Special Report: Dough

Special Report

Dough

Dough category suppliers are finding that consumers still like to cook at home even if the novelty and appeal of home cooking that was kickstarted by the pandemic has largely waned. With more people resuming working in the office or in-person instruction at school, time in the kitchen is limited, so convenience is a significant selling point for pre-made dough. Nonetheless, the desire to eat healthier and to find options for those with food sensitivities is still a strong force that leads consumers toward companies that have vegan, gluten-free and allergy-friendly options.

“This year while home baking spiked, many consumers were looking for small shortcuts allowing them to make their own baked goods without having to make it from scratch,” said Ashley Chard-Dinella, Director of Marketing for The Run-A-Ton Group. “Premade dough, like our Wholly Wholesome and Wholly Gluten Free pie shells, rolled dough and pizza dough met that need and, as such, we saw a dramatic increase in sales. As more people have gone back to work in different capacities, our dough continues to appeal to the busy semi-homemade chef who appreciates being able to cook but is short on time. This year we have also started selling our products direct to consumer online with more consumers turning to online shopping.”

Jim Viti, VP Sales and Marketing for DeIorios Foods uses the term “healthy indulgence” to describe what consumers have sought in 2021. “Coming into the year we anticipated the possibility of putting the pandemic behind us, but that has proven to not be the case. Consumer sentiment remains steadfast to transition to healthier options with less ingredients and cleaner labels. At the same time, comfort foods continue to play a prominent role for families and individuals coping with these challenging times. We are providing solutions such as veggie-inclusion dough items that can serve as a platform for tastier meal occasions with a healthier alternative,” he said.

People are still enjoying making pizzas at home, said Terry Thompson, CEO Feel Good Dough. “People are more concerned with their ingredients and are also being a little more creative,” she said. “I see more manufacturers also making more pizza-style cooking items like stone ovens in the backyard and sheet metal pans and stones, just a variety of things. This past year for us, we are really focusing more on the plant-based consumer as well as the vegan consumer because of the fact that our dough fits into that category very well because we have such high protein. We have like 56 grams of protein in our dough plus it tastes really good. And if you’re vegan you’re always looking for more sources of protein as well as plant-based. It’s not even just a profitable thing but we just know that they need it so that’s our goal.”

Thompson regards her target customer as older individuals who are seeking cleaner ingredients to either maintain health and in some cases, to have complete nutrition when fighting diseases like cancer. “They’re looking for dough that offers those kinds of ingredients that matter,” she said. “And it could be anything from no sugar for one person, or organic ingredients for another, or natural probiotic for another. We’re filling those holes in the store and people are finding us because they’re reading the ingredients.”

Consumers are also finding Feel Good Dough products in the grab and go sections of grocery stores – sometimes in delis, in addition to freezers. “Retailers are seeing the benefit of having dough in that section. For a store, having our organic dough not only in the freezer but putting it next to regular dough in the dolly, educates people,” she said. “Because most people don’t know that’s even an option. It’s really the dough they’ve been missing. They just never even knew it was out there.”

Viti with DeIorios Foods said the company also worked quickly to fill a need in grocery. “We noted a gap on store freezer shelves in terms of fresh dough pizza-making. Most products available are on pre-baked shells, so the consumer is baking it for a second time at home and missing out on the fresh dough experience. We introduced a raw dough pizza kit as a solution for consumers who want to be invested in creating a high-quality meal occasion while enjoying the convenience of not having to make their meal from scratch. It’s a terrific intermediary product that promotes a combination of quality and convenience the whole family can be involved with and enjoy.”

Meanwhile, DeIorios Foods is working on carving out its space in “healthy indulgence,” said Viti. “We’re lining up solutions for this evolving category. Dietary-specific items such as veggie-inclusion, keto, paleo, vegan, organic/ non-GMO, and sustainability sensitive items are just some examples of products currently in development to service a plethora of niche requests from our grocery customers,” he said.

Across its brands, the Run-A-Ton Group has similarly noted the growing consumer demand for these types of clean eating options, said Chard-Dinella. “We have seen our online B2C business blossom as it helps serve consumers who don’t have access to the full breadth of our product in their local stores and is a valuable extension of the brick-and-mortar grocery stores which continue to be a critical resource for our consumers.”

These dough manufacturers are aware that dough has a reputation for being intimidating for someone who isn’t comfortable in the kitchen, or who simply doesn’t have the time. “Our doughs are specifically created to achieve the homemade taste and texture with ingredients you can find in our own pantry, while saving the time and stress of baking from scratch,” said Chard-Dinella. “This makes working with dough easy and accessible. Innovation in the dough category can seem like a paradox but consumers are demanding vegan, gluten-free and allergy-friendly options. There are definitely misconceptions that if a product has any one—never mind all three—of these attributes it will not have a satisfying taste or texture. We feel that we have been able to dispel this misconception, but at the end of the day, we rely on our products to speak for themselves.”