Three future platforms of innovation
With an eye toward meeting its fiscal 2019 sales target, the McCormick & Co.’s management team has identified three innovation platforms it plans to grow. One such platform focuses on the breakfast occasion.
“Consumers are looking for products that can enhance their oatmeal, yogurt, eggs, weekend pancakes and even smoothies,” Mr. Foley said. “With this in mind, we developed a range of four product lines: breakfast toppers, breakfast seasonings, slow-cooker breakfast and smoothie boosts. Whether it’s your morning oatmeal, yogurt or even planning a weekend brunch, McCormick Good Morning allows you to flavor your favorites with real ingredients and fewer calories. All of them are clean label and most will be gluten-free.”
The breakfast line is slated to launch later this year and feature 18 items.
McCormick’s second innovation platform will focus on freshness. The fresh platform will utilize technologies that came to McCormick from its acquisition of Gourmet Garden, a company based in Australia that manufactures and sells chilled packaged herbs.
“As evidence of consumer demand for fresh ingredients, retail sales of Gourmet Garden grew 27% in the U.S. last year, and household penetration increased to 110 basis points,” Mr. Foley said. “This business greatly advanced our closer to fresh innovation with patented technology and knowledge of fresher ways to deliver herbs.
“We now have a lightly dried technology that keeps herbs fresh and protects against wilting without any additives or artificial preservatives. Consumers, especially millennials, really spark to this product promise. We plan to further expand the application of this technology and innovation as it is an important platform for us in the perimeter and center-of-store.”
For the company’s third innovation platform, managers with the company plan to capitalize on the consumer’s use of spices and herbs to reduce the amount of sodium and sugar in their diet.
“ … We recently commissioned a global study across our top seven markets to better understand health and wellness as it relates to our spice and herb business, along with interesting innovation space and potential acquisitions,” Mr. Foley said. “The research is already revealing interesting insights about the health-centric consumers. This includes an affinity for cooking from scratch and using spices and seasonings to eat more healthy foods. It’s notable that this group consumes 40% more herbs and spices per capita than the general population. With the insights coming from our proprietary research, we are planning an even more robust innovation pipeline for the next several years.”
