Frozen food sales have grown by 13.5 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels, stated a recent report from British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF).
According to BFFF, despite restaurants, cafes and pubs reopening in April 2021 leading to less frequent shops and smaller shopping baskets, frozen sales managed to maintain their upward trend.
“After two years of disruption, the retail market is returning to pre-pandemic normal, but frozen has attracted over 400,000 more shoppers in the last two years,” BFFF chief executive Richard Harrow said.
“The retail frozen food market is now worth £7.1 billion and has added nearly £850 million worth of sales since 2019 that’s value growth of +13.5 percent and volume growth of +9.2 percent.
Harrow added that with the total grocery market broadly flat, frozen sales have “significantly outperformed the market”.
According to Kantar, Ice cream is the largest single category in frozen food, worth £1.3 billion and accounting for 18 percent of their overall frozen food sales, up from 17.3 percent in 2019. Sales of savoury frozen food grew 19.8 percent since 2019, states the report.
Frozen fish also topped £1bn in 2020, while 2021’s sale shows 16.4 percent gain in two years.
Additionally, lifestyle and dietary changes saw vegan and vegetarian frozen products grow 16.8 percent since 2019.
“There has been incredible innovation in the frozen plant-based category. From developments in the texture and mouthfeel of meat alternatives to new recipes that make vegetables the star of the show, it’s no surprise that consumers with all kinds of dietary needs and preferences are adding these types of products to their baskets,” Harrow added.
“The plant-based category is growing at four times the rate of meat analogue products and we expect this trend to continue.”