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The Journal.

How Kraft Lost Its Mac and Cheese Crown

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Business News, News, Daily News

4.25.8K Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2026

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Kraft macaroni and cheese has been a household staple for decades. But owing to shifting consumer tastes towards healthier options and a tumultuous corporate shakeup, Kraft’s status as the big cheese is slipping. WSJ’s Jesse Newman reports on how Kraft lost its dominance in the mac and cheese aisle, and what the company plans on doing about it. Jessica Mendoza hosts. Further Listening: - Kraft Heinz’s Big Breakup - ‘It Came out of Nowhere’: The Rise of Dr Pepper Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Jessie, did you grow up eating mac and cheese?

0:07.5

I did grow up eating mac and cheese. I loved mac and cheese, craft mac and cheese

0:11.8

specifically as a kid. The thing I remember most is that I may or may not have, at different

0:18.9

points, eaten entire boxes of it myself.

0:22.6

Our colleague Jesse Newman covers the food industry.

0:25.8

Craft mac and cheese was mac and cheese. There was no other.

0:30.9

And that's the way it was for decades.

0:33.4

Craft mac and cheese dominated the pantry aisle at the supermarket, literally.

0:38.3

You know, you walk down that aisle, and there is the craft mac and cheese dominated the pantry aisle at the supermarket, literally. You know, you walk down that aisle, and there is the Kraft mac and cheese section.

0:42.4

There is that section that has the blue and orange boxes that is just, you know, the core of the grocery store.

0:48.8

It's like the non-political big blue wall.

0:52.1

Yes, correct.

0:55.2

But these days,

0:56.9

oodles of new competitors

0:58.1

are eating into Kraft's market share,

1:00.6

and that blue wall

1:01.6

is looking more like a rainbow.

1:03.9

There are a lot more brands

1:06.2

than there used to be.

1:08.3

And now you've got

1:09.6

Annie's mac and cheese.

1:11.2

That's sort of a lavender color.

...

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