Brand Extension: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Introduces 'eatwell' Fresh Meat Lines

Private Brand Showcase

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has extended its eatwell healthy foods' private brand into the fresh meat category, with the launch of a new line of Chicken Sausages and two value-added meat lines - eatwell Chicken Bake and eatwell Chicken Stir Fry (pictured above and below) - into its 182  fresh food and grocery stores in California, Nevada and Arizona.

The eatwell Chicken Sausages line, which hit some Fresh & Easy stores last week and others this week, based on our regular store visits and conversations with store workers, includes varieties like the Mild Italian and Apple Cinnamon varieties pictured below.

The Chicken Bake items, which include a tray for cooking in the oven, and the eatwell Stir-Fry SKUs come in varieties like the Roasted Red Pepper, Chipotle and Mango and Cajun-Style, pictured at top.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is currently featuring the eatwell sausages at a 2-for-$7 (16oz pkg.) introductory price. The Chicken Bake and Stir-Fry items, both of which as also 16oz, are being offered at a 2-for-$10 introductory price in the stores.

The extension of the eatwell private brand - Fresh & Easy uses F&E as a co-brand on the items - into the meat and value-added meat categories is part of a major expansion of the brand, which the El Segundo, California based grocery chain began in December 2011.

In January of this year Tesco's Fresh & Easy began launching numerous new eatwell items in the brand's existing categories - fresh-prepared foods/refrigerated, dry grocery and frozen foods. That launch, which includes about 60 new items, continues this month.

In the summer of 2010 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market extended its eatwell private brand into the dry grocery category, as we reported in this story -  August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category. Prior to that the brand was only used for fresh-prepared foods.

Up until late last year the grocery chain offered just a few eatwell items in the dry grocery category, such as canned chili and snack crackers.

But beginning in December 2011 and continuing through the present, Fresh & Easy has been launching numerous eatwell dry grocery items, such as: boxed breakfast cereals, instant oatmeal, whole grain and vegetable pasta SKUs, pasta and grill sauces, boxed meal kits (like Macaroni & Cheeseburger; just add meat and prepare), chocolate chip fiber snack bars and some others.

Fresh & Easy also introduced refrigerated tortillas under the eatwell brand in January, a line of frozen dairy desserts, bagged Italian salad kits (produce), a line of refrigerated heat-and-eat soups similar to those if offers under its Fresh & Easy brand, and numerous new fresh-prepared meal items.

The grocery chain also promoted its eatwell healthy foods' brand in January (see the instant oatmeal and cereal endcap display below, for example), offering numerous items at sale prices in its weekly advertising circulars and via its "Friends of Fresh & Easy" e-mail flyer, which it now combines with its "Friends" loyalty/rewards card.

For example, for about three weeks last month Fresh & Easy promoted its eatwell frozen meals, which as we reported here the grocer introduced in September 2010, a month after it extended the healthy foods' private brand into the dry grocery category in August 2010, in its stores, as well as featuring them in the two promotional media vehicles noted above.

As you can see in the photos below, which were taken at a store in Northern California on January 7, 2012 by Fresh & Easy Buzz's senior correspondent, Tesco's Fresh & Easy gave its eatwell brand frozen meals multiple facings and plenty of freezer case space during the January 2012 promotion.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market introduced its eatwell healthy foods' brand in April, 2010, a story we broke here - April 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'EatWell' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line; and followed up on with this piece the next day - April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy announced the launch of the eatwell brand not long after the publication of our April 1, 2010 story.

By extending its eatwell brand into the meat and value-added meat, the healthy foods private brand is now represented across all consumable food categories at Tesco's Fresh & Easy - dry grocery, frozen foods, perishables- refrigerated, produce, fresh-prepared foods and meat, which is something we reported over a year ago that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would do.

Take a look at this piece we published in February 2011: Getting There First...Plus, Are Tesco's Fresh & Easy and Safeway Traveling Down A Similar Private Brand Aisle?

Also see these additional stories about Fresh & Easy's eatwell brand:

January 4, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell'

January 6, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hopes 'eatwell' Makes For A Healthy 2011

 January 18, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Extra-Low Every Day Low Price' Merchandising Program

January 20, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Meals Take Center Stage In-Store This Week

August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

September 10, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category

September 27, 2010: First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week

May 18, 2009: Strategy Session: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Needs to Move From its One Store Brand Fits All Strategy to A 'Three Brand' Store Brand Strategy

April 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'EatWell' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line

April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

[Editor's Note: All photographs credit Fresh & Easy Buzz. The eatwell Sausages, Chicken Bake and Stir-Fry photos were taken February 12, 2012. The eatwell grocery endcap display photogrpahs was taken January 9, 2012, The eatwell frozen meal photos were taken January 7, 2012.]

First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week

Pictured above are the initial nine items/varieties in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's new 'eatwell' brand frozen food line. [Photo Credit: Copyright, Fresh & Easy Buzz, September 2010.]

Private Brand Showcase
Breaking Buzz

On September 10, Fresh & Easy Buzz reported exclusively that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is extending its 'eatwell' healthy foods private brand into the frozen food category.

[Read our story - September 10, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category.]

Beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, September 28, the first nine 'eatwell' frozen food items (SKUs), which are ready-to-heat meal-type items, are set to hit the freezer sections in Tesco's 168 Fresh & Easy stores in California, Nevada and Arizona.

The nine items are: Sesame chicken, tortilla crusted fish, chicken alfredo, beef stroganoff, kung pao chicken, turkey lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, butternut squash ravioli, and chicken enchilada.

Along with the 'eatwell' brand items, the grocer is also adding two new packaged new frozen food items under its 'fresh&easy' brand - brown rice and thai jasmine rice.

Frozen makes three (categories) for 'eatwell'

The extension of the 'eatwell' brand into frozen foods comes shortly after Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market extended the private brand into the dry grocery category this summer, launching as its first item a canned version, 'eatwell' Turkey Chili with Beans, of its fresh-refrigerated 'eatwell' Turkey Chili. We were the first publication to report on the development in this story - August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

Tesco's Fresh & Easy launched the 'eatwell' healthy foods brand in April of this year as a line of fresh-prepared foods items, ranging from ready-to-eat salads and sandwiches, to ready-to-heat meals and side dishes. [See - April 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'EatWell' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line and April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7.]

The fresh food and grocery chain has promoted the 'eatwell' refrigerated items aggressively since the initial launch. In addition, in July, Fresh & Easy added some new items to the fresh-prepared foods line.

The extension of the 'eatwell' brand into the dry grocery category, which appears to be a test since the only item we've seen thus far is the canned chili, has been without fanfare - the grocery chain hasn't announced it's done so via a press release, for example. As far as we're aware, Fresh & Easy Buzz is the only publication to date to report on the development.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy hasn't yet announced the extension of its 'eatwell' brand into the frozen foods category. However, the SKUs are coming. In fact, many of the Fresh & Easy stores have already made room in the freezer cases for the new items, set to start arriving tomorrow.

Bulking up its frozen foods offering

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has been increasing the selection and number of manufacturer brand frozen food items it offers in its stores since earlier this year.

For example, it recently added a number of SKUs in the new P.F. Changs (like the restaurant of the same name) Home Menu Meal line to its frozen foods offering. It's also increased the variety and selection of budget-priced frozen dinners the stores merchandise, including adding a number of Banquet brand frozen meals, which like the P.F. Changs items are being promoted in this week's Fresh & Easy weekly advertising circular.

Additionally, starting tomorrow, Tesco's Fresh & Easy is adding 13 Stouffer's and Stouffer's Lean Cuisine SKUs to the freezer cases, along with the new 'eatwell' frozen food items and the new new SKUs under the 'fresh&easy' brand.

'eatwell' as Fresh & Easy's healthy foods' private brand

The extension of its 'eatwell' brand into frozen foods is a part of Fresh & Easy's bulking up of its variety and selection in the frozen foods category. But more significantly, it's part of the grocer's plan to make 'eatwell' a key private brand across all categories, similar to what it does with its flagship 'fresh&easy' brand - 'fresh&easy' being the basic private or store brand for consumables and 'eatwell' being its healthy foods' brand.

With the addition of the frozen foods category, the 'eatwell' brand will now be represented in three store product categories: Fresh-prepared foods, dry grocery and frozen foods.

In this May 18, 2009 piece - Strategy Session: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Needs to Move From its One Store Brand Fits All Strategy to A 'Three Brand' Store Brand Strategy - we suggested Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market needed to move away from its then primarily one private or store brand strategy, 'fresh&easy' brand, to a multi-private brand strategy. It appears the grocer is moving in that direction.

In addition to its fresh&easy and 'eatwell' private brands, Fresh & Easy recently expanded its 'fresh&easy' 'goodness' brand, which focuses on healthy and convenient food items geared to kids. The brand is co-branded, with 'goodness' being the prominant name on the packages and 'fresh&easy' in small text at the top. Fresh & Easy Buzz was also the first publication to report on the grocer's expansion of the brand and line, along with the new package design. Read our stories on the developments here. The stories are also linked at the end of this piece.

Recent 'Private Brand Showcase' stories

September 4, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Unveils New fresh&easy 'goodness' Brand Items and Packaging

August 29, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Expanding its fresh&easy 'goodness' Co-Branded Line; Launching Numerous New Items

August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

July 21, 2010: 'Sipsational' & 'Quenchtastic': Safeway Introduces New 21-Flavor Line of Soft Drinks Under 'refreshe' Private Brand

July 17, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Clock-Shaped Private Brand Candy Line Hits the Shelves at Fresh & Easy

July 12, 2010: Tesco Launches Private Brand 'Lasagne Sandwich' in the UK Today...With No Apologies to The Earl of Sandwich

June 24, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Clock Logo-Shaped Candies Are A Pretty Sweet IdeaMay 11, 2010: Tesco Might Want to Get 'fresh & naked' at 'fresh & easy'

April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

April 11, 2010: When it Comes to Fresh, Prepared Foods, New York City's Duane Reade is Simply 'deLish' for Walgreens

February 22, 2010: Food, Drug Retailers With Stores in California, Nevada & Arizona Honored for Private Label-Store Brands' Excellence

May 18, 2009 piece - Strategy Session: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Needs to Move From its One Store Brand Fits All Strategy to A 'Three Brand' Store Brand Strategy

March 9, 2009: An English Village, A British Fresh Chicken Brand and Tesco Fresh & Easy's New 'Buxted' Discount Fresh Meat Brand: What Do All Three Have in Common?

['Private Brand Showcase' is a regular feature in Fresh & Easy Buzz. In it we report on, offer analysis about, and discuss the various private or store brand developments at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, and by and at other food and grocery retailing chains and independents.]

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category

The frozen foods section in a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store, home to the grocery chain's new 'eatwell' brand frozen items.

Private Brand Showcase
Breaking Buzz: News & Analysis

Fresh on the heels of the recent extension of its 'eatwell' private brand into the dry grocery category, from its original fresh-prepared foods origin, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is extending the healthy foods brand into the frozen foods category, and is set to launch the first 'eatwell' frozen products into the stores soon, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned. The brand was launched in April, 2010.

The initial 'eatwell' frozen category items being introduced aren't "original items." Rather, the first batch of SKU's in the line consists of duplicates of some of the existing 'eatwell' refrigerated, ready-to-heat meal and side-dish items. The 'eatwell fresh-prepared foods line also includes ready-to-eat foods like salads and sandwiches. Those types of ready-to-eat foods aren't a part of the frozen line.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has reformulated the refrigerated, ready-to-heat 'eatwell' items its launching in the frozen line, changing or adding certain ingredients but with just slight variational differences, to take into consideration the fact they're frozen rather than refrigerated products.

One advantage of offering a frozen version of some of the refrigerated 'eatwell' meals and sides is that the in-store shrinkage - and thus Fresh & Easy's having to mark down the fresh meals by 50% near the end of the shelf-life, and throw product away when the sell-by dates are up, which it does regularly with its fresh-prepared foods - is significantly eliminated, since frozen foods have a much longer shelf-life than refrigerated products do.

Additionally, having 'eatwell' items in the frozen category could add both brand and overall sales, since customers could purchase the frozen SKUs to store in their home freezers for use at a later time, which is something shoppers can't do with the refrigerated, fresh-prepared meals and sides because of the short shelf-life of the products. We call this concept "freezer loading." It's the frozen food category version of "pantry loading."

On the other hand, offering identical or near-identical 'eatwell' brand items in both refrigerated and frozen (and dry grocery) versions runs a risk of diluting the brand as it was originally created, as a fresh, refrigerated product. But that's a challenge with all cross or multi-category brand extensions, although fresh-prepared foods, because of their special fresh attribute, are more critical because often the brand name is designed to define the key product attribute - fresh. Using the same brand name on fresh foods, canned foods and frozen foods therefore has the potential to create brand confusion with shoppers.

At present, Tesco's Fresh & Easy doesn't plan on eliminating any of the fresh-prepared 'eatwell' items being duplicated by the new, frozen varieties.

However, we suspect the grocer might monitor the situation closely. For example, if sales of the duplicate frozen SKUs are as good or better than the refrigerated SKU's of the same variety, considering the longer shelf-life/less shrink issue, it wouldn't be a stretch to think Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market might consider eliminating some of the fresh duplicates - in a SKU cut-and-paste sort of way - in favor of the like-variety frozen SKUs.

However, according to our sources, there are no current plans to eliminate any of the refrigerated 'eatwell' items and replace them with the duplicate frozen SKUs.

It's clear Tesco's Fresh & Easy has decided to make its six month-old 'eatwell' brand a multi-category private brand, having taken it from its introduction in April of this year as a fresh-prepared foods brand, to its recent extension into dry grocery, and now its introduction into the frozen foods' category. Those three categories, along with fresh produce and meat, make up the vast majority of sales in the 163 Fresh & Easy stores.

Related Stories:

>August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

>April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

>April 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'EatWell' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line

Recent Fresh & Easy Buzz Private Brand Showcase Stories:

September 9, 2010: Walmart Introduces 'Marketside' Brand Packaged Fresh-Baked Breads, Sub Rolls and Chocolate Chunk Cookie

September 4, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Unveils New fresh&easy 'goodness' Brand Items and Packaging

August 29, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Expanding its fresh&easy 'goodness' Co-Branded Line; Launching Numerous New Items

August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

July 21, 2010: 'Sipsational' & 'Quenchtastic': Safeway Introduces New 21-Flavor Line of Soft Drinks Under 'refreshe' Private Brand

July 17, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Clock-Shaped Private Brand Candy Line Hits the Shelves at Fresh & Easy

July 12, 2010: Tesco Launches Private Brand 'Lasagne Sandwich' in the UK Today...With No Apologies to The Earl of Sandwich

June 24, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Clock Logo-Shaped Candies Are A Pretty Sweet Idea

May 11, 2010: Tesco Might Want to Get 'fresh & naked' at 'fresh & easy'

April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

April 11, 2010: When it Comes to Fresh, Prepared Foods, New York City's Duane Reade is Simply 'deLish' for Walgreens

February 22, 2010: Food, Drug Retailers With Stores in California, Nevada & Arizona Honored for Private Label-Store Brands' Excellence

May 18, 2009 piece - Strategy Session: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Needs to Move From its One Store Brand Fits All Strategy to A 'Three Brand' Store Brand Strategy

March 9, 2009: An English Village, A British Fresh Chicken Brand and Tesco Fresh & Easy's New 'Buxted' Discount Fresh Meat Brand: What Do All Three Have in Common?

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

Private Brand Showcase

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has extended its 'eatwell' healthy foods private brand from the fresh-prepared foods category into the dry grocery category.

The first dry grocery category item in the Fresh & Easy stores is 'eatwell' Turkey Chili with Beans, in 15oz cans. The product is similar to the Health Valley and Shelton's brands of canned Turkey Chili with Beans, both of which have been on the market for decades. The item retails for $1.99.

As we reported in these two stories earlier this year - April 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'EatWell' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line and April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7 - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market launched its 17 item line of 'eatwell' refrigerated ready meals, side dishes, sandwiches, salads, soups, chili and sushi on April 7 of this year. In July, the fresh foods and grocery chain added some new fresh foods items to the 'eatwell' line.

Thus far the canned Turkey Chili with Beans is the only 'eatwell' brand item in the dry grocery category (Tesco' Fresh & Easy calls it the ambient category, using the British grocery industry term) we've spotted in the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores. However, our sources tell us additional dry grocery category items under the 'eatwell' brand are in the pipeline.

One of the original refrigerated, fresh-prepared foods items introduced in April under the 'eatwell' brand is a Turkey Chili with Beans. Sound familiar?

The refrigerated, ready-to-heat and eat Turkey Chili with Beans, which comes in a round plastic container, contains turkey, onions, carrots, tomato, kidney beans and bell peppers, along with various herbs and spices. It retails for $1.99, just like the new canned version.

The two chili versions - the refrigerated and canned - have essentially the same ingredients, as one might expect, with just a few minor changes based on one version being fresh and the other canned.

It will be interesting to see what Fresh & Easy does with its 'eatwell' brand in the dry grocery category.

Currently the fresh food and grocery chain uses the fresh&easy brand for all of its private or store brand dry grocery and perishable items (including organic and healthy foods items), with the exception of using 'Mothers Joy' for a line of price-focused breakfast cereals.

The brands 'fresh&easy' and 'eatwell' are used for fresh-prepared foods.

Fresh & Easy also has used the 'Buxted' brand to a limited degree on a few value-priced fresh poultry and meat items. However, the grocer appears to be phasing out private brand 'Buxted,' which isn't a surprise since the brand is owned by its former meat supplier, 2 Sisters Food Group, which Tesco's Fresh & Easy bought out earlier this year. [See - June 20, 2010: NLRB Judge Rules Against Key Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Supplier '2 Sisters Food Group' in Labor Relations Violations Case and June 21, 2010: The Missing Link in Tesco's Purchase of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Meat Supplier '2 Sisters Food Group']

In a strategy session piece in 2009 - May 18, 2009: Strategy Session: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Needs to Move From its One Store Brand Fits All Strategy to A 'Three Brand' Store Brand Strategy - we suggested Tesco needed to move into a three brand strategy for its private brand efforts. Key in our suggestion is that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market have a store brand other than 'fresh&easy' for its natural/organic products category and healthy foods category (or a separate brand for each).

In April Fresh & Easy introduced 'eatwell,' following our strategic blueprint in part. Now the grocer has started extending its 'eatwell' healthy foods brand into the dry grocery category, starting with the canned Turkey Chili with Beans.

Since we haven't seen any additional 'eatwell' dry grocery items other than the Turkey Chili with Beans so far, it appears Tesco's Fresh & Easy is taking the brand extension slow, and perhaps even testing the response to the item. After all, it's unusual for a grocer otherwise not to introduce numerous items under a private brand at the same time.

However, since it already has numerous refrigerated items in the 'eatwell' brand, we suspect Fresh & Easy Neighborhood market is testing the 'eatwell' brand waters in dry grocery before rolling out additional items. Stay tuned.

Recent Private Brand Showcase Features in Fresh & Easy Buzz:

July 21, 2010: 'Sipsational' & 'Quenchtastic': Safeway Introduces New 21-Flavor Line of Soft Drinks Under 'refreshe' Private Brand

July 17, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Clock-Shaped Private Brand Candy Line Hits the Shelves at Fresh & Easy

July 12, 2010: Tesco Launches Private Brand 'Lasagne Sandwich' in the UK Today...With No Apologies to The Earl of Sandwich

June 24, 2010: New Fresh & Easy Clock Logo-Shaped Candies Are A Pretty Sweet Idea

May 11, 2010: Tesco Might Want to Get 'fresh & naked' at 'fresh & easy'

April 2, 2010: Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

April 11, 2010: When it Comes to Fresh, Prepared Foods, New York City's Duane Reade is Simply 'deLish' for Walgreens

February 22, 2010: Food, Drug Retailers With Stores in California, Nevada & Arizona Honored for Private Label-Store Brands' Excellence

May 18, 2009 piece - Strategy Session: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Needs to Move From its One Store Brand Fits All Strategy to A 'Three Brand' Store Brand Strategy

March 9, 2009: An English Village, A British Fresh Chicken Brand and Tesco Fresh & Easy's New 'Buxted' Discount Fresh Meat Brand: What Do All Three Have in Common?

Fresh & Easy's New 'EatWell' Healthier Fresh, Prepared Foods Brand to Hit Stores on April 7

Yesterday, Fresh & Easy Buzz broke the news that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is launching a new brand of healthier ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh, prepared foods called EatWell. [Read our story - Thursday, April 1, 2010 Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'Eat Well' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line.]

Fresh & Easy plans to launch the EatWell line in its stores on April 7.

Among the 17 varieties of ready-to-eat and heat prepared meals and sides in the new EatWell line include: Salads, like the Market Salad pictured at the bottom of the piece; and ethnic dishes, such as the Singapore Style Noodles, pictured at top; and the Latin Arroz Con Pollo meal, pictured below.

Most of the EatWell items will retail for about $3.99 and slightly below, accept for a couple of higher-end fresh salmon ready-meals - a 12 ounce Honey Dijon Salmon entree and a 12 ounce Teriyaki Salmon meal - which will sell for about $4.99 each.

The EatWell brand ready-meals and side-dishes contain less than 25% of the average daily requirement in fat, sodium, and calorie contents, based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet, according to the grocer.

In our report we noted Fresh & Easy was holding a preview and tasting of the line last night for a selected group of people. And the grocer did just that.

Many of the people attending the event last evening were personal bloggers, targeted by Fresh & Easy in the hope they will write about the event and the new EatWell fresh, prepared foods. Today, Tesco's Fresh & Easy is announcing the new fresh, prepared foods line on its Twitter.com feed.

One of those personal bloggers, Oakley Boren, who publishes the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market fan blog "Temple of Fresh & Easy," attended the EatWell brand preview and tasting last night at the grocer's headquarters in Southern California.

Today she published some photographs of the new EatWell line, along with additional pictures from the event, on her flickr.com site.

Additionally, Fresh & Easy previewed some new Fresh & Easy brand food and grocery items at the event last night. There are a couple photographs of those new items on the site.

Click here to view the all photographs.

[Photo credit: Photos are courtesy of Oakmonster.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Launch New 'EatWell' Brand Lower-Sodium, Fewer-Calorie Prepared Foods Line

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is preparing to launch a new line of fresh, prepared foods items under the EatWell brand, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.

Fresh & Easy is previewing the new prepared foods line to a pre-selected group of people this evening at its Southern California headquarters.

The new EatWell brand and line differs primarily from the grocer's current Fresh & Easy brand of prepared foods items in that it has less sodium and fewer calories than the grocer's current fresh, prepared foods items do.

The primary product focus of the new brand and line is on ready-to-heat prepared meals and side dishes, or as Fresh & Easy refers to them in the British vernacular, ready-meals.

If the EatWell fresh, prepared foods line does well, Tesco's Fresh & Easy could extend the brand into other product and store categories.

Interestingly, as a brand name EatWell has some British origins, just as Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which is owned by United Kingdom-based Tesco, does.

The United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency, the British version of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), uses "Eat Well, Be Well," as its official brand name or tag line, as you can see on its Web Site here. In fact, the Web site name itself is: eatwell.gov.uk.

The British government's Food Standards Agency also publishes a graphic guide called "the eatwell plate" (pictured above), which depicts how much of what foods from each food group people should eat in order to achieve a healthy and balanced diet. Among the health guidelines offered include suggested caloric and sodium levels. (Double-click on the graphic to enlarge it.)