ORRVILLE, OHIO – The pandemic followed by higher prices and the related economic pressures of inflation on consumers have benefited the J.M. Smucker Co., a company that serves the at-home coffee, pet food, frozen handheld and spreads markets.

“We definitely saw an increase in at-home eating and a lot of that has remained very sticky,” said Rebecca Scheidler, senior vice president and general manager, frozen handheld and spreads for the company. “We also saw consumers flocking to trusted No. 1 brands, which in turn benefited us.”

Three trends Scheidler sees accelerating are consumer demand for value, the continued rise of protein and convenience.

“I think there is a crisis of protein,” she said. “As meat prices have risen consumers are looking for a more affordable source of protein and we’ve seen some trade into Jif and peanut butter.”

And Scheidler doesn’t see consumer demand for protein easing, noting it’s an ingredient consumers are encouraged to consume rather than discouraged, like sugar or fat.

“There are cycles for any food trend, whether it’s reduced fat or sugar is bad,” she said. “With protein we’ve seen a mindset shift. It’s what you can have; you don’t have to talk about restriction when you talk about protein.”

While Smucker has benefited from more consumers eating at home, the company’s R&D department is focused on creating more convenient on-the-go options.

“People are looking for products that fit their lifestyle,” Scheidler said. “That translates into Jif portable squeeze packs for us. We’re not seeing consumers eating three meals a day and are focused on designing products that they can take with them.

“Previously, our thinking around innovation was focused on convenience in the home. But now it needs to be portable, to go in a child’s backpack or a gym bag.”

Smucker’s Uncrustables brand also is under Scheidler’s purview, and she called the brand one of the company’s “growth engines.”

“We’ve had multiple years of being on allocation, because demand was outpacing supply,” she said. “We built Longmont (an Uncrustables plant in Colorado) and before we got the first phase of the project done, we were talking about the second phase. Now we have two more plants coming online.”

She said Uncrustables are a convenient lunchbox option for school children, but that school lunch is the brand’s floor.

“Once it’s in the house everybody eats it,” Scheidler said.

As Smucker matches supply with demand, Scheidler said Uncrustables has numerous avenues for growth, including new flavor varieties, formats and categories like school lunch programs through the company’s away from home business unit.