Kraft Heinz bets on more flavors for Philadelphia cream cheese as it looks to revive brands

Kraft Heinz bets on more flavors for Philadelphia cream cheese as it looks to revive brands. Skip NavigationMarketsBusinessInvestingTechPolitics & PolicyVideoWatchlistInvesting ClubPROLivestreamMenuKey PointsPhiladelphia will release more cream cheese flavors as part of Kraft Heinz's turnaround strategy to make its brands more relevant.

What happened

Source: Kraft HeinzPhiladelphia cream cheese will release three new flavors on Tuesday as part of Kraft Heinz's broader plan to reinvest in its iconic brands and win back shoppers. Philadelphia will release more cream cheese flavors as part of Kraft Heinz's turnaround. Spreading the investmentWhile Kraft Heinz does not break down sales for Philadelphia, the cream cheese is one of the company's billion-dollar brands, along with the likes of Kraft Mac & Cheese, Kraft Singles, Heinz, Lunchables and Oscar Mayer.

Kraft Heinz is hoping that new flavors will drive more cream cheese sales. Over the next two years, it plans to launch 10 new varieties, with the goal of "creating some excitement" within the cream cheese category, according to Jerome Drolet, Kraft Heinz's president of taste elevation. In this articleKHCFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTPhiladelphia is launching limited-time cranberry orange and salted caramel cream cheeses. For now, Kraft Heinz is sticking together and trying to stage a comeback by making its legacy brands more relevant.

The wider picture

Some investors are pessimistic that its well-known but stalled brands can ever regain shoppers' favor, even with a $700 million investment from Kraft Heinz. The first round of new Philadelphia releases includes Mike's Hot Honey whipped cream cheese, salted caramel and a seasonal cranberry orange, which will only be available for a limited time. "As part of the strategy to widen cream cheese's appeal to shoppers, Philadelphia also launched a lactose-free version earlier this year. The strategy recalls the ethos that inspired its Philadelphia cream cheese angel campaigns of the 1990s.

Philadelphia's cream cheese brick has already been a cooking and baking staple for decades. Expect to see more TikTok influencers and recipe websites using Philadelphia cream cheese in creative ways. Of course, Philadelphia isn't the only Kraft Heinz brand netting more investment during the company's turnaround. The company has released improved packaging for Oscar Mayer products and unveiled Kool-Aid electrolyte packets and protein-packed Kraft Mac & Cheese PowerMac, among other efforts to grow sales for some of its best-known brands.

What has been reported

In February, Kraft Heinz paused a planned breakup of the company. Drolet's position is a nod to Kraft Heinz's now-paused split. When the packaged foods giant planned to spin off into two separate companies, one had the temporary name of "Global Taste Elevation," which would house condiments, sauces and Kraft Mac & Cheese. In the period since Kraft Heinz announced the split was paused, the company's shares have fallen 2%. The company's spending on the cream cheese brand is expected to climb 63% this year compared with 2025, including more backing for its research and development, according to Drolet.

S. cream cheese sales, according to data from Euromonitor International. But its dominance means that it is responsible for growing sales of the overall cream cheese category. The brand is also trying to reach consumers to encourage them to use cream cheese as more than a schmear for a bagel.

What happens next

Drolet sees opportunities to use them in dips and even pasta sauce — like swapping out heavy cream for the Mike's Hot Honey cream cheese in a Bolognese. For years after the 2015 megamerger that created Kraft Heinz, the company saw its U. In early 2019, Philadelphia was one of six brands the company wrote down as the value of its intangible assets fell. A year ago, Kraft Heinz announced plans to break up, which would effectively unwind much of the merger that combined Kraft with Heinz.

But in February, new CEO Steve Cahillane announced that Kraft Heinz would pause the split to fix the company instead. He also said that Kraft Heinz would invest $600 million back into the business. Kraft Heinz recently upped that number to $700 million, saying that early investments were already paying off for the company.