Category Captains: Meatballs and Surimi

Meatballs

Home Market Foods leaders say the frozen meatball category continues to perform well in 2025, and looks to the latest market findings, which show the category is growing nearly 6 percent in dollar sales and 3 percent in units year-to-date, according to Circana, Total US MULO for week ending Nov. 2, 2025.

“Meatballs remain a versatile, high-protein option as consumers seek convenient, high-quality, authentic meal solutions that fit busy lifestyles,” elaborated Senior Director of Marketing Michael Curran. “Growth today is driven by premiumization, expanded usage occasions from weeknight meals to game day to snacking, and the continued strength of traditional all-beef and beef and pork varieties. These remain the foundation of the category. Looking ahead, the strongest opportunities lie in flavor-forward innovation, cleaner ingredient panels, and products that help consumers create restaurant-quality meals at home. As the number one meatball brand for 14 years, Cooked Perfect is uniquely positioned to lead and define these next stages of category growth.”

Home Market Foods equips retail partners with a comprehensive suite of tools and capabilities to support category growth. “This includes consumer and category insights that illuminate macro trends and shopper behavior, along with assortment and shelf optimization recommendations grounded in syndicated data,” Curran explained. “Our leadership in branded innovation spans flavors, pack sizes, and product formats and is supported by integrated marketing programs that drive trial and repeat. We also offer strong private-label capabilities that allow us to tailor solutions to retailer-specific needs. Our greatest competitive advantage is our people. Across R&D, culinary, operations, marketing, sales and category management, our teams are highly skilled and deeply committed. This is the core reason we have remained the category leader for more than a decade.”

“Retailers succeed with Home Market Foods because we approach the category with a strategic, long-term mindset,” he said. “We provide full transparency into performance, insights, and category dynamics and partner closely with customers to build the right assortment, elevate quality, and drive sustainable growth. Our operational excellence is another critical strength. Industry-leading food safety standards, consistent product quality, reliable fill rates and scalable production capacity provide retailers with confidence and stability. We truly understand our customers and this category.”

“At Home Market Foods, our leadership is rooted in one core belief: we achieve success together,” Curran said. “Our mission, Feeding North America, comes to life through our people and through the strong relationships we have built with customers, consumers, and partners. We innovate in partnership with retailers. We develop products that deliver on real consumer needs for convenience, authenticity and great taste. We execute with consistency and care across every step of the process. This collaborative mindset, combined with our history of category-defining innovation and our commitment to quality and food safety, is what sets us apart.”

With its history and legacy of innovation that has disrupted the status quo, Home Market Foods has consistently shown consumers they can expect more from the existing options within the meatballs category.

Surimi

Even though the American Heart Association recommends that most adults eat fish at least twice a week due to its significant health benefits, studies consistently show that approximately 80 to 90 percent of Americans do not meet this recommendation. Aquamar is on a mission to change the seafood category and consumers’ diets with their innovative and convenient surimi products. 

“The category is starting to see some recovery. Post-Covid inflation affected surimi and seafood in general,” reported CEO Daryl Gormley. “We are seeing recovery of the category in retail. Servings performance for sushi is performing well, which is important to us because surimi is the key ingredient to the California roll. There’s a huge growth opportunity both geographically and within restaurant menus for the surimi category because of sushi. There is also a growth opportunity in retail with surimi as an ingredient and surimi finished products such as seafood salad, and surimi mac and cheese.”

There is an old expression, “put the fish on the table,” which means to address a difficult conflict. It also highlights how fish have a smell perception issue with consumers, which can be an obstacle to purchasing. Gormley expanded, “We use fish as a way to describe something that doesn’t smell good. Then we expect people to make it at home. Convenient solutions can overcome this and drive consumption.”

Aquamar is ready to help retailers change the perception of the fish category. “There is a pent-up demand for more convenient seafood options. We advertise so consumers know how easy our products are to prepare and incorporate into meals at home.” 

Aquamar also utilizes retailers’ expertise and communication channels to reach customers and change the conversation around fish. “We leverage retailer loyalty programs, loyalty points—all the tools retailers have. But we don’t stop there,” explained Gormley. “We partner with regional influencers who have a great impact on our regional retailers. The influencers cook with our products and promote them on their socials. We’ve even had influencers on television showing how to use the product.”

When asked if Aquamar could talk directly with retailers, Gormley had an inspiring message. He shared, “I would encourage retailers to have an expectation around growth. We want the retailer to expect growth and ask them to demand innovation and consumer support. If we were in another category, such as meat, coffee or bakery, they would demand consumer insight around consumption, innovation and support to drive consumption of their consumers. I would love to see more of that in the seafood category.”

Aquamar is focused on driving seafood convenience and consumption on behalf of the brand and the industry.