Frozen-food marketing
Frozen-food marketing has its roots in the early 1920s, when Clarence Birdseye developed a quick-freezing method that effectively preserved the freshness and flavor of various foods. He launched packaged frozen fish fillets in 1925, paving the way for a broader range of frozen products, including fruits, vegetables, and meats. Despite its potential, the frozen food market faced significant challenges, including consumer skepticism, inadequate home storage solutions, and retailers' struggles to display these products. Early marketing efforts targeted select regions, and as consumer interest grew, so did sales, particularly in institutional settings.
By the late 1930s, advancements in refrigeration made frozen foods more accessible, with improved home appliances and the introduction of rental freezer cabinets enhancing consumer confidence. The post-World War II era solidified frozen foods' place in American culture, as technological advancements continued to streamline preservation and transport. Today, frozen foods remain a popular choice for their convenience, versatility, and the ability to store seasonal products year-round, reflecting significant shifts in consumer lifestyles and preferences.
On this Page
Frozen-food marketing
Methods used to bring the frozen-food industry into mainstream American culture
The development of frozen foods ultimately changed American eating habits. Formerly perishable fresh produce and meats could be safely stored for later use when frozen. When thawed and prepared, they could be enjoyed year-round with no loss in quality of texture or taste.
During the early 1920’s, inventor Clarence Birdseye perfected a method of quick-freezing that preserved the freshness and flavor of foods for future consumption. In 1925, he began selling packaged frozen fish fillets from his factory in Gloucester, Massachusetts. By the end of the decade, when he sold his General Foods Company and his patented process for more than $20 million to the Postum Company (later General Foods Corporation), Birdseye was flash-freezing a whole range of products, including fruits, vegetables, and meats. As part of the transaction with Postum, Birdseye was retained to conduct research and development. Divided for easy comprehension, his distinctive surname became a brand name for the frozen products. In 1930, the new owners began test-marketing Birds Eye frozen-food products. They had several major obstacles to overcome.
The first difficulty was consumer resistance to frozen foods in general. The usual method of freezing foods—by immersion in ice or by spraying with a saline solution—as an alternative to drying or smoking meats or canning fruits and vegetables had been employed for decades. However, slow-freezing not only permits bacterial growth but also causes undesirable chemical reactions in many foodstuffs, resulting in mushy, tasteless products that are a pale imitation of fresh varieties. Thus, it is no wonder potential customers initially viewed Birds Eye products with deep suspicion.
A second problem was proper storage of the new frozen goods once they were taken home. Though a practical refrigerator had been introduced in 1915, most American families relied upon the icebox, which was nothing more than an insulated cabinet into which a large block of ice was inserted to keep foods cooled. Iceboxes did not contain separate freezer compartments and could not produce the low temperatures required to keep prefrozen foods from thawing.
A third drawback was the inability of most retailers to display frozen products in-store. Freezer cases were available, but at a cost of one or two thousand dollars apiece, they were a major investment for supermarket owners struggling to keep their heads above water during the Depression. Furthermore, refrigerated trucks and railcars to haul frozen products from manufacturer to retailer did not yet exist.
Luckily for General Foods, consumers drawn by newspaper ads to carefully selected test markets in the northeastern United States quickly took to the concept of frozen foods. By the mid-1930’s thirty million pounds of Birds Eye products were sold annually, though 90 percent of the total was purchased for industrial and institutional use. By the end of the decade, when the first precooked frozen meals were introduced, 150 million pounds of frozen Birds Eye foods were sold annually.
Simultaneously, the refrigerator had become a must-have appliance in American homes. What had cost $600 in 1920 had fallen in price to $275 ten years later, and dealers were offering liberal payment plans. By 1940, refrigerators, replete with separate freezer compartments, retailed for about $150, and more than one-half of all American families owned one. Deep freezers were introduced at about the same time.
General Foods took the lead in resolving the retailing issue during the mid-1930’s by introducing a low-cost, 500-pound capacity freezer cabinet with a self-contained compressor built in. The company offered it for rental at just ten dollars per month. By the end of the decade, refrigerated trucks were introduced to transport products to distant markets, and more than twelve thousand supermarkets had frozen-food displays in place.
Impact
Because of rationing and conversion of manufacturing facilities to the production of combat matériel during World War II, the impetus of frozen-food marketing was interrupted. Nonetheless, the convenience of the new product had caught on. Postwar advancements in refrigeration technology aiding preservation and transport, combined with significant changes in lifestyle, made the wide variety, the storability of seasonable products, and the ease of preparation of frozen foods a permanent part of the American culture.
Bibliography
Evans, Judith, ed. Frozen Food Science and Technology. Oxford, Oxfordshire, England: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
Kurlansky, Mark. The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food—Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation’s Food Was Seasonal. New York: Riverhead Trade, 2010.
Platt, Richard. Eureka! Great Inventions and How They Happened. New York: Kingfisher, 2003.