A wealth of new products designed as meals for the time-starved consumer hit the market over the past year. In addition, more shelf-stable items launched, targeting consumers in need of a solid lunch but lacking a refrigerator. Not that the fridge—or freezer— was left totally out of the loop, frozen pizzas continued to be refined—with rising crusts and more upscale ingredients.
Those fun aspects are geared to children, with nuggets or portions in the shapes of dinosaurs, trains or some such. Perdue Farms, Salisbury, Md., chose a train motif for its Thomas the Tank Engine, Fun Shapes Choo-Choo Chicken. A novel shape for children and adults alike made its way into foodservice this year, as Brakebrush Brothers, Westfield Wisc., debuted Chik'N Pretzels. These pieces of white-meat chicken are shaped like a pretzel and have a crunchy pretzel coating. Simmons Foods, Siloam Springs, Ark., launched a similar retail product in late 2000, though their coating had a slight mustard flavor.