Category Spotlight: Finding the Sweet Spot in Jams and Preserves

Like many center-store categories, fruit spreads, jams and jellies are benefiting from COVID-19-induced at-home habits. With a record number of consumers cooking and eating at home, they are filling the cupboards with shelf-stable, meal-prep helpers for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

Prior to COVID-19, from 2017-2019, specialty fruit spreads, jams, and jellies reached $270 million in brick-and-mortar retail sales, according to the SFA’s State of the Specialty Food Industry research, 2020-2021 Edition, produced with Mintel. That marks an 11.3 percent increase, versus only 0.5 percent growth for the total fruit spreads, jams, and jellies category. Specialty sales account for nearly one-third, or 31 percent, of the total category. 

“Strong sales of the highest-tier specialty brands in the fruit spreads category are selling well in conventional outlets,” says David Browne, market researcher, retail and brand consultant, who works with Mintel on the annual research. “Fruit spreads selling though multi-unit outlets grew faster than natural or specialty supermarkets,” he adds.  

J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works In a Jam Salted Watermelon Jelly with toast and eggs

Since then, the COVID boost has kicked in, aided by related categories. “COVID has helped nut and seed butters tremendously. It got a big lift and I’d expect fruit spreads to do even better [throughout 2020 and 2021]. Though it’s a smaller category in total sales than nut and seed butters, it was growing faster year on year heading into COVID,” says Browne.

Challenges and Opportunities
Outside of the COVID boost, one of the categories biggest challenges is appealing to younger consumers. According to the State of the Specialty Food Industry report, consumer purchase likelihood of jams, jellies, and preserves and spreads and dessert sauces is highest among baby boomers, millennials, and Gen Xs. There is a marked decline among Gen Zs.

“Jam, like cold cereal and soup to some degree, is a category that attracts a more mature audience and isn’t retaining a lot of the younger audiences that are coming up and shopping now,” says Browne.

Clif Family Organic Strawberry Preserves spooned over burrata

One bright spot, according to the research, is that younger adults, ages 25-34, are putting more emphasis on specialty foods for breakfast. Dinner and lunch are still the most popular mealtimes for usage, but this shift could be a boon for a category like jams and jellies if they offer the flavor profiles younger consumers are seeking.

While these products are widely available in familiar flavors like strawberry and blueberry that are crowd pleasing and comforting in times of unease, on-trend category innovations are answering desires for exciting or global tastes to help avoid menu fatigue. These include:

Restaurant Cooking in the Home Kitchen. One of the trends for 2021 identified by the SFA Trendspotter panel, consumers are seeking to replicate experiences during COVID-19 that they used to enjoy while dining out. Some examples from the specialtyfood.com Product Marketplace include Blake Hill Preserves Champagne Lemon Artisan Jam, which can be used on hot focaccia or as a glaze over chicken and fish, as well as incorporated in a yellow cake mix.  J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works In a Jam sources local fruits for jams and jellies, which are made with unusual flavors like salted watermelon, heirloom tomato, ramps, and pawpaw.

Chicken glazed with  Blake Hill Preserves Champagne Lemon Artisan Jam

Global Travels at Home. Similar to restaurant cooking at home, this trend for 2021 from the Trendspotter panel stems from home-bound who are limiting their travels using international flavors and combinations more frequently.  Deli Chat Doceria e Eventos ltda. offers A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing Biquinho Pepper with Apple Jam, made with apples, sugar, Biquinho pepper native to Brazil. Le Bon Magot Sour Cherry and Pomegranate Conserve with Cocoa, Mahlab, and Orange Flower uses traditional Persian produce of that region—pomegranates, Shiraz sour cherries, and apples. 

Reduced Sugar. The sugar content of these products can be a detractor, especially among younger consumers. More low-sugar and naturally sweetened fruit spreads coming to market, many using honey or maple syrup instead of cane sugar, or alternative sweeteners like dates. For example, Kurtz Orchards offers a Raspberry Line Fruit Melange that contains only 2 grams of sugar.  
  
Functional Foods. Health and wellness concerns in the midst of the pandemic are also fueling a functional foods trend that is manifesting across categories, including jams and preserves. “We fully expect to see some fruit and superfood blends such as fruit and turmeric to be used in a jelly or topping,” says Andrew Freeman, founder of af&co, a creative and strategic consulting firm with a focus on hospitality and lifestyle, and member of the SFA Trendspotter panel. For example, Nexus Organics Llama Land Organics offers a Superfruit Spread made with camu camu, a fruit grows in the Amazon rainforest and is an abundant natural source of vitamin C, 60 times more than an orange. 

Nexus Organics Llama Land Organics Superfruit Spread

Read a more in-depth spotlight on the Fruit Spreads, Jams and Jellies category coming up in the Winter issue of Specialty Food magazine.

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Denise Purcell is editor of Specialty Food.

Photo: Mark Ferri
Food Styling: Leslie Orlandini
Props Styling: Francine Matalon-Degni

from Food Trends https://ift.tt/3oukzED