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.]

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Meals Take Center Stage In-Store This Week

Private Brand Showcase
Private brand in-store merchandising & promotion

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market doesn't merely want shoppers to "eat well" this week. It wants them to do so by buying, loading their home freezers with, and eating multiple packages of its 'eatwell' private brand frozen meals, which the grocer is promoting and displaying in end-cap, coffin-case freezer displays in all 156 of its Fresh & Easy markets in California, Nevada and Arizona this week.

As you can see in the photographs above and below, the freezer case displays feature large point-of-purchase signs touting the 'eatwell' frozen meals and the $1.49 unit promotional price point.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which is owned by United Kingdom-based Tesco, has been promoting its 'eatwell' brand aggressively since the first week of January. Such healthy foods' brand and item promotions are a common theme for grocers at the start of a new year. Think of the promotions as a "new year, get healthy" type of hook for food retailers, which taps into consumers' resolutions and other goals, which often includes eating more healthy foods.

This month, the grocer also introduced a number of new items under its 'eatwell' brand, which includes products in the fresh-prepared foods, dry grocery and frozen categories, as we reported and wrote about recently in these two stories - January 6, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hopes 'eatwell' Makes For A Healthy 2011 and January 4, 2011 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell.'

Fresh & Easy Buzz was the first publication to report Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was extending its 'eatwell' private brand into the dry grocery and frozen food categories, from fresh-prepared foods, last year. [See - August 2010 piece - August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category. Also - September 10, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category and September 27, 2010 - First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy is focusing big on 'eatwell' frozen for January and into February. Along with the large and colorful in-store displays, the grocery chain is advertising the 'eatwell' frozen meals this week in its weekly advertising circular, for $1.49 each. The $1.49 promotional price began on January 12 and runs until February 11, 2011. The items sell for $1.99 regularly. [See - January 18, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Extra-Low Every Day Low Price' Merchandising Program.]

The conclusion to the big 'eatwell' frozen case in-store displays and advertised promotion: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market obviously doesn't merely want shoppers to "eat well" - it wants them to buy, stock their freezers with and eat lots of 'eatwell' private brand frozen meals.
[The photos at top were taken this week by a Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent.]

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Kicks Off 2011 With an Appeal to 'eatwell'

Private Brand Showcase

In August 2010 we reported that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market had extended its 'eatwell' healthy foods private brand into the dry grocery category, from an initial launch of the brand in the fresh-prepared foods category earlier in the year, by creating a canned turkey chili item. [See - August 18, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Private Brand Into Dry Grocery Category

We followed that exclusive report up a month later in early September with a story - September 10, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Extending its 'eatwell' Healthy Foods' Brand Into Frozen Food Category - detailing how Tesco's Fresh & Easy planned to further extend the 'eatwell' brand into the frozen foods category. And in this piece a couple weeks later - September 27, 2010 - First Items in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's 'eatwell' Brand Frozen Foods Line Arriving in Store Freezer Cases This Week - we documented our September 10 report.

Today, many months later, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is formally announcing and promoting the new 'eatwell' canned turkey chili and its "new" line of 'eatwell' frozen meals, in its "Friends of Fresh & Easy" e-mail newsletter, which you can view here. The e-mail promotional piece went out today to members of "Friends of Fresh & Easy."

In the promotional piece, pictured at top, Tesco's Fresh & Easy says: "We expanded our eatwell line to make eating better even better. So you'll now find more ready meals, salads, sandwiches, and soups, along with all-new items like snacks and frozen meals. Each eatwell item is made with 25% or less of the daily recommended value of calories, total and saturated fat, and sodium.* Best of all, they're just as affordable as they are delicious."

The frozen meals line and canned turkey chili in the promotional piece are the items Fresh & Easy Buzz reported on five months ago.

Some of the new 'eatwell' brand fresh-prepared foods items in today's 'Friends of Fresh & Easy" promotional piece were introduced late last year. However, most of the refrigerated ready-tp-eat and ready-to-heat items are brand new, being introduced for the first time this week. Fresh & Easy Buzz was the first publication to report on Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's plans to launch the 'eatwell' brand last year. [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.]

In our September 2010 stories about the extension of the 'eatwell' brand into the frozen foods category, we noted that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market planned to introduce additional fresh-prepared foods items under the healthy foods' brand in early 2011. The ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat items mentioned above are the first of those new items for the new year.

Fresh & Easy is also working on additional 'eatwell' brand items in the dry grocery and frozen foods category, according to our sources, including shelf-stable snacks and potentially condiments and dressings.

Additionally, the grocer is considering extending its 'eatwell' private brand into perishable foods other than ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat and frozen. Such items could include refrigerated dairy, salad dressing and similar items.

As we've noted in past stories, Fresh & Easy's brand strategy behind 'eatwell' is to make it a multi-category healthy foods' brand similar to what Safeway Stores has done with its 'Eating Right" brand, which Safeway uses across all product categories, including dry grocery, perishables, prepared foods/deli, produce and fresh meat.

Apparently, Fresh & Easy wasn't ready to announce or promote the 'eatwell' frozen food line last year - instead saving it perhaps for the beginning of the new year so it could use it as a "Healthy New Year" promotional hook, which is exactly what it's doing with the "Friends of Fresh & Easy' promotional mailer today. Additionally, as a heads up, look for many of the 'eatwell' healthy foods items to be in Fresh & Easy's new weekly advertising circular, the first one for 2011, which comes out tomorrow.

Readers of Fresh & Easy Buzz, didn't have to wait until now though, or until they visited a Fresh & Easy market, to learn about the 'eatwell' brand dry grocery and frozen category brand extensions because we reported the news, along with providing analysis and added information, in August and September of 2010. We call that "private brand intelligence."

[Private Brand Showcase is a regular feature of Fresh & Easy Buzz. In it we report on, write about and offer analysis and commentary on the fast-growing private or retailer brand (sometimes called private label) movement, along with featuring various private brand products being offered by Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and other food and grocery retailers. This is our first 'Private Brand Showcase' piece for 2011. Below is a selection of 2010 stories.]

December 23, 2010: New Items Show Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Niche-Specialty Category Private Brand Development Focus

December 21, 2010: New 'Marketside' Brand Fresh Food Items From Walmart - Part Deux

December 18, 2010: Walmart Launches New 'Marketside' Fresh Food Lines - Plus A 'Fresh' Campaign to Create Brand Buzz

December 13, 2010: House (Sparking) Cider Rules at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

October 30, 2010: Raley's Launches New 'Raley's TO GO' Pre-Packaged, Refrigerated Fresh-Prepared Foods Line

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market 'Bags' the Humble and Nutritious Plantain For A New Snack Chip Item

October 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Private Brand Kids' Cereal Wins Bronze 'Pentaward' in 2010 Packaging Design Competition

October 9, 2010: 'Use Me': Should Reusable Packaging Be Part of Tesco's Sustainable Private Brand Offering? A Student-Designer Thinks So

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

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

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.]