INDIANAPOLIS — At Beatrice Foods, change has become commonplace during the past year and a half. As anyone in the dairy industry can attest, change can be challenging, but the recent developments at Beatrice — a reformulation and relaunch of its well-known Healthy Choice shreds, combined with a company reorganization — are only helping the company serve its customers better and are well worth the challenges, says Kevin Ruda, president, Beatrice Foods.

Using proprietary "breakthrough" technology, Beatrice recently has launched lowfat shredded cheeses that the company believes can stand up against the taste competition from full-fat products.
The relaunch of the line, which began recently with consumer advertising that proclaims "Finally! A lowfat cheese that's sure to please," is the latest effort by a company that focuses on "healthy" products to bring consumers back to lowfat cheese. In recent years, the lowfat cheese segment as a whole has suffered, with many consumers shying away from nonfat and lowfat products because they didn't taste as good as full-fat cheeses.

"We felt we could make lowfat cheese better — particularly Cheddar," says Linda Jackson Smith, vice president, marketing, Beatrice Foods.

Now, the company believes, this new formulation of Healthy Choice cheeses does just that. While the move from nonfat to lowfat cheeses was an important step for the company, this new launch of Healthy Choice shreds is even more noteworthy because it applies technology that utilizes a natural curd process as opposed to a high temperature heat process, says Smith. The end result is a cheese that consumers likely may have trouble distinguishing from full-fat, they say.

• Moving forward with redesigned product, packaging

Seeing a need for a lowfat cheese that would hold its own with full-fat varieties, Beatrice, a division of food manufacturing giant ConAgra, has moved quickly on the product line. It was just a few short months ago that the research and development work was completed and Beatrice sought out additional plant capacity to make the reformulated product. Beatrice began shipping the product line in September, and the company is now in the midst of a full-force advertising campaign.

"It was start to finish (from the decision to market the new product to shipping it) in four months. Everyone in the organization is excited about it," says Smith, whose enthusiasm about the line is evident. "The time has come. We really pushed to get it done."

All of Healthy Choice's shredded products — Cheddar, Mozzarella, Italian blend, Pizza blend, Garlic and Herb blend and Mexican blend — are 94 percent fat-free and use the new technology.

The product line also has received a new look with contemporary colors and pictures of the possible uses for the cheese more clearly shown on the packaging, Smith says. In addition, "Great NEW taste" is prominently displayed on each 8-ounce package.

The Healthy Choice brand — which includes a wide variety of foods ranging from frozen dinners to sandwich meats — also includes a number of cheeses such as slices and string cheese. However, it's the shreds that form the backbone of the business and have thus received the focus of the company's attention in recent months, Smith says. More than half of the Healthy Choice cheese business is in shreds, with the greatest interest being from consumers who want to use the product for cooking lowfat meals.

"The line is aimed at health-conscious adults — not necessarily fanatics, but people who want to eat better and have the food taste good," Smith says.

To reach those health-conscious adults, a number of marketing avenues are being used. In December, the company promoted the newly-improved shreds with a freestanding insert featuring a $1 off coupon. And this month, Healthy Choice cheese is part of a larger, multifaceted promotion program featuring a number of Healthy Choice products. Not coincidentally, the company is launching the promotion in January to coincide with people's New Year's resolutions to eat more healthily. A print advertising campaign for the reformulated line also is being featured in popular consumer magazines.

Getting additional retailers to carry the product and consumers to try it will be the key to the product's success, Smith says. And although there may be some concern among retailers and consumers about whether lowfat cheese can taste good, she believes that the widely-known Healthy Choice name will help assure them.

"We feel strongly that Healthy Choice is a brand that's known for making good-tasting, lowfat products," Smith says.

"We believe in the lowfat market," she adds.

• More new products, greater product line differentiation

Yet while lowfat products always will be an important part of the company's overall strategy, Beatrice is focusing on its other cheese lines as well.

In the recent past, the company's Treasure Cave — the nation's number one blue cheese brand — came out with a resealable tub for blue cheese crumbles.

In addition, Beatrice has focused attention on its County Line brand's core markets. Smith says the company has "retrenched" and returned to focusing on and maintaining County Line's traditional, old-fashioned appeal as a regional "Heartland" brand as opposed to trying to make the brand more national. This approach has worked, she says, adding that "County Line has exciting things in store in the new millennium." For the time being, she refuses to elaborate further.

Meanwhile, Beatrice also is seeing expansion possibilities for its blue cheese business. Beatrice recently announced it is acquiring the assets of Raskas Foods' Nauvoo Cheese blue cheese business.

Ruda says production at the former Raskas plant in Nauvoo, Ill., will contribute toward both the company's retail business and its industrial/foodservice business.

Yet though the plant's production will contribute to all of the various market segments Beatrice serves, that's where the similarities between the retail business and the industrial/foodservice end.

Of course, Beatrice is focusing on customer service for both market segments, but part of that focus has been a reorganization of the company so that it is organized around the customer.

Just two years ago the majority of the Beatrice cheese business, along with the company's dairy topping line Reddi-Wip, was managed out of Waukesha, Wis. Now, Beatrice Cheese is the division in Waukesha that handles the industrial/foodservice side of the business, while Beatrice Foods in Indianapolis handles the retail side of the business including retail cheese, Reddi-Wip, Egg Beaters and the tablespreads business.

Separating the business functions has allowed the company to better focus on each of the respective areas, Ruda says.

"The business as a whole is performing better. By organizing ourself around the customer, we can better meet their needs and bring an intense focus to each of these trade channels," he says.

CMN