Claim Jumper Is Selling Frozen Food Unit

Claim Jumper, the Irvine restaurant chain known for serving huge portions to diners, is negotiating to sell its frozen food unit, which provides items under the Claim Jumper label to supermarkets, restaurant officials said Friday.

The deal, which is close to being completed, would turn over the unit to American Pie Inc., which sells Marie Callender pies and pie crusts in supermarkets.

“It’s a good thing for Claim Jumper and will allow us to focus our energy on our restaurant chain,” said Craig Nickoloff, Claim Jumper’s president and founder. Nickoloff would not discuss details of the pending deal.

Food industry experts say Claim Jumper’s decision reflects a trend. Chains such as Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp., Marie Callender in Orange, Cheesecake Factory Inc. in Calabasas and Wolfgang Puck Food Co. in Santa Monica also have sold their retail food divisions to companies with more expertise in manufacturing and marketing these products.

Marie Callender entrees are produced by ConAgra Inc. of Omaha. Taco Bell sold its growing line of grocery products to Kraft Foods Inc., the nation’s largest packaged foods company.

“Larger companies know the supermarket game quite well and normally control sizable shelf space,” said Irvine restaurant consultant Randall Hiatt. “Generally, they will have some quality protection in their agreement. It seems at this point the quality has been preserved with Marie Callender.”

Although some restaurant chains may worry that quality may suffer if they enter these licensing agreements, consumer studies show that grocery shoppers do not have the same expectations for frozen foods that they do for food prepared at restaurants, said restaurant consultant Ron Paul of Chicago-based Technomic Inc.

“Consumers don’t expect it to be as good,” Paul said. “If they pick up a Taco Bell taco-making kit, they know it’s not going to be like getting a taco at Taco Bell.”

Claim Jumper’s supermarket items, introduced in 1996, include several flavors of bottled barbecue sauce and frozen entrees such as pork baby back ribs, chicken tenderloins, garlic cheese bread, mashed potatoes and chicken wings.