Is Conagra Overdoing Its Healthy Choices?
Just three years after introducing its first Healthy Choice product — with reduced levels of fat and salt — Conagra Inc. expects sales to reach $1 billion for its current fiscal year, which ends next May. But some food industry experts believe Conagra is jeopardizing the success of Healthy Choice by trying to do too much too quickly — blanketing supermarkets with a sweeping line of soups, desserts, pizza and more. For one thing, these experts say, Healthy Choice’s main frozen dinner business has stumbled. And that makes it even more difficult to expand a single brand name throughout the entire supermarket. When sales of Weight Watchers dinners fell in the 1980’s, for example, Weight Watchers desserts and other products also fared poorly. 100 New Products in a Year “The crack in the foundation is already apparent,” said Gary Stibel, president of the New England Consulting Group in Westport, Conn. “They are in danger.
