SPINS: BARS LEAD NATURAL-FOOD CATEGORIES

BARBARA MURRAY

SAN FRANCISCO -- Spence Information Service's snapshot of the fastest-growing natural-products categories shows that energy bars, nondairy beverages and frozen foods are among the leaders.

SPINS here uses data from ACNielsen to compile consumer information. The recently released report, titled "Natural Products Industry Trends 1999," is based on 1998 sales data.

Energy bars and gels led among Center Store products, with a 22.2% increase in natural-products stores, according to a report on various natural-products categories released last month. The bars and gels showed a whopping 65.6% jump in annual sales in food, drug and mass outlets, the report said. But supermarkets still lagged behind natural-products stores in sales of this category, with $78.1 million vs. $98.4 million for the natural-products channel.

Second was nondairy beverages, with a 19% growth in sales dollars in natural-food stores and a 54.9% increase in the food/drug/mass channels. "Consumers are attracted to these items both as substitutes for like-kind dairy items and because of the substantial awareness of the benefits of soy," the SPINS report said. In natural-products stores, soy beverages racked up dollar sales of $97.9 million, an increase of 34.3%, while in food stores, soy nondairy beverages had $44.1 million in sales, for an increase of 54.6%.