Lean Cuisine

Lean Cuisine is a brand of frozen entreés and dinners sold in the United States and Canada by Nestlé, and in Australia by Simplot (under a licensing agreement with Nestlé).^[1] The brand began as low-fat, low-calorie versions of Stouffer's products. Today, Lean Cuisine includes traditional dinners, ethnic dishes, pizzas, whole-grain Spa Cuisine entreés, and panini. The headquarters of Lean Cuisine in the United States is located in Solon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.

Overview and history

Lean Cuisine was created in 1981 to provide a healthier alternative to Stouffer's frozen meals. It began with ten items and has expanded to include 100+ different meals. The brand name "Lean Cuisine" is considered by the FDA as a nutrient content claim, so all Lean Cuisine items are required to meet the "lean" criteria of less than 10 g fat, 4.5 g or less saturated fat, and less than 95 mg cholesterol.^[2] Lean Cuisine items are also calorie-controlled, with most items in the 200-300 calorie range, with a minimum of 140 calories and a maximum of 400 calories.^[3] A major competitor of Lean Cuisine is Healthy Choice, manufactured by ConAgra Foods. It is required to meet "healthy" criteria by the FDA,^[2] since it includes "healthy" in its brand name. This includes a requirement to be below 480 mg of sodium in addition to fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol targets.

Other competitors include Smart Ones, made by H. J. Heinz Company, and South Beach Diet,^[4] made by Kraft Foods. There are also a number of store brand competitors, such as Safeway's Eating Right brand.^[5] Easy Meals and Optislim ^[6]

Lean Cuisine sponsors the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation^[7] and America on the Move.^[8]

Varieties

Name and color coordinate

Comfort Classics
One Dish Favorites
Casual Eating Classics
Cafe Classics
Spa Cuisine Classics
Dinnertime Selects

Timeline

1981 – Brand launched with 10 items and launch communication focuses on "Good tasting entrees at less than 300 calories."
1983 – Tagline adopted "You'll love the way it looks on you" and strong demand leads to product shortages and apologies in print ads to consumers
1984 – Lean Cuisine 14-day diet plan, free booklet called "On Your Way to Being Lean" and another tagline "It's not just the calories that count, it's the taste"
1985 – Product line expanded to 18 items and tagline was "You'll love the taste. And you'll love the way it looks on you"
1986 – With competition entering category, tagline was "Only Lean Cuisine tastes like Lean Cuisine"
1987 – Product line expanded to 25 items, including shrimp, lamb, and veal items, Tagline "More Satisfaction", and directly targeted Weight Watchers dieters by publishing Weight Watchers exchanges for all items
1991 – Launched 11 new items, focused on low fat message, like "98% fat free!"
1992 – Launched 8 new items, including Honey Mustard Chicken, which contained a jar of Grey Poupon
1993 – Launched 8 more new items, including pot pies and enchilada
1995 – Launched Lunch Express- lower price option, eat from the box and tagline "Time to treat yourself right" and "It's not just Lean, it's Cuisine"
1996 – Launched Cafe Classics- more restaurant-inspired meals and look
1997 – Launched American Favorites- more homestyle classic American dishes
1998 – Launched 4 new Cafe Classics items
1999 – Launched Skillet Sensations- bag "kit" meals that cook in a pan
2000 – First mention of tagline "Do something good for yourself" in communications
2001 – Launch of Zesty Selections items- more spicy, flavorful dishes
2002 – Launch of Bowls and Dinnertime Selects
2003 – Launch of Asian product lines and pizzas
2004 – Launch of Low carb entrees, deep dish pizzas, and tagline "It's not just Lean, it's Cuisine" gone, replaced with "Do Something Good for Yourself"
2005 – Launch of Spa Cuisine- whole grain entreés and Dinnertime Selects with dessert
2006 – Preservatives eliminated from most (80+) items, launch of Panini sandwiches and Brick Oven style pizzas
2007 – Launch of five Spa Cuisine items with twice the vegetables and two additional panini sandwiches
2008 – Launch of four Flatbread melts
2010 – "The Book of Truth" campaign debuts

References

External links

Nestlé

Brands

Appliances	BabyNes Dolce Gusto Nescafé Alegria Nescafé Barista Nespresso Special.T

Baby nutrition	BabyNes Cerelac Gerber Graduates Mucilon NaturNes Nestum Nidal (brand) Bear Brand Nido P'tit

Baking	Libby's Pumpkin Toll House

Bottled water	Arrowhead Buxton Contrex Deer Park Hépar Ice Mountain Ozarka Panna Perrier Poland Spring Pure Life Quézac San Pellegrino Vittel Zephyrhills

Cereals	Cheerios¹ Chocapic Chokella Cini Minis Clusters Cocoa Crisp¹ Cookie Crisp¹ Corn Flakes Country Corn Flakes Curiously Cinnamon Fitness Fitness Fibra Gold Flakes Golden Grahams¹ Golden Nuggets Honey Gold Honey Stars Koko Krunch La Lechera Flakes Lion (cereal) Lucky Charms¹ Milo Cereal Nesquik (cereal)⁷ Nesquik Duo Cereal⁷ Nesquik CioccoMilk⁷ Nestlé Crunch Oats & More Trix¹ Shreddies⁸ Shredded Wheat⁸ Strawberry Minis

Chocolate and desserts	100 Grand Bar Animal Bar Abuelita Aero Aero Biscuits After Eight Allen's Baby Ruth Bar One Bertie Beetle Big Chocolate Big Turk Bit-O-Honey Blue Riband Breakaway Butterfinger Cailler Caramac Carlos V Chicos Choclait Chips Choco Crossies Chocolate Log Chokito Chunky Club Coffee Crisp Crisp Crunch Die Weisse Drifter Golden Rough Goobers Jelly Tots Kit Kat³ Kit Kat Chunky Kit Kat Senses Lanvin Lentejas Life Savers Lion Bar Mackintosh's Toffee Matchmakers Menier Chocolate Milkybar Milkybar Choo Milo (chocolate bar) Mirage Mint Patty Munchies Munch NestEgg Nestlé Baker's Choice Nestlé Classic Nestlé Dessert Nestlé Fav*rites Nestlé Extra Smooth Nestlé Snack Nuts Nestlé Milk Chocolate Oh Henry!⁴ Orion Peppermint Crisp Perugina Plaistowe Polo Quality Street Raisinets Rolo³ Rowntree's Rowntree's Fruit Gums Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles Sin Parar Smarties⁵ Sno-Caps Spree Sundy (brand) Susy Svitoch TEX Toffee Crisp Violet Crumble Walnut Whip White Knight The Willy Wonka Candy Company XXX YES Yorkie

Coffee and beverages	Abuelita BabyNes Carnation⁹ Caro Chuckie¹¹ Coffee-Mate Dolce Gusto Klim La Lechera Lion Menier Milo Nescafé Nescau¹² Nesfruta Nespresso Nesquik (mix) Nesquik Ready-To-Drink Nestea Nestlé Chocolate Nestlé Dessert Ovaltine⁶ Ricoré Sjora Sublime Sweet Leaf Tonimalt Zoégas

Health and nutrition	Nutramen Junior Nutrament Pamlab Peptamen Boost Resource

Ice cream	Camy D'Onofrio Dibs (ice cream) Dreyer's/Edy's Drumstick Eskimo Pie Extrême Fab Frosty Paws Häagen-Dazs² Hjem-IS Ice Screamers Kit Kat La Cremeria La Laitière Lanvin (chocolate) Maxibon Mövenpick Nestlé Parlour Pops Savory (ice cream) Schőller Smarties

Prepared and Packaged Food and Snacks	Buitoni California Pizza Kitchen DiGiorno Garden Gourmet Herta Hot Pockets Jack's Lean Cuisine Libby's Lean Pockets Maggi Maggi noodles Mousline Nestlé Starz Roll Ups Stouffer's Thomy Tombstone Uncle Tobys Wagner Yinlu Foods

Dairy Products	a+ Actiplus After Eight Bear Brand Carnation⁹ Cerevita Coffee-Mate Dancow Everyday Kit Kat La Lechera La Laitère Milkmaid Nesquik Nesquik Minis Rolo SKI

Nesquik	Nesquik Powder Nesquik Cereal⁷ Nesquik Duo Cereal⁷ Nesquik CioccoMilk⁷ Nesquik (beverage)

Bear Brand	Bear Brand Busog Lusog¹¹ Bear Brand Choco¹¹ Bear Brand Adult Plus¹¹ Bear Brand Gold¹⁰

Milo	Milo granules Milo Chocolate Bar Milo Cereal

Uncle Toby's	Cheerios¹ Fruit Bites Healthwise Natural Style Muesli O&G Oat Crisp Oat Flakes PLUS Puffs Roll Ups VitaBrits Weeties

Petcare	Alpo Bakers Complete Beggin' Strips Beneful Bonio Cat Chow Chef Michael's Dog Chow Fancy Feast Felix Friskies Frosty Paws Go-Cat Gourmet ONE Pro Plan Tender Vittles Veterinary Diets Winalot

Galderma	Cetaphil Daylong Epiduo Excipial Restylane

Former	Alcon Chocolate Surpresa Enviga Jenny Craig Polly Waffle Powerbar Powwow Water Wonder Ball

Divisions

Joint ventures

Other assets

Hsu Fu Chi (60%)
L'Oréal (30.3%)
Osem (51%)
Yinlu Foods (60%)

People

Other

¹ Currently manufactured by General Mills in the United States and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. ² Brand owned by General Mills; US and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license.
³ US production rights owned by The Hershey Company. ⁴ Canadian production rights owned by The Hershey Company. ⁵ US rights and production owned by Smarties Candy Company, with a different product.
⁶ US rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. ⁷ Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. ⁸ Produced by Cereal Partners, and Branded Nestlé in The United Kingdom, and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods, elsewhere. ⁹ Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. ¹⁰ Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. ¹¹ Used only in the Philippines. ¹² Used only in Brazil.

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Commons

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