Broth Makers Luring Butter Buyers Companies Feed Off Consumers’ Want For Low-Fat Products By Presenting Bouillon As Alternative

The picture shows a pat of butter and a cube of bouillon. “Why cook with fat when you can cook with flavor?” trumpets the ad from Wyler’s Bouillon.

In another ad, a blue dinner plate beckons with a tempting mound of fluffy mashed potatoes. Above are the words, “Swanson chicken broth has butter whipped.”

Broth and bouillon, the new butter-busters? That’s the idea behind a multimillion-dollar advertising push by some of the country’s biggest food companies that has broth sales heating up.

Since last fall, television and print ads have pushed the idea of using broth or bouillon as a fat replacer in such favorite recipes as mashed potatoes, pasta and vegetables.

Sales of broth products in supermarkets traditionally have been rather lackluster, but food companies see two trends that could change that: consumers’ zeal for anything low-fat and, ironically, the high numbers of consumers buying butter and margarine.

Broth makers are hoping to lure away some of those butter buyers, says Kevin Lowery, director of public information for Campbell Soup Co., which owns Swanson. “Butter and margarine is huge business, and you go after the biggest opportunity from a business perspective,” he adds.

In addition, marketing research shows that consumers, when they cook at home, want to make quick, low-fat meals.

“The Number One trend: people are seeking lower-fat meal options. That’s what they want,” says Neil Collins, business director for Wyler’s Bouillon, which is owned by Borden.

What’s frustrating to consumers, he adds, “is that they find low-fat food not as flavorful. Bouillon has zero grams of fat and is highly flavored. We give them what they want.”

The marketing push began last fall with Swanson ads touting “Skinny Mashed Potatoes” - a simple, three-ingredient recipe using chicken broth and pepper to flavor the potatoes in place of butter and milk.

At the same time, Swanson also introduced broth in resealable packages. The appeal of the new package is apparent to any cook who has ever agonized over whether to toss out that half-can of broth or try to save it.

Says Campbell’s Lowery: “Ninety-five percent of recipes published call for more or less than the 14-1/2-ounce can of chicken broth. We finally got wise.”