FIBER-ENRICHED SKIM MILK FOUND TO FATTEN SALES

LIZA B. ZIMMERMAN

Retailers across the country are finding that low-fat, fiber-enriched milks are boosting milk sales, after a 30-year decline in per capita consumption.

Skim Delux, a fat-free milk produced by adding dietary fiber to skim milk, is one of the products stealing sales away from standard skim since it was introduced by Mendenhall Laboratories, Paris, Tenn.

Standard skim can be watery and have a bluish color, two factors that Kenneth Nixon, Mendenhall president, cited as having historically hurt skim- milk sales.

"People are very concerned with the way milk looks," he noted. "We make our milk as white as we can."

The vegetation-derived fiber in Slim Delux gives it a thicker consistency and whiter color, said Nixon. He noted that his sales have increased as Skim Delux has gotten whiter.

Skim Delux also has a richer flavor, according to Nixon, which "can't be distinguished from 2%."

Skim is milk's fastest growing segment. Skim-milk sales were up 6.1% in 1996, according to Martin Veeger, the assistant director for economics and market research at the Milk Industry Foundation, Washington.

Mendenhall's timing in introducing Skim Delux was apparently opportune. Bob King, dairy buyer for Richmond, Va.-based Ukrop's Super Markets, said that "People are looking for a skim milk taste without that watery consistency.

"It's got the consistency of 2% with the fat content of skim," added King, who has been carrying it at Ukrop's for a little over a year.

Klein's Supermarkets, Forest Hill, Md., has been carrying Skim Delux for about a year. President Michael Klein sang its praises, saying there was no comparison between Skim Delux and regular skim milk. "The appeal is that you get the benefits of a nonfat milk with the flavor and texture of whole milk," Klein said.

'You really can't tell it's skim If I don't keep it out there, they are screaming for it," said Cheryl Hightower, the manager of Jim Adam's IGA dairy department in Camden, Pa., another retailer with the product in stores.

Retailers reported good results from the use of promotions. Klein said his stores periodically run a sale on the milk, for example.

Ukrop's features Skim Delux in ads, and offers it at a discount in its valued-customer program. Dairy executive King said he ran it for 30 cents off in January and expects to do so again in March.

The retailers reported varying penetration. Klein said that, at between 1,200 and 1,300 gallons and 300 half-gallons a month, his Skim Delux sales probably account for less than 1% of Klein's total milk sales.

At the IGA, however, Hightower said they account for about 20% of her total milk sales, at about 72 gallons a week, a figure that has increased approximately 50 gallons in the last year-and-a-half that the IGA has been carrying it.

Ukrop's King noted a big increase in Slim Delux sales with the introduction of the calcium-fortified version of Skim Delux.

On the market since November 1996, calcium-fortified Skim Delux provides 500 mg of calcium per 8-ounce serving, which is 67% more than regular milk, according to Mendenhall's Nixon.

"The calcium-fortified Skim Delux is a product that may appeal to a lot of women because of osteoporosis," noted Klein, who said 10% of his monthly sales of Skim Delux products are of the calcium-fortified version.

Klein also praised Skim Delux's product diversification, which offers consumers a choice. "Skim Delux fills the void of being forced to retail the traditional three grades of milk."

Ukrop's King said that although Skim Delux costs an average of 20 to 30 cents more a gallon, he thinks people are willing to pay the difference. Ukrop's regular half-gallons of skim sell for $1.59, while Skim Delux regular goes for $1.79 and the calcium-fortified version costs $1.89.

During promotions, like the one Ukrop's King did in January, there is no actual cost difference between Skim Delux and regular milk, King noted. This is an added incentive that also helps King overcome what he calls the biggest challenge with Skim Delux: getting people to taste it.

Skim Delux has fewer calories than regular skim milk. An 8-ounce serving, according to Nixon, is only 80 calories, six less than the U.S. Department of Agriculture's skim milk count of 86.

Skim Delux is part of a product line that also includes regular and calcium-fortified 1% milk, chocolate fat-free milk, calcium-fortified carbonated sodas, and calcium-fortified fat-free milkshakes, which are slated to hit the market in a week.

Skim Delux received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1993 and has been available since July 1994. It is available in 43 states and is manufactured by 41 dairies.