February 14, 2025
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Photo courtesy of Sargento

SHARE SIZE — One of Sargento’s latest introductions is Shareables, a collaboration with Mondelez International that features 14-16 slices of Sargento natural cheese along with 14-16 crackers in convenient peel-and-reseal packaging.

Photo courtesy of Sargento

AMERICAN INNOVATION — Sargento has introduced new Natural American slices, an innovative offering that has the melt, taste and texture of processed American cheese but with a clean, natural label featuring only five ingredients.

By Rena Archwamety

PLYMOUTH, Wis. — Sargento has a long history of being on the forefront of innovation, from its introduction of vacuum-sealed and shredded cheeses in the ’50s, to resealable packaging in the ’80s, to the debut and extension of Balanced Breaks over the past 10 years.

In 2025, Sargento is adding a number of all-new innovations to its line, including shareable snack packs, new spicy shred flavors and all-natural American cheese.

Rod Hogan, who last year was promoted to senior vice president of innovation at Sargento, oversees all aspects of the company’s new product development, starting with research and business propositions for innovative cheese items, on through the technical side of developing and testing new products with consumers.

“We have a very big year planned from the innovation standpoint, and it hits multiple portions of our product portfolio,” Hogan says.

• Seasoned shreds

Spicy, bold flavors of cheese and other foods have been trending for some time, but now there is more focus on various flavor profiles than simply on the level of spice. Sargento, in partnership with McCormick, currently is launching three new shred blends that each feature a different spicy seasoning: Frank’s Original RedHot, Cholula and McCormick Crushed Red Pepper.

“The shreds with McCormick spice brands are right at the heart of what we’ve seen from consumers — more flavor, more variety and more spice,” Hogan says. “I remember a time in the food industry when ‘heat’ and ‘spicy’ was whatever could make you sweat the worst. Now, palates have matured. Frank’s RedHot is a totally different flavor than Cholula or crushed red pepper. Each plays on the bold, spicy flavor trend but is not just hot for hot’s sake.”

Sargento describes these new shred varieties as having “an approachable heat,” and in clearly distinct flavors.

Sargento Shredded Cheese with Frank’s Original RedHot pairs a premium blend of aged cayenne peppers, vinegar, salt and garlic with Sargento White Cheddar, Colby-Jack and Natural American cheeses.

“When you think about Frank’s RedHot, it has such broad usage,” Hogan says, noting uses from classic buffalo dip to eggs and breakfast items.

Sargento Shredded Cheese with Cholula Seasoning features carefully selected arbol and piquin peppers and signature spices of Cholula, paired with Sargento’s Queso Quesadilla and Asadero cheeses, ideal for authentic Mexican dishes.

Meanwhile, Sargento Shredded Cheese with McCormick Crushed Red Pepper Seasoning combines an optimal blend of seeds and pods from red chili peppers with Sargento’s low-moisture part-skim Mozzarella and Parmesan shredded cheeses, a classic Italian-style blend ideal for dishes like pizza and pasta.

Each shred package will feature a recipe on the back, with additional recipes for broader usage on Sargento’s website.

“The consumer research we’ve done on these has been super positive, with retailer engagement and excitement matching that,” Hogan says. “As they are just literally starting to roll out, we are excited at the amount of social media impressions and noise coming out organically. We are seeing people finding these on the shelf and posting on Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok with nothing but excitement about these offerings.”

• Natural American

The Frank’s Original RedHot seasoned shredded cheese blend features Sargento’s new Natural American as one of its cheeses. This is a new, innovative variety that also recently launched this year in sliced form.

Currently, Sargento Natural American is offered in 12-count and 24-count slice packages in the same section as processed cheeses.

“This is probably the launch that represents the biggest technological breakthrough that Sargento has brought in a long time,” Hogan says of the new Sargento Natural American slices. “We want to be super clear, this is a natural cheese that tastes, has the texture and melts like processed cheese. You look at our Natural American ingredient statement, and it has five ingredients: milk, cheese cultures, enzymes, salt and annatto for color.

Compare that to processed cheese, which has anywhere from nine or more ingredients. There are no preservatives, emulsifiers, fats, etc. It’s 100% natural cheese.”

Hogan notes that process cheese is a $2 billion category, but it has been in decline as consumers have increasingly looked for more natural and shorter ingredient statements. He says Sargento believes that its Natural American not only will meet these consumer needs, but also help to bring growth back into that category for its retail partners.

Sargento’s development of Natural American has been years in the making, he adds.

Hogan, who has worked for Sargento for 28 years — both in research and development (R&D) as well as the business and marketing side of new products — praises the company’s subject matter experts and R&D team as “best in class,” driven by passion, creativity and a strong can-do attitude for innovation.

“This is a testament to our R&D team,” he says. “We had been talking about (Natural American) for a while, and we took a step back so our R&D team could figure out the science. Then we brought it back and started the consumer research side of the equation. I truly think it’s a technological breakthrough.”

• Expanded snacking

The company’s third big innovation introduced so far this year is Sargento Shareables, a collaborative innovation between Sargento and Mondelez International, who have worked together since 2021 with the launch of single-serve Balanced Breaks Cheese & Crackers, and in 2024 for Fun!

Balanced Breaks.

Shareables contain 14-16 slices of cheeses along with 14-16 crackers in peel-and-reseal packaging. Varieties include Sargento Natural Cheddar & Colby-Jack + RITZ; Sargento White Cheddar & Gouda + TRISCUIT; and Sargento Pepper Jack & Monterey Jack + RITZ.

“As we’ve been studying snacking behavior, as an industry, the talk is really about on-the-go or grab-and-go, portable individual snacks,” Hogan says. “However, 50% of snacking occasions occur with somebody else — parents with kids coming home after school and connecting for a snack, coworkers on break sharing a snack, or partners coming home from work and grabbing a quick snack before dinner. The snack is a point of connection in those occasions.”

He says the new Sargento Shareables have received a very good response from consumers and retail partners at both the club channel and traditional retailers. They are packaged in peggable trays and displayed in the dairy case with other snack items.

• Innovative process

The success of Sargento’s new product innovations is a result of the time, energy and effort its teams put into consumer research from the beginning, even before talking about new ideas, Hogan says.

“Our insights team spends an enormous amount of time, energy and dollars working to understand consumer behaviors from making dinner, sandwiches or eating their snacks,” he explains. “Before we go into any kind of idea generation, we have deep knowledge of consumer behaviors, drivers and insight into why they’re making the decisions they make. It sets us up really well for when we come up with ideas that are focused on the needs and wants of the consumer.”

The other piece of innovation, he adds, is how Sargento works to stay ahead of “trends” as a privately-held, long-term-focused company. When launching a new idea, the company follows a rigorous, disciplined process, going back and forth with consumers and gathering a vast amount of qualitative and quantitative information.

“We’re not going to try to turn and burn a new product because it’s viral on TikTok, the flavor of the day or fast fashion,” Hogan says. “Our focus is on established consumer behaviors and the attitudes driving people to make a certain purchase decision and build on those waves.”

Throughout its new product introductions, Sargento stands committed to continuing to innovate and grow in the natural cheese sector,” Hogan says.

“We are the branded share leader in natural cheese right now. We want to maintain that, and it comes with the responsibility to grow that category,” he says. “We continue to focus on natural cheese, and snacking continues to be important. It fits into a new role — big flavor, big variety, protein, clean labels and less processed. That’s where we’ll continue to focus.”

CMN