TruEarth, makers of gourmet pastas, sauces and meals, was founded in 1993 by Gareth DeRosa. TruEarth was one of the first companies to focus on whole grain products and high quality ingredients. They are a reputed supplier to numbers of gourmet groceries through the United States and has built a loyal regional following. TruEarth launched their Cucina Fresca line in 2006 which was a huge success. They achieved 18 million in retail sales in 2006 and $35 million in 2007.
As TrueEarth is planning to launch, refrigerated pizza kit, on this paper, I will be suggesting whether they should go ahead with the launch or not. The suggestion will be made in consideration with the information available on the case.
The Market
According to the case, pizzas being the core component of the Italian-American food category, the estimated annual sales in the United States itself was $53 Billion in 2007. It also states that 2/3 of pizza sales volume came from delivery, take out, and restaurants out and 11% of sales were from refrigerated pizza market which added up to $5.8 billion, making the market bigger than refrigerated pastas. This is the segment of interest for TrueEarth where they have to compete with big player like Nestle and Kraft as well as with Rigazzi who is the only competitor of similar scale.
The success, as stated by the Rosie Carlton, depends on delivering a crust as good as take out pizza shows that TruEarth also has to take into consideration restaurants, deliveries and