(Nettavisen) The grocery year 2025 has been marked by major changes.
Through the large launch windows in February and September, hundreds of new items have arrived – and a corresponding number have had to clear space and leave the stores for good.
This is the year we lost everything from iconic topping classics. But prestigious new ventures also had to find themselves scrapped. Such as when Mills tries to start a butter war against Tine.
See the large list at the bottom of what disappeared in 2025
The end for the 95-year-old
Table of Contents
The biggest shock for many came in late summer, when Orkla announced the end of two real veterans on the cold cuts shelf: Sunda and Nøtte.
Sunda had been on Norwegian breakfast tables since 1930, while Nøtte came in 1964. The reason for the closure was neither a lack of taste nor new trends, but simply that the production equipment was worn out.
VETERANS: Both of these disappear after many years. Sunda almost turned 100 years old.
Photo: Orkla
– The machines these products are produced on are old and must be replaced in order to continue production. Such a large investment cannot be defended for products with such low sales figures, stated Kristoffer Barbøl Vikebak in Orkla at the time.
The news led to hoarding chaos, and boxes of the sweet spread were for a period sold at staggering prices on Finn.no.
EXPENSIVE: The prices demanded on Fnn.no are quite fresh.
Photo: Screenshot
Lost the “butter war”
It is not only old trotters who have given thanks. In 2025, we also saw that large players can miss new ventures.
Mills, which is perhaps best known for its mayonnaise, attempted to challenge Tine’s near-monopoly on butter with the launch of Mills No1. Despite heavy marketing, the adventure only lasted a year and a half.
– After a period in the grocery market, we see that the demand has not been strong enough to defend a further investment there now, Mills acknowledged in September.
DID NOT SURVIVE: It will not be replenished with more packs of the butter variant from Mills, which was supposed to compete with Tine.
Photo: Erik Molland (Nettavsien) / Screen dump
The brutal “death rate”
Alexander Schjøll, grocery researcher at OsloMet, points out that the high replacement rate is a necessity, but also an expensive affair for the suppliers.
– The death rate is very high. It is an unfortunate thing. Then you have spent a lot of money, and then it doesn’t work. But if something has to go in, something has to go out, says Schjøll to Nettavisen.
This affected a number of variants from well-known brands throughout the year. Among other things, Pepsi Max Mango, several varieties of Farris and energy drinks, as well as various flavors from Skyr, Litago and Tine Yoghurt disappeared.
Ringnes confirmed the trend early this year:
– The main reason why products are removed is that there is limited space on the shop shelves. People like news, said press officer Nicolay Bruusgaard.
Trends that killed the goods
2025 has been characterized by megatrends such as health, protein products and the debate on ultra-processed food.
This has led to manufacturers such as Nortura cutting out some old variants to make room for new and cleaner products.
Among the new products are Gilde Edel ham and coarser sausages with more meat.
– We have long worked on developing our processed products in a healthier direction. Now there are alternatives to three of our favorite products, with lots of meat, lots of flavor and less processing, said press manager at Gilde owner Nortura, John Trygve Tollefsen.
At the same time, we see that sustainability forces changes in packaging, rather than the product itself disappearing. An example from last year was Jif Krystal, where the well-known plastic bottle was replaced with cardboard.
Also read
Pulled off the shelves
Hundreds of items have to be cut
The vast majority of new launches come in the fixed ones
And when hundreds of new goods are going in, that means that just as many are going out. Most of the news disappears again within a year or two. The new launches cost large sums, but still the system can have a certain logic.
Consumer researcher Karl Fredrik Tangen has explained it as follows:
– It is a way of hyping a category. You launch a new variant in an attempt to gain attention for the entire category.
– A lot of news is news for the sake of news, instead of being something the world or the customers actually needed.
Also read
The foods that are disappearing now: Toro, Tine, Tuborg, Mills, Gilde
These brands got fewer variants in 2025
Although the main products remain, the following brands have had variants and flavors shaved off during the year:
Drinks: Pepsi (Mango), Battery, Farris, Imsdal, Tuborg, Frydenlund, Somersby, Sunniva, Biola.
Snacks and sweets: Freia Milk Chocolate (varieties), Kims, Nidar.
Dinner and side dishes: Grandiosa, Fjordland, Toro, Gilde, Prior, Delikat.
Dairy and spreads: Tine Yoghurt, Skyr, Yoplait, Litago, Go’ Morgen, Gryr, Mills (No1), Sunda, Nøtte.
Other: Fun Light, Jif (plastic bottles).
