GREAT STARTS

BARBARA MURRAY

Leaders of the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association, Harrisburg, Pa., chose "Back to School Fuel" as the theme for a national consumer public-relations campaign starting this Thursday. That day, satellite feed will be broadcast to television stations around the country, featuring Leanne Ely, a nutritionist and cookbook author from Orange County, Calif., whom the NFRA commissioned to make the point that a good breakfast can come from the freezer.

Retailers are waiting to see if news programs will use the segment as part of a back-to-school piece on the air. The timing should be just right, as most U.S. children go back to school this month.

Without mentioning any particular brands, the industry group is promoting frozen breakfast foods in general. "We are using this as a launch pad to cover other frozen foods as well, talking about preparing healthy snacks and meals when the kids get home from school, but the real focus will be on breakfast," said Julie Henderson, vice president of communications for the NFRA.

"A program like this is long overdue," said Harold Lombardi, executive director of the Frozen Food Association of New England, Arlington, Mass.

"We should have done this several years ago, advertised for the industry," he continued. "The industry needs to educate consumers and make them more aware of frozen foods: the price/value relationship and the nutritional value. Most consumers are under a misconception that frozens are bad for you," said Lombardi, citing a Princeton University study in which almost 80% of 1,000 Californians asked about frozen vs. fresh said fresh broccoli was more nutritious.

Frozen produce is picked, processed and packaged all in the same day, whereas "fresh" can sit around for a week, Lombardi said.

Template press kits have been sent to the various regional frozen food associations around the country, with tips on how to find a local spokesman, as this consumer-oriented outreach broadens. There are no specific sales goals for this campaign, the NFRA spokeswoman said.

"This is really a consumer public-relations push more than a marketing event. What associations can do is send press releases to local media to get the word out that frozens are a good choice to meet kids' nutritional needs as they go back to school. The kits will have these key message points," Henderson added.

There is no special point-of-sale material, contests or sweepstakes since this is strictly a PR initiative. Retailers can use the Bring Us to Your Table POS, which is year-round. They can certainly put that up and add their own back-to-school decoration or hand-lettered sign to tie in, Henderson said.

Most frozen food associations contacted in late July by SN had just received the kits, but none had plans to tie in. Reasons were more financial and having to do with timing than anything else. Some mentioned the October frozen food festival that many manufacturers support.

Henderson seemed unfazed. "We knew participation wasn't going to be really high this year since it's new, but the point is to get the word out and establish that we are doing these kinds of consumer PR events, and we're going to continue to do them," said Henderson.

Pathmark spokesman Rich Savner told SN that the Carteret, N.J.-based chain's frozens director is planning a promotion of breakfast items, not necessarily as a reflection of the NFRA's push, but because "he's a pretty smart guy, and it's a natural time of the year for that." In addition to dry cereal, frozen breakfast items might catch peoples' fancy first, he said.

"We promote it usually every month, but certainly it will be a focus in September, as people come back from vacation and go off to school," he said.

In much of the country, schools reopen this month, as they do in Black Mountain, N. C.-based Ingles Markets' territory. For the first time, that chain is doing a back-to-school-themed event that ties in with apparel shopping. North Carolina has adopted a new concept, Tax-Free Weekend, in which the usual 6.5% sales tax on clothing, shoes, computers, software and even sports equipment was suspended from Aug. 2 to 4, explained Caroline Earley, who spoke to SN on behalf of Ingles frozens category manager, Nate Fisher.

"We've never done this before," she said. Ingles has teamed up with the Biltmore Square Mall in Asheville, N.C., to allow Ingles customers to get a book of discount coupons worth hundreds of dollars off at clothing and shoe stores and related businesses by showing a receipt for at least $10 worth of frozen food purchased at the supermarket from July 28 through Aug. 31, said Earley. The frozen food purchase does not have to be breakfast, but any frozen food, although the radio ad one week happened to mention Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwiches.

Ingles's corporate dietitian, Leah McGrath, said she is familiar with several studies indicating that children who have breakfast not only perform better on tests but also pay better attention and have fewer disciplinary problems. "The same is also true of adults, in that we concentrate better," having had breakfast, she added.

The NFRA hopes that Ely, author of "Healthy Foods, an Irreverent Guide to Understanding Nutrition and Feeding Your Family Well," will be featured on one of the major news shows in one of the major markets, Henderson said. "Americans watch the morning news programs, and if we are getting the message out, that's the main thing. We hope it will benefit the category and increase sales. If we can get a few really good placements, that will be a successful event."

Ely herself told SN, "One of the really neat things about frozen foods is that it has bumped up a notch, and there are lots of healthy alternatives."

Ely plans to show viewers how to use frozen fruit in smoothies, and will explain how to make a healthy breakfast muffin or burrito using a whole grain English muffin or tortilla filled with fried or scrambled egg and texturized vegetable protein "sausage" patties, which are frozen.

Categories of frozen breakfast foods that Ely uses herself include juice, especially orange juice with calcium added. "It's a breakthrough, because calcium and vitamin C together help the body absorb the calcium better." Calcium is important for strong bones and teeth, and is easy to obtain in the diet but since it is a large molecule, Ely said, "the C really helps."

She plans to offer tips to boost the food value of a frozen waffle, perhaps by adding some peanut butter and banana on top, "or even some frozen fruit. I am a real fan of frozen fruit," Ely said, because they are flash frozen for good quality, and "you don't have to worry about any of the ingredients in there. It's all healthy.

"One of the nice things about frozen food is you can go real processed, if you want, or real natural, because the frozen state preserves the freshness of the foods."