Frozen Food Report reveals new habits developed in lockdown bolster frozen category for the long-term

• 19.8% growth in sales of savoury frozen foods since 2019 with plant-based up 16.8%
• Shopping patterns continue to flex in response to changes to government guidance on working from home, social distancing and the re-opening of pubs and restaurants
• Frozen fish sales increase by £141.2m in just two years

The Frozen Food Report, released today, shows that retail frozen food sales have grown by 13.5%, compared to pre-pandemic levels, suggesting that consumers have truly fallen back in love with their freezers.

The Report reveals that despite restaurants, cafes and pubs opening back up in April 2021 following over 12 months of restrictions, frozen sales have maintained their momentum.

The return to eating out has led to less frequent shops and smaller shopping baskets which has seen the year-on-year value growth of the frozen food market slow to 1.2%.

Commenting on the statistics, BFFF chief executive, Richard Harrow, said: “After two years of disruption, the retail market is returning to pre-pandemic normal, but frozen has attracted over 400,000 more shoppers in the last two years. The retail frozen food market is now worth £7.1bn and has added nearly £850m worth of sales since 2019 that’s value growth of +13.5% and volume growth of +9.2%. With the total grocery market broadly flat, frozen sales have significantly outperformed the market.

“Last year was another turbulent year for everyone in FMCG. With foodservice outlets opening back up in April, it would have been overly optimistic to assume the same success that we saw in 2020. However, when you look at the market compared to 2019, we have seen incredible growth. While consumers may have looked to frozen out of necessity in 2020, they have come back through choice in 2021.”

According to Kantar ice cream is the largest single category in frozen, worth £1.3bn to retailers and accounting for 18.6% of their overall frozen food sales, up from 17.3% in 2019. Frozen fish broke through the £1bn barrier in 2020 and 2021’s sales represent a 16.4% (£141.2m) gain in just two years.

However, lifestyle changes are driving meat free innovation. Vegan and vegetarian products have achieved 16.8% growth since 2019, contributing to a £237.4m (19.8%) growth in sales of savoury foods in the same period.

Harrow added: “There has been incredible innovation in the frozen plant-based category. From developments in the texture and mouthfeel of meat alternatives to new recipes that make vegetables the star of the show, it’s no surprise that consumers with all kinds of dietary needs and preferences are adding these types of products to their baskets. The plant-based category is growing at four times the rate of meat analogue products and we expect this trend to continue.

“Another factor that will drive frozen sales is food waste. The majority of shoppers (62%) are now influenced in their food and drink purchases by sustainability issues and frozen food, with its proven ability to cut food waste, is perfectly positioned to help.”

In terms of pricing, the frozen category has returned to a form of normality with promotional participation trending back to levels of 2019 in most categories.

Harrow summarised: “Continued price matching with Aldi is impacting some categories. This is good news for consumers as frozen vegetable prices are down 3.7% in the past year and down 6% since 2019. However, it does put producers under even more pressure at a time of increasing inflation.”

The Frozen Food Report 2022 brings together research from leading names including Kantar Worldpanel and IGD to give a full picture of the market for frozen food. It has been produced by the BFFF Young Leaders Forum, with input from BFFF members, and features opinions and commentary from brands including Birds Eye, Young’s Seafood and Froneri.

Copies of the Frozen Food Report are available from here.

New Frozen Food Report shows how utilising frozen helps outlets cope with fluctuating covers, staff shortages and supply disruptions  

• Frozen food supports back-to-basics menu approaches
• Foodservice market expected to reach £95bn in 2022, still 5% below 2019
• Demand for delivery options expected to remain

The British foodservice sector has been hobbled by successive lockdowns, plummeting consumer confidence and deepening disruption to supply chains during the past two years. But the Frozen Food Report 2022, launched today, says that against this backdrop, frozen food is coming to the fore.

Richard Harrow, chief executive of the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) said: “Many foodservice operators found that offering their usual menu was almost impossible on reopening after covid restrictions. Whether due to having fewer kitchen staff or unpredictable diner numbers, many menus were replanned and frozen food offered a solution to several problems.

“The convenience and longer shelf life of frozen is allowing operators to adapt to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic while reducing food waste and helping them hit their sustainability targets.”

The report highlights the ‘back-to-basics’ approach that has been favoured by many operators. Paring down menus means that kitchen skills don’t have to stretch as far. Choosing a frozen version of tricky, labour intensive dishes like beef wellington, southern fried chicken and souffles allows outlets to provide consistent quality with minimal prep time.

Hopes of a Christmas sales boost were dashed with the emergence of the Omicron variant in the last quarter of 2022 which forced thousands of would-be diners into isolation while keeping cautious customers away.

Harrow added: “Restrictions for dining out may have been lifted in summer, but the foodservice sector wasn’t able to recover to reach anywhere near pre-pandemic numbers. Britain now has at least 10,000 fewer licensed premises than it did before the pandemic hit. Our predictions show that the total foodservice market is to reach around £95bn in 2022, which is still 5% below 2019 levels.”

As consumers have developed new habits and preferences, The Frozen Food Report 2022 also predicts that foodservice outlets will still be expected to provide enhanced delivery and take away options.

Harrow said: “Consumers have become more accustomed to food delivery and collection. This element of foodservice will continue to grow. Consumers now expect to be able to get what they want, when they want, and where they want it. This demand has driven innovation in sector tech, for example the OrderPay app works with What3Words to enable foodservice delivery to whichever 3m square space a consumer is in, such as parks, festivals and events.”

He concluded: “Frozen’s proved ability to cut food waste is also going to see it gaining a bigger role in foodservice outlets in response to consumer demands for more sustainable food and operators publicly declared CSR objectives.”

The Frozen Food Report 2022 brings together research from leading names including Kantar Worldpanel and IGD to give a full picture of the market for frozen food. It has been produced by the BFFF Young Leaders Forum, with input from BFFF members, and features opinions and market predictions from industry leaders, including foodservice consultant Peter Backman, founder of FutureFoodservice.com Simon Stenning, and Hugo Mahoney, former CEO of Brakes Group.

Copies of the Frozen Food Report are available from here

Consumer Behaviour Chapter Champion
Shane Meharg
Group Communications & PR Manager, Magnavale

“Another year has gone by, and we have yet again experienced significant changes in consumer behaviour. There are still glimpses of extreme buying behaviour such as the panic buying experienced for certain products throughout the past two years. However, for the most part, the removal of lockdown restrictions has increased the frequency of shopping occasions and therefore slightly lessened the pressure on supermarkets, at least on the demand side of the supply chain.

Unfortunately, while somewhat lessened, consumers still shop less frequently but buy significantly more, particularly at weekends. This buying behaviour seems to be sticking around into the post-Covid era, posing further complications to the challenges that are already impacting supply chains.

Demand for frozen food has increased significantly; larger volume shopping occasions mean that frozen is replacing fresh as it keeps much longer. Covid has led to a clear shift towards healthier choices. More people are now more health-conscious and willing to change their lifestyle due to the fear of Covid and future illnesses.

Plant-based products are amongst the largest growth categories, as these tend to freeze very well, and are in greater demand from a customer base that is increasing their consumption of meat alternatives. Shoppers have retained several habits from lockdown; one habit in particular is the size of their shops and the period of time in-between visits. Consumers have been buying more and thus visiting the supermarket less often.

One potentially beneficial way that manufacturers and retailers can respond to this is by adjusting size of packaging. Bulk packs and larger volume items give manufacturers and retailers the opportunity to make a substantial saving on packaging costs while catering to the new demand for bulk buying.

Over the past two years, perceptions have changed significantly in favour of frozen food. The vast majority of food waste comes from private households, which makes it more difficult to address but it’s not impossible; it is self-evident that switching to frozen from chilled will have a positive impact.

Indeed, many studies have concluded that greater reliance on frozen food would deliver a significant reduction in the nation’s environmental footprint, despite the energy required to keep products frozen. “Frozen food does not cause more damaging emissions than their [chilled] counterparts,” concluded one German study.

It continued: “In addition to a comparable climate footprint, frozen food has even more to offer. As a matter of principle, the products are fresh, since vitamins are preserved during the process of shock freezing. Moreover, frozen food is easy to handle and allows portioning in the sizes needed, and thus may help to counteract food wastage.”

It stands to reason, very few meals require a whole broccoli, for example; by simply changing to frozen, the remainder can be kept for months, rather than days, before spoiling. Studies have confirmed this. One concluded: “Frozen food can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions for products not produced in the UK year-round.”
What’s more, as use of energy from renewable sources increases, frozen food will see a far greater reduction in carbon emissions relative to that of chilled products, simply because they are stored for longer, and at lower temperatures. Another study found that greenhouse emissions from a typical roast chicken meal comprising frozen ingredients are 3% lower than a comparable meal made with chilled ingredients.

That difference, of course, is not huge. Crucially, emissions arising from waste from the frozen chicken dinner accounted for 31% of the meal’s total emissions, while waste from the chilled meal accounted for 53.3% of its total; emissions from energy made up 67% of the frozen total and 45.6% of the chilled.

Clearly, greater use of renewable energy in the frozen supply chain will widen the emissions gap between frozen and chilled food, in favour of frozen. The development of facilities such as Magnavale’s new cold storage facility in Lincolnshire, which is powered completely by energy from renewable sources, are fuelling the environmental arguments for greater consumption of frozen food.

To convince more people to switch to frozen, the industry must challenge the misconception that frozen food isn’t as fresh or lacks the flavour or nutrient load of chilled foods. Progress is being made as supermarkets and consumers alike increase their freezer space. There are several ways to adapt to the modern requirements of the food supply chain and doing so is crucial. It’s hard to predict what the future holds, but we can be sure that it won’t be a return to the status quo of the pre-covid era.”

The Frozen Food Report 2022