Frozen food sales have grown by 13.5% compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to The British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF).
The report revealed that 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% and volume growth of +9.2%.
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“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, worth £1.3 billion and accounting for 18% of their overall frozen food sales, up from 17.3% in 2019.
Additionally, lifestyle and dietary changes saw vegan and vegetarian frozen products grow 16.8% since 2019.
Harrow added: “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.
“The plant-based category is growing at four times the rate of meat analogue products and we expect this trend to continue.”
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