How do you describe sauce, dressing and condiment sales? Here’s a sauce reference: they’re sweet and sour—with mixed results across categories. Yet that’s not for a lack of new product development activity.
During a 52-week tracking period ended Dec. 25, 2016, IRI, Chicago, reports that Italian sauce sales rose 3.63% to $2.3 billion with unit sales up 0.98%. Sales of Mexican-style sauces rose 2.77% to $1.7 billion with a 2.18% rise in units sold. Barbecue sauce sales rose 3.77% to $731.5 million with a 2.01 accompanying rise in units. Asian sauce sales rose 4.09% to $694.7 million with a 2.4% increase in units. IRI notes that the data reflect total U.S. multi-outlet retailers including convenience stores.