Life Cuisine Partners Expands Portfolio, Partners with Banza

As part of its strategy to reframe its frozen meal business to appeal to a wider array of shoppers as well as younger consumers, Nestle this week announced two new offerings in its Life Cuisine line featuring Banza chickpea pasta, part of an 11 SKU launch.

Launched in early 2020, Life Cuisine is a spinoff of legacy brand Lean Cuisine. In contrast to calories, the brand offers frozen meals that focus on a more general message of “wellness.” Life Cuisine’s products also have more items friendly to specialized diets such as vegetarian, gluten-free and low-carb.

The new Banza-based meals — Triple Cheese Macaroni & Cheese Bowl and Pasta Bolognese Bowl — have an MSRP of $4.29 to $4.69 and will debut in grocery and mass retailers. The meals are part of a wave a new releases from Life Cuisine that also includes gluten-free cauliflower crust pizzas, as well as meatless options (a Pesto Cauliflower Gnocchi Bowl and Buffalo Style Cauliflower Snack Bites), and Low Carb products (a Meatlovers Zoodles Bowl, Beef with Broccoli and Riced Cauliflower, and Teriyaki Chicken).

The partnership is the first co-branded item for both Life Cuisine and gluten-free pasta brand Banza.

Banza CEO and co-founder Brian Rudolph told NOSH the new co-branded products will allow the company to continue in its mission of making accessible products and help the company reach new shoppers. Banza previously launched a frozen pizza \last year, but has not launched any frozen pastas or complete meal solutions — aside from a line of boxed mac and cheese.

By using a recognized legume pasta, Life Cuisine has sought to reassure customers about what they can expect in terms of taste.

“Banza is one of the fastest growing dry pasta brands in the grocery store, and with so many people now looking for gluten free options, we wanted to bring a powerhouse duo to the freezer aisle to expand our Gluten Free Lifestyle [options],” said Megan Smargiasso, Brand Manager, Lean & Life Cuisine Foods Division.

Though many consumers worked from home during the Covid-19 pandemic, many still looked for easy meals for lunch or dinner — resulting in frozen entrees remaining a popular option. A recent report on the frozen category by Acosta found that frozen entrees were purchased more frequently during Covid-19 than before the pandemic, due to consumers cooking more at home, seeking to eat healthier and wanting to adhere to a budget. 27% of consumers purchased more entrees during the pandemic, with 59% percent of consumers reporting they eat frozen food for dinner “often or nearly all of the time” and 41% stating they eat frozen food “often or nearly all of the time” for lunch.

For Life Cuisine, Smargiasso said, the goal to help those consumers who aren’t finding their needs met by frozen entree options, but still want a quick option for meals.

“Life Cuisine is solving a problem for many people who struggle to make and/or find meals that fit their way of eating and also deliver on taste, value and convenience,” she said. “Our new offerings expand the Life Cuisine portfolio with on-trend ingredients, essential nutrients and unique formats that fit consumers’ ways of eating.”