger Helper market share
Steve Chiotakis: The dry dinner mix market doesn’t sound very appetizing. But these mixes meet a big demand for quick, easy food for frugal, time-challenged folks. For years, Betty Crocker’s Hamburger Helper dominated that market, but a new product from Kraft has recently started nibbling away.
Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall-Genzer reports.
Nancy Marshall-Genzer: Kraft’s new Velveeta Cheesy Skillet mixes target sleep-deprived moms like me.
Ads for the mixes feature a hunk dressed up as a blacksmith who lands in your kitchen, puts his arms around you, and helps you mix up dinner.
Ad: Just brown the meat, stir in the noodles, seasoning.Then smite them, smite them with the liquid gold until there can be no more smiting.
That ‘liquid gold,’ of course, is Velveeta cheese. Hamburger Helper uses dried cheese. That difference has taken a meaty chunk out of Hamburger Helper’s market share.
Consumer Economist Sara Johnson of IHS Global Insight says this is a crafty move, because demand for dry dinner mixes is rising in the down economy — more people are eating in.
Sara Johnson: They’re perhaps looking for new products to substitute for the restaurant experience. And this perhaps fits the bill.
It seemed like a possibility for this mom, util I realized how much salt and fat my kids would get from Cheesy Skillets. So it’s bye-bye blacksmith… back to boring old fruits and veggies.
I’m Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
