Dive Brief:
- General Mills Inc. has a couple of new product developments making headlines, and both aim to touch upon certain consumer food trends.
- The Good Table line includes four varieties of a gourmet-style sauce and seasoned crumble blend that are used to coat chicken or fish before baking.
- General Mills is also partnering with Colorado's Black Bottle Brewery to help create a Count Chocula-flavored beer. As Count Chocula is only available a few months out of the year, General Mills will act as a direct supplier of the product, while the company will also be able to sell merchandise at the brewery and events the beer will appear at, such as the Great American Beer Festival.
Dive Insight:
The Count Chocula cereal beer as well as the Wheaties beer announced last week both represent General Mills' attempts to involve itself in the development of a product that is unique, novel, and will grab consumers' attention. At the same time, by going with Count Chocula, the company is also appealing to consumers' desires for nostalgic food and beverage products. This also comes shortly after the company's Wheaties beer collaboration with craft brewery Fulton.
As for The Good Table brand, these products appeal to consumers' desires for upscale dishes while keeping meals easy and convenient to make. Plus, as part of the consumer health trend, the products are devoid of artificial flavors, colors from artificial sources, monosodium glutamate, and high fructose corn syrup.