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Nestle, Kellogg, Tyson Foods and Gorton’s Seafood are among the food companies leaning into the air fryer boom to appeal to consumers.
As inflation cools and retailers put pressure on suppliers to stop raising prices, food companies have had to look for growth elsewhere.
Nearly 60% of U.S. households own an air fryer, according to Nestle’s Adam Graves.

An Air Fryer for sale at Kroger Marketplace in Versailles, Kentucky, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020.
Scotty Perry | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Kettle Foods, known for its kettle-cooked potato chips, recently unveiled what it called “the future of the potato chip category”: air-fried chips.
The Campbell Soup brand’s snack launch, made with patent-pending technology, is the latest example of Big Food betting on consumers’ love of all things cooked in air fryers.

In 2022, U.S. consumers spent nearly $1 billion buying air fryers, up 51% from 2019, according to market research firm The NPD Group. Sales of the cooking appliance have been soaring since 2017, and they received an extra boost during the early days of the pandemic as people cooked more at home.
And now with more workers returning to the office and spending less time in the kitchen, consumers are increasingly turning to the portable convection ovens. Joe Derochowski, home industry advisor at the NPD Group, said the main draw is the ease and speed of using the appliance, plus achieving a crispy texture without deep-frying. And food manufacturers want to capitalize on the trend.
“They say necessity is the mother of invention. And in this case, the necessity is to continue to grow the top line,” said Ken Harris, managing partner at Cadent Consulting Group. “The best way to grow the top line is to take behavior that already exists and find a new use for that behavior.”
Big food companies like Kraft Heinz and Nestle saw a surge of sales early in the pandemic. When consumers started eating out at restaurants again and cooking less, food manufacturers’ sales still kept growing thanks to double-digit price hikes. But as shoppers’ grocery bills climbed in 2022, they started buying cheaper options instead, leading to shrinking volume.
As inflation cools and retailers put pressure on suppliers to stop raising prices, food companies have had to look for growth elsewhere.

Adam Graves, president of Nestle U.S.’s pizza and snacking division, said the company is leaning into the air fryer boom through its frozen food brands, specifically to offer customers more value.
“It’s the biggest trend that we’re seeing right now in modern cooking,” said Graves, who owns two air fryers himself.
Last year, Nestle launched pizza bites under its DiGiorno and Stouffer’s brands. Both lines’ packaging tells consumers “Try It in Your Air Fryer.” Other Nestle products, like Hot Pockets, now include air fryer cooking instructions alongside directions for heating up in the microwave and oven.
Tyson Foods jumped on the trend relatively early, launching its air-fried line in 2019. The products, ranging from chicken strips to its newest addition, parmesan-seasoned chicken bites, contain 75% less fat. Colleen Hall, senior marketing director of the Tyson brand, said the line has reached roughly $100 million in annual retail sales.
Tyson is also a third of the way through adding air fryer directions to its packaging for its frozen prepared foods.
“If you look at how often it gets used as a preparation method, it’s around 5%,” Hall said. “I think consumers want to use it more, they want more options to use it. So it’s good timing for us to be putting it on our packaging.”
The air fryer directions are boosting Tyson’s brand favorability, according to Hall, who cited recent brand health data. She chalked it up to the convenience of the appliance and the perceived health benefits of the cooking process.
For fishstick maker Gorton’s Seafood, getting more into air frying is a means of holding on to the customers it gained during pandemic lockdowns.
“[The pandemic] was a pretty dramatic shift that brought a lot of new households into our category and into the brand,” Jake Holbrook, Gorton’s vice president of marketing, told CNBC. “And we’ve worked hard through our messaging and our products to keep those consumers in the category and keep Americans eating more seafood.”

The bandwagon is filling up

Air frying is the second-most popular way to heat up frozen prepared foods, according to Holbrook.
The company, which is owned by Nissui, got into the trend by putting air fryer cooking instructions on its website. Then it added the directions to packaging. In January, it unveiled Air Fried Butterfly Shrimp and Air Fried Fish Fillets.

Gorton’s launched Air Fried Fish Fillets and Air Fried Butterfly Shrimp nationwide in January.
Source: Gorton’s Seafood

Gorton’s new butterfly shrimp and fish fillets were cooked by air frying before being packaged, but consumers can heat the seafood up by air frying it again. The products’ packaging touts that it contains 50% less fat.
“Everyone will jump on this bandwagon for the next two years while it’s trendy,” Harris said.
Other food makers following the trend include Kellogg, which started including air fryer instructions for its plant-based Morningstar Farms products in early 2021 in response to customer inquiries. Likewise, Hormel Foods has been responding to consumers’ air fryer demand by updating its packaging and adding recipes on its website and cooking videos on YouTube to create Spam fries and Mary Kitchen corned beef hash.
Nestle has gone even further, targeting consumers who haven’t yet bought an air fryer. In December, it partnered with Insta Brands, the maker of the Insta Pot and its own version of the air fryer, to give away the appliance. It ran a similar giveaway internally at Nestle U.S. for its employees.
Graves estimates that roughly 60% of U.S. households have an air fryer at this point. But it’s not ubiquitous yet.
“If you benchmark it to a microwave — there’s a microwave in practically everyone’s home — the air fryer’s got a long way to go,” Harris said.
Still, it’s well on its way to joining the microwave as a staple in U.S. kitchens. In 2022, the air fryer leapfrogged over grills and multicookers to become the No. 4 cooking appliance, according to the NPD Group.
“I think people originally thought [the air fryer] was something that might be a fad,” Tyson’s Hall said. “It’s similar to the 1970s — people thought the same thing about the microwave.”

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FanDuel CEO Amy Howe has the spotlight, and a megaphone, as the chief executive of the nation’s market leader in sports betting.
Renie Anderson is executive vice president and chief revenue officer for the National Football League, which for years has been working to engage more women as football fans.
Jessica Gelman, who co-founded the MIT Sloan conference, has prioritized putting more women on stage. 

FanDuel CEO Amy Howe stands out in a crowd — in spite of her slight stature.
In a room full of executives in the sports or gambling industries, she’s often one of very few women.

But Howe has the spotlight, and a megaphone, as the chief executive of the nation’s market leader in sports betting. FanDuel announced this week that during the fourth quarter it increased its market share to 50% of legal sports betting in the U.S.
Howe joined Caesars CEO Tom Reeg and New England Patriots President Jonathan Kraft at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference this week to discuss the deepening relationship between the betting and sports industries, the need for better technology to acquire and keep customers, and the competitive landscape.
Howe’s gender never came up.
But in many conversations — off the stage and behind the scenes — it’s clear Howe stands as a role model to other women in sports and gambling. And here, she keeps good company.
Renie Anderson is executive vice president and chief revenue officer for the National Football League, which for years has been working to engage more women as football fans. Anderson said having women in leadership roles has made a difference.

“We’re really working to make sure we’ve got the best people in the best places — if it’s on the field, in the locker room, in the boardroom — leading in those positions,” Anderson told CNBC at the MIT Sloan conference. “We’re working to make sure that we’re not just hiring [women], but we’re finding them, we’re training them, we’re providing opportunities for women. We can’t be complacent.”
Jessica Gelman, who co-founded the MIT Sloan conference, is the CEO of Kraft Analytics Group, a company that provides sports analytics to teams like the New England Patriots. She has prioritized putting more women on stage. 
“Thirty-eight percent of our speakers are women this year, and that’s in my opinion, because analytics is affording them different insights and a different voice when they’re in the boardroom,” she said. The result, she said, is a more diverse audience and a better pipeline of talent.
Gelman, Anderson and Howe are among dozens of top ranking women in sports and gambling, who make a point to network with each other but also mentor and advise younger professionals.
Sports is a microcosm of the broader world, Gelman said: “I hope that more women, and especially females that are in senior positions will use their positions for power.”

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The Women’s Tennis Association is teaming up with Morgan Stanley on a program that will include financial literacy and planning resources for players.
Leylah Fernandez, 20, spoke to CNBC about the importance of preparing for life after tennis.
She is also focusing on being a role model for others on tour and balancing her education with tennis.

Leylah Annie Fernandez of Canada returns a backhand against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia during their singles first round match in the Internazionali BNL D’Italia at Foro Italico on May 09, 2022 in Rome, Italy.
Alex Pantling | Getty Images

Leylah Fernandez is no ordinary 20-year-old. She is ranked among the top tennis players in the world. She’s won two Women’s Tennis Association titles and was a U.S. Open finalist in 2021.
But Fernandez is also making a name for herself off the court – and she’s passionate about financial literacy.

This week, Fernandez was in New York as Morgan Stanley and the WTA announced a new, multi-year global partnership. The program fosters inclusivity and expands access to the game of tennis. In addition, the partnership will include financial literacy and planning resources for players.
“Morgan Stanley’s partnership with the WTA is a great step forward for women’s sports in general. I love to see companies that support women’s sports because there is so much that we can do together and improve together,” Fernandez, a brand ambassador for Morgan Stanley, told CNBC in an interview Wednesday.
Fernandez said many of her fellow competitors worry about having a career-ending injury and not knowing what to do. The Morgan Stanley program will help prepare them, she added.
“We’re focused on tennis our whole lives. That’s the only thing that we know, but it’s not something we can always depend on. I want to have that stability, that thought that everything is going to be all right and we need to have those resources,” she said.
Given her link to Morgan Stanley, Fernandez said she feels an added responsibility to not only ask financial questions for her own good, but to encourage others on tour to have that same confidence as well.

“It would be great if we can have conferences to open the conversation in a healthy environment where WTA players are comfortable speaking their minds. I think the difficulty is we want to be perceived as strong and that we know everything, but we don’t,” she said to CNBC.
Morgan Stanley was drawn to Fernandez’s leadership example.
“She is a role model that people can see themselves in. She also reflects our brand values, including giving back to the community, and valuing equity and inclusion,” said Alice Milligan, Morgan Stanley’s chief marketing officer.

Alice Milligan, Leylah Annie Fernandez and Micky Lawler attend the Morgan Stanley x Women’s Tennis Association Partnership Launch on March 01, 2023 in New York City.
Mike Coppola | Getty Images

In addition to Fernandez’s involvement with Morgan Stanley, she has worked with Lululemon, Alphabet’s Google and Subway. Fernandez said she’s learned a lot from her experience in the business world.
“In the beginning I was afraid to ask questions because I was worried it was dumb, or way too simple, but asking questions is the most important thing. I need to be financially stable in life after tennis, so being able to participate has opened my eyes and mind to a new world,” she told CNBC.
While traveling all over the world for tennis tournaments and climbing to a career-high ranking of 13 last summer, Fernandez, who hails from Canada, is making her education a priority. She is majoring in business at Indiana University East, which has a partnership with the WTA, along with the Women’s Tennis Benefits Association, to allow players to gain baccalaureate degrees online while competing on tour.
As for her future ambitions outside of tennis, she said it is still very early, but she wants to learn more about business and the stock market. She said working with a Wall Street giant helps on that front.
“I don’t want to make any drastic decisions so quick without knowing all the details. That’s why it is so great that I am working with Morgan Stanley to help me understand that you can’t just put all your coins in one stock,” Fernandez said.

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ESPN has talked with major sports leagues and media partners about launching a feature that would link users directly to where a live sporting event is streaming, sources said.
The actual media partners haven’t yet been determined, and there’s no timeline on when a feature would launch.
It could involve global streaming services and direct-to-consumer regional sports network products, and would aim to make ESPN the TV guide of live sports.

Disney’s ESPN wants to be the hub for all live sports streaming — even for its competition.
The sports network has held conversations with major sports leagues and media partners about launching a feature on ESPN.com and its free ESPN app that will link users directly to where a live sporting event is streaming, according to people familiar with the matter.

That could include national or global streaming services, such as Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video, or a regional sports service such as Sinclair’s Bally Sports+ or Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s MSG+.
The actual media partners haven’t yet been determined, and there’s no timeline on when such a feature would launch, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Still, ESPN has broached the idea to the major sports leagues and media companies to gauge their enthusiasm, the people said.
While the business terms of the concept could still change, ESPN has considered a model in which it would take a cut of subscription revenue from a user who signed up for a streaming service through the ESPN app or website, two of the people said. If a customer already subscribes to a given service, ESPN would collect no money and just provide the link as a courtesy, people familiar with the matter said.
ESPN may also alert users to games that air on linear TV, cementing its new role as the TV guide of live sports, the people said.
An ESPN spokesman declined to comment.

Several owners of regional sports networks have expressed particular optimism about the idea as they try to boost subscription revenue while leagues question the larger industry’s business prospects in a streaming-dominated ecosystem, two of the people said. CNBC previously reported that Sinclair’s Diamond Sports Group is contemplating bankruptcy restructuring after missing a $140 million debt repayment. Warner Bros. Discovery has alerted leagues it plans to exit the RSN business altogether, according to The Wall Street Journal.

De-cluttering sports

It’s become increasingly difficult for consumers to sort out how to find a given game as rights packages have been carved up by sports leagues looking to maximize carriage fees among streaming partners. A New York Yankees game for a New York-area fan could air on linear TV on the YES Network, ESPN or Warner Bros. Discovery’s TBS, or it could stream on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ or NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
ESPN wants to use its self-proclaimed status as “the worldwide leader in sports” to become the de facto first stop for all consumers looking where to watch live sports, the people said. Currently, ESPN only links users to ESPN-licensed content. That amounts to almost 30% of all televised or streamed U.S. sports, according to people familiar with the matter.

ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro
Steve Zak Photography | FilmMagic | Getty Images

ESPN’s willingness to promote other streaming services suggests a strategic shift in the streaming wars. Disney is less focused on gaining streaming subscribers — and eyeballs — at all costs. Company executives have emphasized they want investors to prioritize revenue and profit rather than subscriber growth, a trend started by other media companies, including Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Media companies have also begun trading in lockstep as streaming growth has slowed. That’s limited competitive pressures and promoted working together. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are also emphasizing licensing content to rival streaming services to increase revenue rather than keep the content exclusive.
Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a company-wide reorganization last month that made ESPN a standalone division, run by ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. The move may bring ESPN’s finances under closer scrutiny during earnings calls. Pitaro announced Wednesday he’s streamlining management underneath him to reduce his number of direct reports.
While activist investor Dan Loeb last year pushed for Disney to spin out or sell ESPN, Iger said there are no plans for that.
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
WATCH: Bob Iger’s first 100 days after returning as Disney CEO.

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Ford Motor plans to restart production of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup on March 13.
A month ago a battery issue caused one of the vehicles to catch fire.
Ford declined to disclose details of the issue that caused the vehicle to catch fire or of the implemented solution.

Ford workers produce the electric F-150 Lightning pickup on Dec. 13, 2022 at the automaker’s Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center (REVC).
Michael Wayland | CNBC

DETROIT – Ford Motor plans to restart production of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup on March 13 – more than a month after a battery issue caused one of the vehicles to catch fire.
The automaker on Thursday told CNBC the production timeline will allow its battery supplier, SK On, to build up production and deliver battery packs to the Michigan plant where the truck is produced.

The fire occurred Feb. 4 in a holding lot during a pre-delivery quality check while the vehicle was charging. Ford suspended production of the vehicles and issued a stop-shipment to dealers. Ford declined to disclose details of the issue that caused the vehicle to catch fire or of the implemented solution. The company previously said engineers determined there was no evidence of a charging fault.
“In the weeks ahead, we will continue to apply our learnings and work with SK On’s team to ensure we continue delivering high-quality battery packs – down to the battery cells. As REVC ramps up production, we will continue holding already-produced vehicles while we work through engineering and parts updates,” Ford said in a statement to CNBC.
Ford last week announced SK had started building battery cells again at a plant in Georgia but said the automaker would extend downtime at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, where the F-150 Lightning is built, through at least this week.
The F-150 Lightning is being closely watched by investors, as it’s the first mainstream electric pickup truck on the market and a major launch for Ford. The battery issue adds to ongoing “execution issues” detailed to investors last month by Ford CEO Jim Farley that crippled the automaker’s fourth-quarter earnings.

Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

Ford initially opened customer reservations for the F-150 Lightning when it was revealed in May 2021. More than 200,000 reservations were placed prior to Ford temporarily closing the process to attempt to align production with expected demand.
Many reservation owners are still waiting for their vehicles, as Ford said earlier Thursday it’s sold fewer than 20,000 of the all-electric trucks since they went on sale last year.

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Nordstrom reported lower sales and profits for the holiday quarter, although earnings topped Wall Street’s expectations.
The retailer has struggled with slower sales, more markdowns and scrutiny from activist investor Ryan Cohen.

Miami, Florida, Coral Gables Shops at Merrick Park, Nordstrom Department Store with shopper entering. 
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Nordstrom on Thursday reported lower sales and profits for the holiday quarter, although earnings topped Wall Street’s expectations.
The company said it expects sales to decline in the new fiscal year, reflecting in part its decision to wind down its Canadian operations.

“We entered Canada in 2014 with a plan to build and sustain a long-term business there. Despite our best efforts, we do not see a realistic path to profitability for the Canadian business,” CEO Erik Nordstrom said in a release Thursday.
Here’s what the department store reported for the fiscal fourth-quarter compared with what analysts were anticipating, based on Refinitiv estimates:

Earnings per share: 74 cents vs. 66 cents expected
Revenue: $4.32 billion vs. $4.34 billion expected

Nordstrom has struggled with slower sales, more markdowns and scrutiny from a prominent activist investor. Its net income in the period ended Jan. 28 fell to $119 million, or 74 cents per share, from $200 million, or $1.23 per share, a year earlier.
For the new fiscal year, Nordstrom expects revenue to fall 4% to 6%. It also projected EPS of 20 cents to 80 cents for the year.
Michael Maher, interim chief financial officer, said Nordstrom factored a more challenging economic backdrop and higher costs into its year-ahead forecast.

“We expect that elevated inflation and rising interest rates will continue to weigh on consumer spending, especially in the first half of the year,” he said on a call with investors. “We also anticipate continuing inflationary pressure on our expenses especially labor and transportation costs.”
He said the outlook included an approximately 2.5-percentage-point negative impact from the wind-down of its operations in Canada, a business that drove about $400 million in sales in the fiscal 2022 year.
As of Jan. 28, the company said it had six Nordstrom stores and seven Nordstrom Rack stores in Canada. Nordstrom said it ceased its Canadian e-commerce platform Thursday. It expects to finish Canadian store closures in Canada by late June.
Even before Nordstrom reported earnings, it cut its forecast and told investors that it had a rough holiday. In January, the department store chain said its net sales dropped 3.5% for the nine-week period that ended Dec. 31 compared with the year-ago period. Its net sales declined sharply during that stretch at its off-price banner, Nordstrom Rack.
One of the reasons for disappointing sales? More markdowns. Nordstrom said it discounted merchandise more than expected in November and December, so it could start the fiscal year with a healthier level of inventory.
The company drew attention and saw its stock soar in February, as activist investor Ryan Cohen bought a large stake in the company. Cohen, the chairman of GameStop and founder of Chewy, is interested in using that position to push for change — including getting former Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Mark Tritton off of Nordstrom’s board.
Cohen bought, and later sold, a major stake in Bed Bath, after criticizing Tritton’s strategy and pushing for change at that company, too.
As of Thursday’s close, Nordstrom shares are up more than 19% this year.
Read the full Nordstrom earnings release.

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The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage jumped back over 7% Thursday, rising to 7.1%, according to Mortgage News Daily.
Growing fears that inflation is not cooling off are pushing bond yields higher. Mortgage rates loosely follow the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury.
While the trajectory for rates now appears to be higher again, it is not necessarily guaranteed for the long term.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage jumped back over 7% on Thursday, rising to 7.1%, according to Mortgage News Daily.
Growing fears that inflation is not cooling off are pushing bond yields higher. Mortgage rates loosely follow the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury.

“Rates continue to move at the suggestion of economic data, and the data hasn’t been friendly. This is scary considering this week’s data is insignificant compared to several upcoming reports,” said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily.
Rates went over 7% last October. That was the highest level in more than 20 years. But they pulled back in the following months, as inflation appeared to be easing. By mid-January rates were touching 6%, spurring a big jump in buyers signing contracts on existing homes.
So-called pending home sales rose an unexpectedly strong 8% from December, according to the National Association of Realtors. But the past four weeks have been rough. Rates have moved 100 basis points higher since the start of February.
For a buyer purchasing a $400,000 home with 20% down on a 30-year fixed loan, the monthly payment, including principal and interest, is now roughly $230 a month more than it would have been a month ago. Compared with a year ago, when rates were in the 4% range, today’s monthly payment is about 50% higher.
As a result, mortgage applications from homebuyers have been falling for the past month and last week hit a 28-year low, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

“The recent jump in mortgage rates has led to a retreat in purchase applications, with activity down for three straight weeks,” said Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “After solid gains in purchase activity to begin 2023, higher rates, ongoing inflationary pressures, and economic volatility are giving some prospective homebuyers pause about entering the housing market.”
At the start of this year, with rates slightly lower, it appeared the housing market was starting to recover just in time for the traditionally busy spring season. But that recovery has now stalled, and rising rates are only part of the picture.
“Consumers have taken on a record amount of debt, including mortgage, personal, auto, and student loans,” noted George Ratiu, senior economist at Realtor.com. “With rising interest rates, financial burdens are expected to increase, making consumer choices more difficult in the months ahead.”
While the trajectory for rates now appears to be higher again, it is not necessarily guaranteed for the long term.
“If the bigger-ticket data has a friendlier inflation implication, we could see a bit of a correction.  Unfortunately, traders will be hesitant to push rates aggressively lower until they have several successive months pointing to meaningfully lower inflation,” added Graham.

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SpaceX launched four people to the International Space Station from Florida as Elon Musk’s company begins the final of the original six missions it was awarded by NASA.
The crew is made of two Americans, one Russian and one Emirati.
“If you enjoyed your ride, please don’t forget to give us five stars,” SpaceX mission control called out after the capsule reached orbit.

A long-exposure photograph shows SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew-6 mission in the company’s
Joel Kowsky / NASA

SpaceX launched four people to the International Space Station from Florida as Elon Musk’s company begins the final of the original six missions it was awarded by NASA.
Known as Crew-6, the mission for NASA will bring the group up to the space station for a six-month stay in orbit. The mission is SpaceX’s sixth operational crew launch for NASA to date and the company’s ninth human spaceflight to date.

“If you enjoyed your ride, please don’t forget to give us five stars,” SpaceX mission control called out after the capsule reached orbit.

“That was fantastic, thank you,” Crew-6 commander Stephen Bowen responded.

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Crew-6 launched a little after midnight on Thursday morning, beginning a just over 24-hour journey to the ISS. The mission brings the number of astronauts SpaceX has launched to 34, including both government and private missions, since its first crewed launch in May 2020.
The crew is made of two Americans, one Russian and one Emirati: NASA astronauts Warren Hoburg and Bowen, Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi.
SpaceX launched the astronauts in its Crew Dragon capsule called Endeavour, on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. Both the rocket and capsule are reusable, with the latter flying on its fourth mission to date.

After a last-minute delay during SpaceX’s first launch attempt on Monday, a data review identified a clogged filter in a ground system as the cause of an apparent issue in the fluid that ignites the rocket’s engines. SpaceX replaced the filter and completed verification steps to make Thursday’s launch.
SpaceX developed its Crew Dragon spacecraft and fine-tuned its Falcon 9 rocket under NASA’s competitive Commercial Crew program, competing against Boeing’s Starliner capsule. But Boeing’s capsule remains in development, with costly delays pushing back the start of operational Starliner flights.
NASA awarded SpaceX with additional missions, for a total of 14, compared with Boeing’s six.

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