Conagra has stopped making Celeste frozen pizza, so the boxes left in freezer cases are the last ones anyone will see.
Story Highlights
- Conagra Brands has ended production of Celeste frozen pizza and will sell only what is already made.
- The company’s chief executive called Celeste one of its small, low-profit brands.
- The brand grew out of the Chicago kitchen of Celeste “Mama” Lizio, who sold it to Quaker Oats in 1969.
- Fans have shared memories of 10-for-$10 deals and grandmothers who kept Celeste in the freezer.
Why Conagra Pulled The Plug
Conagra says Celeste no longer earned its place. Chief Executive John Brase said there are “certain brands and categories where we simply just don’t see a future,” and that “it just makes sense to exit those small, really unprofitable brands or low-profit brands as soon as possible.” The company expects the move to be “accretive to margins,” which means it should help the share of each sales dollar that turns into profit.
Brase spoke about the decision on Wednesday, Sept. 30, during the company’s quarterly earnings remarks, the update a public company gives investors on its sales and plans. A company spokesperson later confirmed the brand is done. “We will continue to sell inventory, but we stopped producing it,” the spokesperson said, adding that there will be no more Celeste products “once we sell what has been made.”
From A Chicago Kitchen To The Freezer Aisle
Celeste Lizio was born in Italy in 1908 and came to the United States with her husband, Anthony, in the 1920s. The couple settled on Chicago’s West Side and opened their first restaurant there in 1937. In 1962 they closed the restaurant and began selling pizzas to other restaurants. In 1969 the Quaker Oats Company bought the business.
Celeste became one of the top-selling frozen pizzas of the 1970s, and “Mama Celeste” herself appeared in its TV ads. She died in 1988 at age 80. The brand later passed to Aurora Foods and then Pinnacle Foods. By 2012, Pinnacle was selling only the Pizza for One line, single-serving pies made for the microwave. Conagra took over the brand in 2018 when it bought Pinnacle.
A Small Brand In A Big Cleanup
Ending Celeste cut Conagra’s first-quarter net sales by about 15 basis points. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point, so the hit was about 0.15 percent of sales. Brase said the company will look for more chances to trim. He noted Conagra has “over 400 single-serve meal” SKUs, the store codes used to track each separate product, and said he sees room for “a much simpler, more productive assortment.”
Big food makers often drop small, low-volume items to save on factory changeovers, packaging and shipping, and to put their money behind the brands most families buy week after week. For a company, it is a line on a spreadsheet. For many shoppers, it is a piece of their kitchen history.
What Fans Are Saying
Many people took the news personally. “RIP Mama Celeste. You were a good one. Those 10 for $10 deals were the pinnacle of the 90s,” one fan wrote on social media. Others remembered grandmothers who always kept a few in the freezer. One person called it “my childhood pizza,” and another said the news made their eyes well up.
What It Means At The Store
Shoppers may still find Celeste on some shelves until each store’s supply runs out, and that will happen at different times in different places. Once a store sells its last box, it will not be restocked. Fans who want one more taste of Mama Celeste’s pizza will need to find what is left.
Sources:
fox5dc.com, fox5atlanta.com, yahoo.com, kiro7.com, usatoday.com, en.wikipedia.org