While M&A activity in the sector has slowed considerably in 2024, recent moves reflect two key themes that will likely continue when the pace of dealmaking picks up. 

The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), the food trade association representing all segments of the $65.1 billion frozen food industry, and IRI, a fast-growing, global leader in innovative solutions and services for consumer, retail and media companies, announced a partnership to provide AFFI members with complimentary access to IRI data on frozen food performance in real-time.

Editor-in-Chief Michael Costa explains how the perception of frozen foods changed in 2020.

Nearly one year after the COVID-19 pandemic began, a new report finds frozen foods were among the fastest growing categories in the grocery store, with clear signs that Americans’ fondness for frozen will continue to grow.

On our latest From the Cold Corner Podcast, I discuss the state of frozen foods and COVID-19’s effect on the entire industry with Alison Bodor, president and CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI).

Frozen food sales rose significantly the final week of April, according to new research by the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), 210 Analytics, and IRI. The +50.3% increase was the highest since the height of mid-March stockpiling by consumers, when frozen food sales peaked at +94.4% compared to 2019 sales for the same time period. The +50.3% increase translates to $1.3 billion compared to $442 million in 2019.

The adage, "shoot for the moon and you'll still land among the stars" comes to mind when assessing frozen food sales since early March. The rocket launch of consumer stockpiling created astronomical sales figures that were impossible to sustain, but now that buying has leveled off, the year-over-year numbers look like they'll be hovering around +30% over 2019 sales for weeks to come, if not the rest of 2020, according to new data from the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and 210 Analytics. That means the meteoric sales arc created by panic buying in March has a long way to go before it comes down to normal levels. 

New numbers from NCSolutions for the week ending April 18 support the trend that many cold foods are still selling strong, focusing on frozen food categories in particular. Week-over-week numbers showed a decline in most frozen categories, which NCSolutions attributes to slower Easter weekend shopping when many stores were closed for the holiday.

Today’s frozen and dairy departments are clearly connecting with shoppers showing combined sales of $125 billion in the 52 weeks ending June 29, 2019. Nearly every U.S. household buys from the frozen and dairy departments annually, and the diverse appeal of these products crosses generational, multicultural and socio-economic demographics.