Right Course

by Stouffer's

1989 – 1991 GONE FOREVER

Gone. Stouffer's pulled Right Course from national distribution about 17 months after its August 1989 launch, and a 1992 newspaper report said the line had been dropped a year earlier to focus on Lean Cuisine. The trademark was cancelled in 1996.

Last verified Nov 2, 2026

Stouffer's premium health entrée line, launched in 1989 just as ConAgra's Healthy Choice was arriving to crowd the same freezer door. It lasted about 17 months before Stouffer's folded the effort back into Lean Cuisine.

🧾 One more thingPost-mortems blamed high prices, poor shelf placement, dishes too exotic for the freezer case and what one company history called "an inauspicious name." It never won more than about 1 percent of the frozen entrée market.

Filed under: Frozen & Dairy · the ’80s

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📅 Timeline

1989Stouffer's first sold Right Course frozen entrées on August 14, according to its own sworn trademark filing.
1991Roughly 17 months after launch, Stouffer's pulled the line from national distribution to concentrate on Lean Cuisine; Advertising Age ran a post-mortem that May.
1992A Tampa Bay Times survey of health-minded TV dinners noted Right Course had been dropped a year earlier, as Healthy Choice outsold Lean Cuisine.
1996The RIGHT COURSE trademark registration was cancelled on November 25 after no renewal declaration was filed.

❓ People also ask

Why was Stouffer's Right Course discontinued?

It captured only about 1 percent of the frozen entrée market. Company histories blame premium pricing, poor shelf placement, overly exotic dishes and the name itself, and Stouffer's chose to put its effort behind Lean Cuisine instead.

What did Right Course compete with?

Mainly ConAgra's Healthy Choice, launched in 1989. By the last quarter of 1991 Healthy Choice was selling $95.8 million against Lean Cuisine's $70.9 million, per the Tampa Bay Times.

Is Right Course coming back?

There is no sign of it. Stouffer's let the trademark lapse in 1996, and a later RIGHT COURSE mark for institutional frozen meals, filed by an unrelated company in 2018, was cancelled in 2025.

🧾 Sources

USPTO Trademark Status & Document Retrieval, RIGHT COURSE, serial 73830263 (Reg. 1597659)
Tampa Bay Times, In '90s, TV dinner focuses on health (1992)
Encyclopedia.com (International Directory of Company Histories), Stouffer Corp.

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