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Want more variety in your cream cheese? Kraft Heinz is betting on it. The brand launched three new flavors: Mike’s Hot Honey whipped cream cheese, salted caramel, and a seasonal cranberry orange. The Mike’s Hot Honey version is exclusive to Walmart until it expands to other retailers in January, and the cranberry orange is only around for a limited time.
It’s the first wave of a much bigger push. Philadelphia used to roll out just one or two new flavors a year. Now it’s planning 10 new varieties over the next two years, according to CNBC. Kraft Heinz’s spending on the brand specifically is expected to climb 63% this year compared to 2025, and investment in new flavors alone has quadrupled, says Jerome Drolet, Kraft Heinz’s president of taste elevation.
That spending is part of a much larger $700 million investment CEO Steve Cahillane is making across Kraft Heinz’s portfolio, including Oscar Mayer and Heinz, after reversing a planned company breakup earlier this year. Philadelphia is one of the bigger bets within that plan. The brand already controls about 62% of the U.S. cream cheese market, which means how well Philadelphia does basically determines how big the whole cream cheese category can get.
Drolet also wants people using cream cheese for more than just bagels, think dips and pasta sauces, and plans to lean on TikTok creators and recipe sites to make that case.