'Housebound Health-Consciousness' drives molasses sales gains, according to International Molasses
Eating more meals at home, consumers are scrutinizing ingredients labels, and favoring all-natural sweeteners for food prep items like marinades, sauces and bake mixes.
International Molasses (IM), a supplier of molasses and natural sweeteners, is seeing ties between the COVID-caused stay-at-home lifestyle and an uptick in sales for its CaneRite portfolio of sugar cane molasses. An increase in liquid molasses sales for a variety of marinades and condiments like BBQ, Worcester and other popular sauces, as well as more dry molasses sold for domestic-centric foods like bake mixes, showcases not only the food products Americans are choosing while remaining home but also their selection process within those niches.
“For obvious reasons, consumers are eating more meals at home, so eating healthy means paying particular attention to the ingredients labels of grocery items,” said Amy Targan, president of International Molasses and its sister company, Malt Products Corp. “The sales gains we’re seeing aren’t in the restaurant sector—of course they aren’t considering the pandemic, but rather in direct-to-consumer food products sold at grocery stores.”