Chilled entrees? They're groovy, baby! New generation of offerings ready to "meat" consumers.

When the moon is in the Seventh House. And Jupiter aligns with Mars ... Okay, so maybe we're not in the "Age of Aquarius" but the stars and planets do seem better aligned to make refrigerated entrees successful in today's grocery outlets. Not since the late '90s Home Meal Replacement boom--where

Information Resources data show supermarket dollar and unit sales rising 13.4 percent and 11.1 percent respectively to near $700 million during a 52-week period ended August 10. A similar story comes from ACNielsen, which included refrigerated entrees among the six fastest growing convenience-oriented food and cleaning items at retail. Looking back on 2002, ACNielsen said chilled entree sales rose 20 percent to more than $1 billion across the firm's market wider tracking area of grocery, drug and mass merchandising outlets (excluding Wal-Mart)

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Said Phil Lempert, a food industry expert and Consumer Pre* View service spokesperson, "Several CPG manufacturers are successfully serving today's time-starved consumer. However many retailers are still trying to figure out how to do so. The challenge of providing a freshly prepared, great-tasting meal at a reasonable price and with a maximum of convenience has yet to be solved."

Why did the earlier HMR craze fizzle? Industry experts suggest that grocers focused heavily on the deli area of the store and, ultimately, were not ready for either (1) the costs of producing fresh meals, (2) food safety and shelf life considerations (3) consistent quality over mass volumes and/or (4) the merchandising needed to trigger impulse buys. Moreover, the degree of price margin or mark-up associated with the deli may have pushed retail offerings beyond a point of price-value in the consumer's mind.

Interestingly, meat processors led prepared food offerings the first time around and they're in the lead this time too. Among the refrigerated entree category's top brands are Perdue Farms, Hormel Foods, Tyson Foods, John Morrell and Lloyd's. Tyson, subject of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods' August cover feature, recently added four new chicken offerings, bolstering its line from 14 to 18 items.

Although refrigerated entree merchandising may vary from chain to chain, the category's home seems to have shifted over to the meat department. Here, too, facings may appear near fresh meats, processed meats or in a specialty prepared display case all their own. Nevertheless, it is home.