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

Philadelphia 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.

Previously, the 154-year-old brand released about one or two new flavors such as garden vegetable or pineapple every year. 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.

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. For now, Kraft Heinz is sticking together and trying to stage a comeback by making its legacy brands more relevant.

In the period since Kraft Heinz announced the split was paused, the company's shares have fallen 2%. 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.

Some of that money is pouring into Philadelphia. 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. And investment in new flavors has quadrupled, he said.

Philadelphia accounts for about 62% of U.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.

Kraft Heinz is hoping that new flavors will drive more cream cheese sales. 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. The Mike's Hot Honey flavor will launch in Walmart exclusively until it hits other retailers' shelves in January.

"We want to make sure that the profile of the products we're launching are hitting critical masses," Drolet said. "It needs to be incremental, but it also cannot be too niche so that it only sells a few units."

As part of the strategy to widen cream cheese's appeal to shoppers, Philadelphia also launched a lactose-free version earlier this year.

Some of Philadelphia's expanded marketing spend will once again focus on the brand's "pure dairy equity," according to Drolet. The strategy recalls the ethos that inspired its Philadelphia cream cheese angel campaigns of the 1990s. In February, it launched its "Really Philly good" campaign.

The brand is also trying to reach consumers to encourage them to use cream cheese as more than a schmear for a bagel. 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.

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.

"We're definitely the leader in the category, and as the leader, it's also on us to really drive the occasion," he said.

While 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.

But the size of those brands conceals their struggles. For years after the 2015 megamerger that created Kraft Heinz, the company saw its U.S. sales slip as its biggest names lost shoppers. In early 2019, Philadelphia was one of six brands the company wrote down as the value of its intangible assets fell.

Executives and analysts have pointed to previous management's underinvestment in the company's products as the primary culprit for many of its business challenges.

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. About 35% of Kraft Heinz's portfolio is holding or gaining market share, up from 21% at the end of 2025, Cahillane said at the Barclays Global Consumer Conference earlier this month.

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.