by Jill Failla
As more consumers demand portable, healthful snack options, snacking innovation is permeating multiple retail categories—including soup. As another recent enhancement to SPINS’ Product Library, we have expanded our Grab N Go attribute to include ready-to-eat and ready-to-drink soups into additional subcategories to better track the ways shoppers sip, slurp, and snack.
Sales of refrigerated soups packaged to grab and go are growing quickly. Natural items within this subset grew annual sales 35.2% across channels to $380 thousand this year, while specialty items grew 13% to nearly $5 million!
Here’s a closer look at a few products setting the bar for innovative soups to go:
Chicago-based Skinny Souping offers a lineup of natural, refrigerated soups to go in BPA-free jars. These vegan, gluten-free soups range from Red Pepper Chickpea Basil to Coconut Carrot Turmeric. The brand touts that these soups can be enjoyed cold or hot. Skinny Souping is also part of the Good Food Business Accelerator program with SPINS’ partner, Family Farmed.
Tio Gazpacho recently partnered up with celebrity chef José Andrés and his fast-casual chain Beefsteak based in Washington D.C. to launch a lineup of Beefsteak by Tio Gazpacho chilled grab-and-go soups at select Beefsteak locations. Varieties include Classic Gazpacho, with vine-ripened tomato, green pepper, and cucumber; Yellow Gazpacho, with yellow tomato, yellow pepper, and carrot; and Green Gazpacho, with kale, spinach, avocado, and mint.
Based in Oakland, CA, Nona Lim makes non-GMO, dairy-free, and gluten-free refrigerated soups and broths. These soups are packaged in a 10-ounce heat-and-sip soup cup with a sipping lid for convenient on-the-go snacking. Inspired by Asian flavors, Nona Lim released new varieties such as Vietnamese Pho Bone Broth, Thai Curry and Lime Bone Broth, and Carrot Ginger soups in the past year.
Another new brand to watch after its launch late last year is Fawen’s lineup of shelf-stable Drinkable Soup in flavors like Sweet Potato & Red Lentil, Broccoli & Cauliflower, and Beet & Cabbage. All of the soups are certified organic, gluten free, kosher, and vegan.
In fact, SPINS data shows that grab-and-go soups that are 100% organic are growing by 50.4% year over year!
Want to know more about soup or how SPINS’ Product Library leads the industry with cutting-edge insights? Contact your SPINS representative or spinsinfo@spins.com to dig deeper into the data on this and other hot items in your segment of the market!
SPINSscan Natural and Specialty Gourmet (proprietary), SPINScan Conventional Multi Outlet (powered by IRI), 52 weeks ending 2017-May-21.