U.S. conventional multi outlets: sales growth of products with ancient grains 2015

This statistic shows the dollar sales growth of products featuring ancient grains in U.S. conventional multi outlets in 2015, by category. In that year, U.S. conventional multi outlet sales of adult and family cereals including an ancient grain label grew by approximately 226 percent.

Ancient grains

Loosely defined as grains and pseudocereals which have mainly remained unchanged over the past centuries, ancient grains distinguish themselves from modern varieties of grain since the latter is constantly bred and modified. Grains such as einkorn, emmer, farro, Khorasan wheat (Kamut), and spelt, as well as pseudocereals like quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat and chia are considered to be ancient grains. Gluten-free ancient grains such as amaranth, teff and quinoa experienced a boost in sales in the United States in 2014 while their gluten-containing counterparts, Kamut and spelt both had staggering sales growths during the same period.

In 2015, dollar sales of products containing ancient grains in U.S. conventional outlets increased by 38 percent. The significant sales increase of adult and family cereals containing ancient grains could be attributed to the marketing strategies employed by food companies. American consumers were captivated by the idea of ancient grains as wholesome supplements to a balanced diet and were willing to spend more on products which contained them. Leading U.S. vendors of ready-to-eat cereals, like General Mills and Kellogg's Company launched Cheerios + Ancient Grains and Kellogg's Origins™ Ancient Grains Blend Cereal respectively. In contrast, sales of cereals with ancient grains from natural channels only grew by approximately 17 percent that year.