Seasoning and Dressing Manufacturing
Buy This Industry Report
Get more in-depth industry information with a First Research industry report containing business challenges, trends, executive insight, call prep questions, and so much more!
Increase Appointments
Engage Prospects
Build Your Confidence
Industry Overview
The seasoning and dressing manufacturing industry includes about 600 companies with combined annual revenue of $13 billion. Major companies include Kraft, Heinz, and McCormick. The industry is concentrated: the top 50 companies account for over 60 percent of industry revenue.
The seasoning and dressing manufacturing industry includes companies that make spices, dry gravy mixes, seasoning mixes, salad dressings, sauces, and natural extracts. The industry doesn't include companies that make tomato-based sauces (including pasta sauce, ketchup, and salsa) or pourable gravies.
Competitive Landscape
Demand is driven by consumer tastes and health considerations. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations, effective marketing, and a strong sales force. Large companies have advantages in purchasing, distribution, and marketing. Small operations can compete effectively by manufacturing exotic sauces, sourcing and selling rare herbs, or formulating custom spice blends, extracts, and mixes. Average annual revenue per employee is $425,000.
Products, Operations & Technology
Major products include spices (15 percent of industry revenue); non-tomato-based prepared sauces (10 percent); pourable and spoon-type salad dressing (10 percent); powdered seasoning mixes (10 percent); and natural flavoring extracts (10 percent). Other products include mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, cider, imitation flavoring extracts, powdered gravy and sauce mixes, and pepper.
To manufacture spices, blowers or gravity separators clean impurities from herbs, seeds, or peppercorns. Spices may need a special soak or treatment to eliminate bacteria. Imported spices may require additional fumigation, inspection, or gamma irradiation before being cleaned. Pepper, cumin, and cinnamon are sometimes ground into a fine powder using cold-mill rollers. A sifter sorts the spices by size and, for spice blends, conveys them to a mixing station. Sorted and blended spices move by conveyor to the packing station. Packaged spices can range from small one-ounce jars to 50-pound cases and canisters.
Mayonnaise is made with continuous blending machines that create an emulsion. The emulsified blend moves through a series of pumps and heat exchangers to maintain a constant temperature as flavorings are piped in through openings in the blending machine. A viscometer tests consistency, altering water or oil levels to produce an even, smooth spread. Most continuous blending machines can produce both mayonnaise and thick salad dressings made with cooked food starches.
Once blended, the finished product moves by tubes or extruders to a bottling station. Pre-sterilized jars or bottles move along a conveyor as overhead spouts drop pre-measured amounts of dressing into each container. Containers are mechanically sealed and labeled before being boxed, placed on pallets, and warehoused. Large companies typically maintain multiple factories and warehouses strategically located throughout the US.
Inputs for dressings include soybean oil, modified food starch, eggs, high fructose corn syrup, herbs, salt, and vinegar. Inputs for seasonings are the spices or herbs themselves. Both seasonings and dressings require material input costs for items like cardboard, metal, glass, and plastic bags.
Recent technological advances include more consistent dressing viscosity; new zero-bacteria emulsions; new methods to dispense product (squeeze bottles, sprays); improved packaging that requires less plastic; and reformulated recipes that reflect healthier eating habits. Companies are successfully substituting artificial and modified food starches with natural gums and thickeners, which often improves the taste but reduces a product's shelf life. Large seasoning and dressing companies use restricted-access Intranets, supply chain management systems, and electronic data interchange (EDI) systems to facilitate e-commerce transactions and track inventory.
