As the price of food in restaurants and also at home continues to rise, consumers are gravitating toward more frozen foods, such as frozen pizza. Read our CEO Bob Grote's take on frozen food processing industry trends to 2024 and beyond.
As the price of dining out continues to rise, it stands to reason that more consumers are eating at home. They may be gravitating toward buying more frozen foods like pizza and pre-made dinner items, which are popular choices. The trend is also driven by the convenience of frozen items, which are faster and easier to prepare.
As the market in the U.S. continues to grow, processors are gearing up. The size of the frozen food production industry increased 11.4% in 2022[i] (versus a rate of 2.6% growth from 2017 to 2021) with a valuation of USD 55.80 billion in 2021, expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7% from 2022 to 2030[ii].
As food processors strive to meet the demand for frozen food products, what industry trends are they following?
Grote Company CEO Bob Grote shares some of his thoughts:
1) Adding flexible and fixed automation: By enhancing food processing equipment with robotics, processors can get much more out of it with less labor.
Helping processors optimize existing equipment to handle a new product or pivot to step up production of a particular item are examples of how automation can play a role in meeting demand.
Incorporating more automation also impacts food safety. There’s less risk of contamination when a machine is handling the product versus a human.
In addition, the labor shortage many processors face is real. Because they struggle to find people to hire to fill open roles, using machinery to automate more processes is often the answer. If they can’t find someone to hire, they think – “How do I automate this?
Of course, bits and pieces of many processes have been automated for years, with human workers augmenting the production line. However, those jobs often entail working in a cold, damp environment, meaning workers sometimes don’t stay long.
2) Continued development helps processors keep up with growth areas and hot products: Looking ahead to see how they can capitalize on popular trends can help processors stay up to speed in the frozen food industry.
With categories like frozen pizza continuing to grow, processors are thinking about developments coming maybe three or four years from now. Anticipating those needs and working on the developments that will help them is one area of focus for us.
For example, probably a decade ago, vision capabilities were added to the equipment used to make frozen pizzas. That technology has been adopted by other parts of the industry, allowing for enhanced operations there as well. It’s now a key part of industries like building fresh sandwiches. So, some of the technological advances we’ve seen have come from our work in the frozen food industry.
Other developments that stemmed from the frozen pizza market were around sanitation and ways to assemble and manufacture products faster. This has increased speed maybe tenfold. What we’ve learned there has enhanced the rest of our offerings.
3) Some frozen food categories require specific cleaning and sanitation: In plants that process gluten-free or nut-free items, for example, equipment needs to be easy to clean and sanitize. Finding a company to manufacture products that allow for this can be challenging.
Formulations can differ in gluten-free items, so the machinery needs to be designed or adapted to support processing these products.
4) Technology advances will help processors further optimize their equipment and processes: Optimizing each piece of equipment through the use of technology will result in less waste and energy usage while allowing for predictive maintenance. As data acquisition speeds up the process of analyzing the data collected and incorporating the findings, greater strides can be made to optimize the production line.
For example, to do maintenance remotely, someone at a processing plant could put on their augmented glasses, and a technician at another location could talk them through how to service a machine. This would save the processor from sending a human technician to the site while speeding up response time and decreasing cost.
Better technology also improves food quality. One example would be the quick-freezing technology now used for some individual items and meals.
Frozen Foods Market Drives Advances Throughout the Processing Industry
The fast-growing frozen foods market will continue to drive overall advancements in the processing industry.
As processors strive to meet consumer demands, they’ll need to work with partners who can help them grow and adapt to the ever-changing landscape.
Check out our line of frozen pizza toppings.