TruEarth Healthy Foods: Market Research for a New Product Introduction

TruEarth was founded in 1993 in St. Louis, Missouri, by young entrepreneur DenRosa. They have

been the pioneers in providing quality, healthy and authentic pastas. In late 2004, the management
team of TruEarth decided to take advantage of the growing demand for quick home meal
replacements, refrigerated pasta, and whole grain food options by giving high priority to the taste.
The TruEarth test kitchen developed a fresh whole grain pasta line called as “Cucina Fresca” and
it was rolled out in the third quarter of 2006. The launch came out to be a huge success because of
the “First Mover” advantage in the market. The company’s retail sales grew from $18 million in
2006 to $35 million in 2007. 
 
Problem Statement:  

Cucina Fresca, which was a fresh whole grain pasta meal kit sold through supermarkets was one
of the most successful product launches in the history of TruEarth. However, competitors started
offering similar products and due to which the growth started slowing down for the company in
2008. To maintain their competitive edge in the market, they have been planning to expand to
refrigerated pizza market. Surveys suggest that 77% of American consumers have pizza at least
once a month. Though many facts support the idea of launching the refrigerated fresh whole grain
pizza, the team from TruEarth are now in a dilemma about the launch. They are confused as to
whether to launch the pizza? If they decide to go forward with the launch what should be the
volume of production? They also need to decide fast and act quickly because their main
competitor Rigazzi has also tested the pizza concept and might soon introduce the same. 

1. Why was Cucina Fresca pasta successful? How do you compare the opportunity for
pizza to that of pasta? 

There was a consumer need which the company felt they can fill by introducing Cucina Fresca.
Below listed are the issues that the consumers were facing and what TruEarth was aiming to fix:  
 
Issue  Solution 
Unhealthy meal in the market  Introduction of healthy meal with the use of real
tomatoes and whole grain. 
Customers felt guilty using fully ready cooked Semi-prepared meal while also introducing
meals due to lack of involvement minimal participation 

Time crunch to cook and clean utensils  A meal which has shorter cooking time. 
 
Unsavory pastas in the market  Introduction of variety of choices to suit
different tastes 
 
Cucina Fresca not only resolved the issues but also took advantage of the fact that there was very
less market competition in the market for the healthy variant pasta, variety of options such as Cut
Pasta, Filled Pasta and Sauce. This let the company to convey to the customers that they had both
points of parity (POP) and points of difference (POD).  The company kept on innovating and
refining both the technical innovations and marketing plan. This ensured improvement based on
past successful marketing plan and customer feedback.  
 
We can compare opportunities between both Pasta and Pizza as given below: 

Pizza  Pasta 
60% purchase intent from the respondents 76% purchase intent from the respondents
74% Mean likeability    82% Mean likeability  
$5.8 billion market for refrigerated Pizza  $4.4 billion market for refrigerated Pasta 
Strong competition from Pizza Hut, Papa Jones TruEarth has a healthy and customizable variant
who have already brought whole wheat Pizza for Pasta 
Consumers perceive Pizza as indulgent and not Consumers perceive Pasta as healthier option
a healthy meal substitute.   hence there is a high opportunity to retain and
attract consumers looking for healthier diet
 

2. How do the pizza test results compare with the findings for pasta? 
  
Exhibit 3   Fresh Pasta Purchase Intent 
  
   Cucina Fresca (N=300)  Industry Mediana 
Measure    
Definitely would buy  27%  20% 
Probably would buy      49%      42% 
"Top Two" Box  76%  62% 
Mean Likeability  4.1  3.6 
Mean Price/Value rating  3.2  3.5 
  
The above exhibit shows the purchase intent measure for Cucina Fresca pasta. We can see that
76% of the respondents are willing to buy the Cucina Fresca pasta when it is offered to them. Out
of the 76%, respondents 49% are the people who will probably buy the pasta which means that
there is no surety whether they will buy or not. 27% of the respondents would definitely
buy pasta. 
  
Exhibit 7   Pizza Concept Purchase Intent: Mall Intercept 
  
         TruEarth Customers
Measure  Total (N=300)  Non-Customers (N=75) 
(N=225)
Definitely would buy  18% 15%  26% 
Probably would buy  43% 39%  53% 
"Top Two" Box  60% 54%  79% 
Mean Likeability 3.7 3.5  4.2 
Mean Price/Value rating  3.0 3.0  3.1 
  
The above exhibit shows the purchase intent measure for pizza. We can see that 60% of the
respondents are willing to buy pizza when it is offered to them. We can depict that out of the 60%
respondents 43% people will probably buy pizza and 18% people would definitely buy pizza. 
  
Furthermore, we can see that ‘top two boxes’ or the total number of respondents willing to buy the
respective products, proportion of 60% for pizza is less than purchase intent of 79% for pasta.
Similarly, the mean likeability (4.2) and mean price/value rating (3.1) for pasta is also
significantly higher than pizza, hence, making future prediction for pizza less favorable than
pasta. 

Exhibit 4      Fresh Pasta Concept Likes and Dislikes 

  
      Favorable to Unfavorable to
Attributes  Total (N=300)  Concept (N=228)  Concept (N=72) 

LIKES          

Food Qualities          

Whole grain  32%  35%  22% 

Freshly made and dated  38%  42%  26% 
Looks appetizing  22%  25%  13% 
Preparation          

Product selection  17%  20%  9% 

Easy to prepare  21%  24%  12% 
Single meal portion size  16%  18%  10% 
Other          

TruEarth brand name  33%  40%  10% 

Good price  18%  22%  7% 
DISLIKES          

Limited selection  20%  15%  35% 

Too expensive  8%  3%  25% 
Limited time to product expiration  16%  10%  33% 
  
Exhibit 8      Pizza Concept Likes and Dislikes: Mall Intercept 
  
      Favorable to Unfavorable to
Attributes  Total (N=300)  Concept  Concept 
(N=181)  (N=119) 
LIKES          
Food Qualities          

Whole grain  19%  25%  10% 

Freshly made and dated  31%  35%  26% 
Looks appetizing  24%  31%  13% 
Preparation          

Product selection  16%  20%  9% 

Can purchase all items in one place  27%  35%  15% 
Can buy toppings separately  23%  31%  11% 
Can add amount & type of toppings desired  18%  24%  9% 
Easy to prepare  16%  20%  9% 
Other          

TruEarth brand name  24%  33%  11% 

Good price  9%  13%  3% 
DISLIKES          

Limited selection  23%  18%  31% 

Too expensive  27%  20%  38% 
Limited time to product expiration  12%  3%  25% 
  
Exhibit 4 and Exhibit 8 shows the likes and dislike of fresh pasta concept and pizza concept
respectively. Comparison among the two exhibits shows that people are more likely to favor the
pasta concept rather than pizza. For instance, only 19% of the respondents likes the concept of
Whole Grain in pizza whereas 32% respondents like the whole grain concept in pasta. 21% of the
respondents thinks that the preparation technique is much easier to prepare pasta than pizza. The
overall comparison shows that people were not really convinced with the whole idea of pizza
concept that was put forward by TruEarth.

3. Is there an advantage of being a first mover in pizza similar to fresh pasta? 

In the late 2004, there was growing demand for quick home meal replacements, refrigerated pasta,
and whole grain food options that did not sacrifice taste. The management team at TruEarth began
discussing ways to take advantage of the same. The TruEarth test kitchen developed a fresh whole
grain pasta for this purpose. The feedback was positive with 85% in favor of buying and
consuming it. Soon after TruEarth had launched the pasta and sauce lines, its management had
started working on refrigerated pizza kit. Pizza demand in key demographics had been hurt by
health concerns and the popularity of diets that restricted or cut out carbohydrates. This provided a
perfect opportunity for entering the pizza segment. TruEarth benefited from being a successful
first mover after realizing this opportunity. This helped them gain majority of the market share for
Pasta as most of the companies had not figured out how to make whole grain
pasta. Later, Rigazzi also entered the pizza market with a similar product as TruEarth. They were
also using fresh whole grain but by then TruEarth were market leaders and had products in many
major retail stores. So, the major benefit of being a first mover is being able to capture greater
market share.  

In addition to this, the production of whole grain pizza could be completed using the
existing equipments of TruEarth and huge investment was not required in order to launch the
whole grain pizza, which made the launch of this product more attractive.  

Furthermore, TruEarth has its already established channel and network for the distribution and
selling of whole grain pizza and its existing channel would help in delivering the fresh product to
the market shelf. Therefore, TruEarth must launch its whole grain pizza in order take the benefits
of first mover advantage and later on it can keep improving the key elements of whole grain
pizza. 

4. Would you want the pizza? Give reasons in support of your views. 

Yes, I would want the pizza for the reasons stated below: 
TruEarth was one of the first companies to focus on whole grain products offering both 60% and
100% whole grain pastas in its line. They have also stayed unique by using the highest quality
ingredients available. They have set standards by using real tomatoes instead of puree, extra virgin
oil instead of canola or soya bean, all these prior acts showcased by TruEarth makes me believe in
the quality of the pizza line that is to be launched by TruEarth. TruEarth will also be focusing on
whole grain crusts which is one of the main requirements of customers. The high quality,
authentic and healthy pastas which the company offered clearly shows what their goals would be
when they launch pizzas as well, without sacrificing the taste. Some appealing facts about the
pizza are as given below: 
 Fresh Ingredients 
  Whole grain crust
 High quality sauces in toppings 
 Popularity of the brand 
 The healthy lifestyle it focuses on 
Conclusion
There is an estimate of $53 Billion in sales in 2007 for Italian-American food category. Pizzas are
a core component of it. Also 77% of consumers ate pizza at least once a month. There was a
growing awareness of the importance of whole grains in the diet and consumers were rapidly
adapting to this new trend. The whole grain pizza was categorized as a healthy product which
means it was liked and appreciated by the American people. TruEarth should launch the whole
grain pizza in the market immediately. They have the advantage of being the first mover. They
had introduced whole grain pasta as a new product and successfully covered a lot of market in its
initial years. The fact that Rigazzi has also tested a pizza concept similar to TruEarth, they must
enter the market immediately and utilize the first mover advantage. The
existing equipments of TruEarth can be helpful in the production of whole grain pizza and thus
not much investment would be needed in the production of whole grain pizza and that amount
can be used in advertising and marketing the product and gaining large customers base. Further a
large network and channel of TruEarth they have obtained from whole grain pasta, can be used to
deliver the fresh products to the markets. The average retail price of $12.38 is found to be
expensive for consumers and is one of the major reasons for the unfavorable purchase intent.
TruEarth can certainly work upon the pricing strategy and lower the retail price as to improve the
favorability of purchase intent.