Nestlé brings rare spark to $54B frozen pizza space with wood-fired DiGiorno

Listen to the article
3 min

This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.

Food giant Nestlé is ready to fire up the frozen pizza market, a space that has not seen a major innovation in years. 

DiGiorno Wood Fired Style Crust Pizza has the potential to be the “next wave” in the $54 billion U.S. pizza space, according to Adam Graves, president of Nestle’s U.S. pizza and snacking division. 

Less than 15% of pizza sales come from frozen offerings

“The addressable market is immense in terms of value,” Graves said in an interview with Food Dive. “There is a huge opportunity to do this.”

Consumers are seeking premium offerings for many of the foods they consume, and pizza is no exception. This expectation has helped fuel demand for wood-fired pizza, a $333  million category that has seen sales spike 56% during the last three years, according to data provided by Nestlé.  

At the same time, shoppers are aiming to replicate more out-of-home restaurant experiences in their kitchens, especially as inflation pushes more people to cut back on how often they dine out.  

Nestlé commands the largest share of frozen pizza at about 30% through brands, such as DiGiorno, Jack’s, Tombstone and California Pizza Kitchen

But despite its dominance, Graves admitted Nestlé has faced “some challenges” during the last few years as higher prices caused it to cede market share to competitors. 

DiGiorno, long the market leader in frozen pizza, has slipped to No. 2 behind Schwan’s’ Red Baron. 

The Switzerland-based company has “right-sized” its pricing while turning to novel innovations in pizza, such as DiGiorno Wood Fired, to win back consumers and regain lost market share. DiGiorno Wood Fired will have a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $6.49, placing it well under the cost of a pie at a local pizzeria. 

The artisan-crafted pizzas will be available in four varieties: Four Cheese, Italian Meat Trio, Supreme Speciale and Premium Pepperoni. 

Frozen pizza hasn’t seen a major innovation in a decade when stuffed crust hit the market, Graves said. Before that, it was rising crust, which was developed by DiGiorno in 1995. 

“The core to continuing our acceleration is our innovation story,” Graves noted. Wood-fired pizza is “something that today, consumers do not go to the frozen aisle necessarily for, but in the future they will be able to go there for our market-leading brand DiGiorno.”