A Look Back at 2009...and into 2010

What do you remember about 2009? President Obama's inauguration? Michael Jackson's funeral? Swine flu? For those involved in food and beverage consumer packaged goods, last year was one to remember. As the recession took hold of Americans, consumers chose to purchase more food and beverage products to make and eat at home. The industry remained stable in an adverse economy. (See "Consumer packaged goods companies show resilience in recession" for additional perspective.)

Snack products also continued to thrive in 2009, according to Sally Lyons Wyatt, senior vice president at SymphonyIRI Group, who presented the "Snack Food State of the Industry" report at the Snack Food Association's annual convention earlier this month. In particular, healthy snacks increased by 3 percent in from 2008 to 2009, and rose 8 percent since 2005, as a majority of consumers choose snacks for nutritional benefits and attempt to save on medical bills by staying healthy.

Last week, SymphonyIRI Group announced its fifteenth annual "New Product Pacesetters" results for 2009. This report provides an analysis of new food and beverage brands and determines the top 10 performers based on the product's first year of sales. The top 10 include:

1. Campbell's Select Harvest – $202 million in sales
   
2. Bud Light Lime – $133 million in sales
   
3. Arnold Select Sandwich Thins – $87 million in sales
   
4. Similac Advance Early Shield – $87 million in sales
   
5. Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers – $85 million in sales
   
6. Dreyer's Edy's Fun Flavors – $72 million in sales
   
7. Gatorade Tiger/Focus – $65 million in sales
   
8. Miller Genuine Draft Light – $53 million in sales
   
9. Mountain Dew Dewmocracy – $52 million in sales
   
10. Bush's Best Grillin' Beans – $45 million in sales

Numerous companies within the food consumer products, food production, and beverage categories also registered on the 2009 Fortune 500 list:

Archer Daniels Midland – #27
PepsiCo – #52
Kraft Foods – #53
Coca-Cola – #73
Tyson Foods – #89
Coca-Cola Enterprises – #116
Smithfield Foods – #183
ConAgra Foods – #188
Pepsi Bottling – #189
General Mills – #193
Sara Lee – #199
Kellogg – #210
Dean Foods – #216
Land O'Lakes – #224
H.J. Heinz – #267
Pilgrim's Pride – #304
Campbell Soup – #309
Dole Food – #329
Hormel Foods – #373
Dr Pepper Snapple Group – #427
Hershey – #463
PepsiAmericas – #478
Molson Coors Brewing – #487

So far, 2010 is off to a great start for many companies. In its February 8 issue, Fortune magazine recognized J. M. Smucker as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work for in 2010," landing at number 47. General Mills also made the cut, coming in at number 90, up nine spots from 2009.

A few weeks later, Fortune announced its list of the "World's Most Admired Companies." Within the food and beverage CPG industry, Coca-Cola topped the list at number 10. PepsiCo landed at number 25, with Nestlé close behind at number 34. General Mills rounded out the list at number 47.

Let's keep the conversation going! What other hot topics dominated food and beverage CPG in '09? Where do you think the industry is headed in 2010? Leave me a message and tell me more.