Food Makers, Feeling Squeezed, Pull the Plug on Slow-Selling Products
BOCA RATON, Florida/LONDON—Major consumer companies including Kraft Heinz Co. and Conagra Brands Inc. are culling product lines to combat sky-high costs and falling consumer demand, their executives said this week.
Many companies started slimming their offerings during the pandemic and are aggressively renewing those efforts, eliminating less-popular items to focus on products on which they can more easily raise prices amid prolonged inflation on food items.
Executives at Nestle SA and Unilever Plc said they have seen billions in savings after ditching the laggards in their product portfolios.
Conagra recently discontinued a Marie Callender’s chocolate chip cookie dough cream pie to make room for what the U.S. food company hopes will be a faster-selling no sugar added apple pie….