How Kraft Lost Its Mac and Cheese Crown
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Why was Kraft Mac and Cheese a staple in American households?
Jesse, did you grow up eating mac and cheese? I did grow up eating mac and cheese. I loved mac and cheese, Kraft mac and cheese specifically as a kid. The thing I remember most is that I may or may not have at different points eaten entire boxes of it myself.
Our colleague Jesse Newman covers the food industry. Kraft mac and cheese was mac and cheese. There was no other. And that's the way it was for decades. Kraft mac and cheese dominated the pantry aisle at the supermarket, literally.
You know, you walk down that aisle and there is the Kraft mac and cheese section. There is that section that has the blue and orange boxes that is just, you know, the core of the grocery store. It's like the nonpolitical big blue wall.
Yes, correct.
But these days, oodles of new competitors are eating into Kraft's market share. And that blue wall is looking more like a rainbow.
There are a lot more brands than there used to be. And now you've got Annie's mac and cheese. That's sort of a lavender color. You've got a new rival, Goodall's. They've got all kinds of different colors. They've got a teal. They've got a red. So it's a much more diverse grocery aisle. So Kraft was just king of mac and cheese for decades. And recently, they have lost their grip on mac and cheese.
And now, Kraft's big cheese status is under threat. This year, the company said it plans to spend more than $60 million to boost Kraft mac and cheese.
This story is really sort of the rise and fall of one of the world's biggest food companies and how a company lost its way, tending to some of America's most iconic pantry staples like Kraft mac and cheese.
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Monday, February 2nd. Coming up on the show, how Kraft lost its lock on mac and cheese.
Take us back to the beginning. What is the origin story of Kraft Mac and Cheese?
So if you go way back, the mac and cheese story starts with a gentleman by the name of James L. Kraft. Naturally. Kraft was a cheese seller in Illinois. He started out selling cheese out of a horse-drawn wagon, as one did.
I can hear the sort of like film reel in the background as you're talking. Yes, yes.
And our protagonist, James Kraft, he went on to make processed cheese and then to make mac and cheese. And so Kraft mac and cheese as we know it was introduced in 1937. When it was released, it cost 19 cents a box. And it became wildly popular during the Great Depression and during World War II.
Kraft mac and cheese was marketed as a quick, tasty, and affordable meal for busy families. And that's been the brand's message for decades.
I have a problem. It's my husband. He comes home for lunch. There's an easy solution. Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner.
As time went on, Kraft began marketing its mac and cheese to kids.
The brand partnered with popular cartoons, like the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and Rugrats. And that cheesy formula worked.
Kids loved it, and Kraft kept its hold on the mac and cheese market. But as the 2000s became the 2010s, consumer priorities began to shift. People were turning to other brands in the mac and cheese aisle, like Annie's, which promised an organic alternative.
People are looking for fresher food, healthier food. They want cleaner labels, simpler ingredients. And a lot of Kraft's products, including Kraft mac and cheese, just comes to be seen as sort of the epitome of productivity.
What led to the decline of Kraft's dominance in the mac and cheese market?
This was true of many of their brands. Think Jell-O, Kool-Aid. We loved them as kids, but a lot of parents were already reaching for healthier options.
In the face of these bigger shifts in the food industry, Kraft made a drastic move. In 2015, the company merged with another huge name in packaged food, Heinz.
And I really can't overstate how big a deal this is in the food industry. This is supposed to be sort of a new chapter for many of these brands. Executives at the time said that the merger was going to make the brands more relevant. It was really going to rescue what, you know, already at this time, in some cases, were ailing brands.
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