It’s ain’t easy to sometimes eat healthy. Not everyone can afford Beyoncé’s vegan meals running $600-plus for 22 days. So many more folks are looking for cheap–and most often not all too healthy–food ingredients. And they are shopping in discounts stores for groceries.
This trend is driving the popularity of Velveeta processed cheese, which has been around since 1918. It’s why Kraft Foods changed its mind after contemplating an end to the sale of single-serve packages of Velveeta cheese sauce, which wasn’t selling in grocery stores. Kraft turned to dollar stores.
Also, the aging population is pushing packaged food companies into dollar stores as well. General Mills, for example, in response to an increase of baby boomers at dollar stores looking for smaller quantities, started putting its Fiber One brand on the shelves of dollar stores. And it was a smart move; sales in dollar and drug stores jumped eight percent last year, according to company officials. Kraft also saw an eight percent sales boost at club, dollar, and drug stores in the first three quarters of 2014, which is four to five times faster than sales in all channels. And Kraft aims to continue to cater to thrifty shoppers. It has an in-house kitchen to test recipes that will appeal to budget conscious consumers, especially budget-strapped families, said Robin Ross, director of Kraft Kitchens.
“There is no room for waste,” she said. “There is no room to choose products and recipes that won’t go over well in our families. We know that in some of these households there might be higher propensity to buy canned foods or vegetables because there is more of a guarantee that those products won’t go bad before it’s time for use.”
If you are trying to save money and eat healthy, don’t despair. According to industry observers, more fresh products will eventually be sold at dollar stores. “When you look at natural, organic, gluten-free foods, these are products that are demanded across all income classes,” said Peter Keith, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. “It is important for the dollar stores to shift some of the mix to those items. That’s where the broader population in the U.S. is moving.”