Sunset Brands out to conquer low-carb market
fall out of the low-carb market is Los-Angles based Sunset Brands
that has completed the acquisition of Low Carb Creations, a
producer of low-carb foods.
The said Todd Sanders, CEO of Sunset Brands.
He added that: "Having achieved over $4.2 million in revenues in its first full fiscal year of operation (2003), Low Carb Creations represents the cornerstone for Sunset's growth platform."
The company said in a statement that it believes there is a lack of quality, competitively priced low-carb goods on the US market and it hopes to fill this lacuna.
"The industry is populated with low carb food producers that are smaller, closely held companies serving local markets with higher prices than mass marketers," said Sanders.
Sunset Brands noted that: "the low carb brands segment has grown to $1.1 billion and represents a 1 percent share of total food and beverage sales. Recent reports also estimate that there are currently 26 million Americans on a low carb diet and approximately 70 million limiting their carb intake."
However, some analysts see this as a rose-tinted view of the market, particularly because last month Atkins Nutritionals' announced it had hired a turnaround specialist to help it cope with tough competition from rival food companies.
Nontheless, despite a decline in SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) of no- or low-carb foods and drinks across the US in the last three months, decreasing from 633 SKUs in June, to 306 in July and 209 in August, this year has still seen the launch of a record number of low- and no-carb products, according to Productscan Online.
A mere 3.8 per cent of new food and beverage launches in the US in 2003 were no- or low-carb products (compared to a paltry 2.1 percent the year before). This year, the figure has jumped to a whopping 17.9 percent, meaning that 2585 products were placed on the supermarket shelves this year in comparison with 633 in 2003.
