YOGURT GROWS UP

Roseanne Harper

Yogurt has come of age, and like any teenager, it's hard to manage.

From what was seen as a sour-tasting health food favored by hippies in the '60s, yogurt is now clad in convenient packaging and boasts a mind-taxing menu of flavors that includes the likes of cotton candy and bananas Foster.

Besides the flavors, there is a barrage of different types, including organic, non-fat, low-fat, cream-topped and drinkable. There is also new packaging such as squeeze tubes, multi-packs and bottles -- all of which keep retailers reeling as they try to grow sales in a finite amount of space.

Nonetheless, they're succeeding. In fact, ACNielsen figures show yogurt sales on a steady ascent. Year-to-date, unit sales of refrigerated yogurt are up 8.8%, and unit sales of refrigerated yogurt shakes and drinks are up 36.4%, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based firm recently reported.

Retailers call it a "very good, strong category," but they're constantly scrambling to find space for it. Some are displacing facings of fluid milk because, they said, they're restocking that section constantly anyway. One dairy buyer-cum-yogurt enthusiast is about to encroach on real estate occupied by cottage cheese. Others said they're just hoping for additional space as their companies build new stores and remodel existing ones. "It's a lot different from 30 years ago, when it was a hippie thing. Then, it was basically plain and vanilla, for the health-conscious. Now, you're almost forced to carry the whole variety of product because the person who wants raspberry or vanilla might want key lime pie, too. It's one of the toughest to shelf-manage," said Rudy Dory, owner of Rudy's Newport Market, Bend, Ore.

Dory tallies 163 stockkeeping units in his eight-foot, multi-deck display, and like other retailers, he's urged by suppliers just about every week to give another flavor or package a chance at success.

Most retailers SN talked to said their yogurt SKUs have doubled, even tripled, from three years ago. Mike Brooks, perishables manager at Central Market, Shoreline, Wash., said he has added 20 just in the last four months, bringing the total SKUs to 270. A recent remodeling has given him a display other retailers would envy.

"I just wish I had more space for yogurt. We could certainly sell it. We're looking to add another [spring-lock] shelf in some of our multi-decks. Dannon has come out with a smoothie we want. The drinkable yogurts and multi-packs do very well for us," said a dairy buyer for an independent, regional chain in the Southwest.

That buyer said that along with the exciting bunch of flavors and innovative packaging suppliers are coming up with, they're getting better with code dates, too.

Actually, while some retailers told SN that getting short-coded products sometimes adds to their challenge, one IGA store owner in Wisconsin said he never has to worry about that because sales are so particularly brisk.

"We move them all out. The only time we might lose one is if the container gets broken," said Dan Welgos, owner/manager of Thorp IGA Market, Thorp, Wis., whose yogurt sales have grown 10% in the last year.

"The huge variety is part of it, but there are also more ads on TV, I think. That helps. And then there's new packaging that's very convenient. Those squeeze tubes. I think mothers like them. You don't need a spoon, so they're good for kids," he added, theorizing that moms see them as a healthy snack.

Welgos devotes five or six facings to the tubes alone in his four-foot, multi-deck yogurt display. The best-selling flavor? Cotton candy. "We may tighten up cottage cheese to make room for more," he said, referring to the overall display.

"Yogurt seems to transcend all boundaries when it comes to demographics. There are the perceived health benefits, and the variety of flavors. It's also relatively inexpensive," said Newport Market's Dory.

He said manufacturers have done a good job of educating consumers and target-marketing specific segments of the population.

Indeed, there's even a yogurt for babies.

Yo-Baby, a multi-pack of organic yogurt in four-ounce containers, was the brainchild of Gary Hirshberg, president and chief executive officer of Stonyfield Farm, Londonderry, N.H., and sales are every bit as good as he had expected.

Retailers agree. Yo-Baby is doing extremely well at Central Market, Brooks told SN, and added that he's about to add Stonyfield's Yo-Squeeze as well.

"The tubes, like Yoplait's Gogurt, have been around for a while, but they've all taken off in the last six months," he said.

Other brands stress convenience by handing over a spoon -- literally. Colombo yogurt, which along with Yoplait is owned by General Mills, includes a pop-out plastic spoon right in the lid.

The tubes, multi-packs and drinkables, in fact, are fast-growing sub-categories nationwide, according to figures supplied by Information Resources Inc., Chicago. Organics, too, are fast-growing. Statistics show dollar sales of organic cups up 15% and organic drinks up 36% from a year ago.

The new varieties, packaging and flavors are driving sales of the whole category, and sales will continue to climb, said Mona Doyle, president, The Consumer Network, a Philadelphia-based consumer research group. She derived her opinion partially from surveys she completed earlier this year.

"I understand the extension of the category. It's worth the attention. There's not much you can think of that's healthful, not fattening, tastes good, and is so convenient. It has a wonderful package of attributes."