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GourmET nEWS SEPTEmbEr 2017 www.gourmetnews.com Supplier News SuPPliEr nEWS 1 2 BRIEFS Meat Snacks Market Growth Drives Product Segmentation by lorriE bAumAnn Over the past few years, the meat snack cat- egory has grown from a few brands of meat sticks and jerky sold largely in the conven- ience channel into a mature and highly seg- mented category for natural and healthy foods and conventional grocery channels, and is making strong incursions into the specialty food channel. According to Glob- alData's 2014 global survey, about 13.9 per- cent of consumers eat meat, fish or poultry daily, giving meat a strong case for "snack- ification," as Americans do more of their eating as snacks in between the traditional three meals a day. Newer data from SPINS shows jerky and meat snacks accounting for 1.0 percent of a $920 million specialty foods market dur- ing the year ending in mid-March of 2016. Although only 1 percent of the market, jerky and meat snacks accounted for 3.7 percent of the segment's growth over the year, bucking a trend toward more plant- based foods, with almost half of consumers now telling GlobalData in the fourth quar- ter of 2016 that they're avoiding processed meats and sausages and almost a third of consumers saying that they're avoiding red meat altogether, said Tom Vierhile, Global- Data Innovation Insights Director. This growth in the market for meat snacks has led to greater segmentation within the products as their makers have sought to differentiate each offering from others in the category. Now we have meat snacks designed to appeal to women, meat snacks for the adventurous eater, meat snacks for the health conscious, meat snacks for Paleo eaters and even meat snacks for those concerned about the envi- ronment. Let's take a look at some of them. Perky Jerky expanded its jerky line this year with meat sticks, which launched in January in four flavors based on the brand's top-selling jerky flavors: Original, Tasty Teriyaki, Brewmaster's Pale Ale and Jam- min' Jamaican. "We thought there was a space in the meat stick category for a stick that was positioned not for smoke but for flavor," said Denise Sirovatka, Perky Jerky's Vice President of Marketing. "Sticks really fit into the snacking mentality of Millenni- als. They want nutritional value.... They're into grass-fed beef, making sure that things are environmentally sound." "Ours is really all meat. We haven't put anything else in there, like rice or beans," she added. "There are other brands that are putting other things in there instead of some of the meat, but we're not doing that." Perky Jerky appeals particularly to women: about 58 to 60 percent of Perky Jerky customers are women, compared to 70 percent male for the category as a whole, according to Sirovatka. The Perky Jerky products index much higher for the entire basket than the average for the shopper who buys meat snacks, so the customer who's buying Perky Jerky is very likely to be that high-value shopper that grocers like to see in their stores, Sirovatka said. "It's about growing the cat- egory. We have the best- tasting jerky in the category," she said. "We think that protein will continue to be the driver. Life is really fast, so consumers really need options that can live up to that speed.... I don't think snacks are going to go away, and I definitely don't think protein is going to go away. Consumers are weary of empty calories. Protein provides satiety, and they're going to continue to need that." Landcrafted Food is a brand that's about an idea as much as about its products. That idea is that there's a place in the American market for responsibly raised grass-fed beef and the family farmers and ranchers that produce it. The company was started a decade ago by Gary Mitchell, Charlotte Hanes and Brantley Ivey, neighbors in Grayson County, Virginia. Their Landcrafted Food Smoked Meat Sticks are now available in two flavors, Sweet Smoked and Original Smoked. Each 0.9-ounce stick is packed in a countertop caddy of 20 that's ready to be merchandised either for individual sale or in the whole box of 20. Each stick has 100 calories, with 3 grams of saturated fat. Be- cause the meat sticks are made from grass- fed beef, they're lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than most other beef sticks on the market, and they're also made with less sugar than most processed meat snacks, so they're particularly Paleo-friendly as well. Chef's Cut meat bars and jerky are mar- keted on both taste and texture. New in the line are a Spicy Tomato Pork Bar and Homestyle Beef Bar. The Spicy Tomato Pork bar combines pork with tomato powder, sugar, sea salt, sun-dried toma- toes and herbs and spices into a 1.5- ounce bar that offers 160 calories, includ- ing 90 from fat, although only about a third of the fat is saturated. With 40 percent less carbohydrates than the leading meat bar, the Chef's Cut Spicy Tomato Pork Bar offers 12 grams of protein and is free of gluten and nitrites. Newest in the company's line are Chef's Cut Protein Packs, which are cups filled with jerky snacks and cheese. They're of- fered in Original Recipe Steak Jerky and Real Cheddar Cheese and in Smoked Turkey Teriyaki with Pepper Jack Cheese. Both are gluten free with no added nitrites. They provide 16 to 17 grams of protein per serving, and they retail for $2.99 to $3.99. Skinny Salamis are meat sticks made from beef, pork or lamb slow-cured in small batches and never cooked. They're free of gluten, antibiotics and hormones. They're shelf-stable, and they contain no sugar and no carbohydrates. They come from MeatCrafters Inc., a Maryland company that crafts traditionally cured charcuterie products, including salamis, sausages and duck breast pro- sciutto. The three varieties of Skinny Salamis that are available now are Original Black Angus Beef; Truffle, made with pork; and Street Cart Shawarma, made with lamb. Later in 2017, we'll be seeing Mer- guez, made with lamb; Spicy Chorizo, made with pork; and Casbah, also made with pork. These are marketed in four- packs as grab-and-go snacks designed to appeal to active people who'll buy them to toss into a back pack or gym bag. The com- pany is also working on a two-pack indi- vidual serving that's expected to do well in wineries, breweries and upscale grocers. EPIC Provisions is marketing its prod- ucts as "protein snacks for the conscious carnivore." Its meat bars containing grass- fed bison meat are the best-selling items in a line that includes bars made from veni- son, chicken, beef, turkey, pork, salmon and lamb. These meats are combined with superfood botanical ingredients for Paleo- oriented snack bars and jerky bites and strips with clean in- gredient decks. The newest products in the line are are the Wagyu Beef Steak Strip, the Venison Sea Salt Pepper Steak Strip, the Smoked Salmon Maple Fillet Strip and the Turkey Cranberry Sage Strip. Each offers 6 to 8 grams of protein and 45 to 110 calo- ries per individual-serving package that retails for around $1.99. The meat strips are aimed at on-the-go shoppers who are looking for a single-serve snack option. Ac- cording to Brad Einck, the company's Sales Director for the grocery channel, "This is the option that's better for the consumer and for the animals." GN Coffee brands ranked Top Selling on Amazon Grocery According to One Click Retail's brand measurement calculations, the top 5 highest selling grocery and food brands on Amazon are: San Francisco Bay Coffee in first place, with about 2 percent of Amazon grocery and food share; KIND in second place, also with about 2 percent of Amazon grocery and food share; Green Mountain Coffee in third place; Gerber in fourth place and Starbucks Coffee coming in fifth. Together, sales of San Francisco Bay Coffee, KIND, Green Mountain Coffee, Gerber and Starbucks Coffee products account for less than 8 percent of Amazon's total grocery sales, which One Click Retail has calculated at $420M USD in 2017 YTD, a 50 percent year-over-year increase. Country Archer Jerky Co. raises Follow-on Financing round Country Archer Jerky Co., announced the closing of a significant second round capital raise with Monogram Capital Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused on consumer and retail investments. The deal is a follow-on from Monogram's initial capital investment in March 2016. According to SPINS data, Country Archer recently surpassed Krave as the #1 top-selling jerky brand in the natural grocery channel, following 157 percent year over year sales growth. The brand is also the channel's fastest growing, currently outpacing the next 15 brands combined in absolute dollar growth year over year. Country Archer has secured nationwide distribution with Starbucks and is expanding into the Canadian market. hammond's brands Prepares for the holiday rush With "naughty or nice" Candy Canes Hammond's Brands, the parent company of Hammond's Candies, Old Dominion Peanut Company, McCraw's Candies and the recently launched Mellow Fluffs, has announced this coming holiday season's limited edition flavor: the Naughty or Nice Cane. This year's Naughty or Nice Canes each come with the same look – red with white and black pinstripes – but some are flavored a "nice" strawberry and some are flavored "naughty" black licorice. A festive hangtag informs snackers that they won't know which mystery flavor they've received — and which of Santa's lists they've made — until they start munching on the magical cane. organic valley Debuts the First organic Sweet Cream half & half In 2016, Organic Valley introduced its organic flavored half & half – a real-dairy alternative to oil-based, artificial coffee creamers. The newest flavor in the line is Organic Valley Sweet Cream Half & Half. The new flavor will now complement its plain, hazelnut and French vanilla flavors in dairy cases from coast to coast. Organic Valley Sweet Cream Half & Half contains only four ingredients: real cream and milk, fair trade unrefined cane sugar, and vanilla.

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