Seeing Green: Kale-Incorporated Product Sales Soar
Forget four leaf clovers, it seems kale is a lucky ingredient this year. According to a new data, foods that incorporate kale as an ingredient have seen substantial growth in sales over the last year.
Using ingredient data from Label Insight, Nielsen’s Product Insider tool found that the curly green vegetable has expanded beyond more traditional savory categories such as pasta sauce, prepared foods and side dishes to yogurt, breakfast and even frozen sweets. Between February 2016 and 2017 sales dollars increased by as much as 391 percent in frozen breakfast entrees with kale and 125 percent in vitamins and supplements with kale. Pasta sauce with the vegetable also saw substantial sales growth at about 60 percent.
But it seems that consumers prefer their kale in products rather than as the starring attraction. Kale on its own only saw dollar sales increase by about five percent during that same time period, according to the report.
Some brands debuting new items during last week’s Natural Expo West in Anaheim, Calif., are chasing this leafy pot of gold. Below are some of the new kale-infused products the NOSH team spotted during the show: