Meat + Poultry - January 2008 - 75

TURKEY BACON

Rosenblatt says turkey bacon's acclaim has been helped by the popularity of the
South Beach
Diet, where it is
a recommended protein. Turkey bacon is
also an option
for certain religious and cultural groups who are forbidden to consume pork products, she adds.

Room for improvement
Despite all the good news about turkey
bacon, the product could stand some
improvements, Stevenson says. An issue that still hampers some turkey bacon brands is that the product doesn't
look like pork bacon. Turkey bacon is
chopped and formed, and it appears
somewhat different from pork bacon,
which some consumers don't like.
"When people see bacon, they have
an immediate impression of what bacon
should look like," Stevenson says. "If
consumers see a chopped-and-formed
product that's called bacon ... they might
be a little apprehensive to try it."
Of course, it's impossible to make
turkey bacon appear like it originated
from sliced pork bellies. Stevenson suggests renaming turkey bacon and marketing it as "turkey breakfast meat."
"Make it attractive for people to try,"
he says. "But don't call it bacon, even
though it has a [similar] flavor and can
be fried like bacon."
Stevenson processes his own turkey
bacon. In doing so, he makes a striation
of the white meat and cured red meat
so it looks more like pork bacon.
"It's not difficult to do," he adds. "I
use some of the same cures and brines
that I use for pork bacon. It takes some
work, but it turns out to be a good product, and it doesn't have a ground-andformed texture and appearance."
Stevenson says smaller companies
could process turkey bacon like this regionally and charge a premium for it.
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January 2008

"This would give small- to mediumsized plants the opportunity to differentiate their products from what's on
the market now," he says. "And then
the larger processors might catch on if
the [processing style] works."
Stevenson also says some retailers
might not be marketing turkey bacon
correctly. Stevenson visited a major retailer recently and saw turkey bacon
displayed with other fresh turkey products. He says turkey bacon should be
displayed with pork bacon and other
smoked meat products.
"They shouldn't segregate turkey bacon and not give it the recognition it
deserves," Stevenson adds, noting that

"Consumers are
impressed with turkey
bacon's lower shrinkage
factor when compared
to pork bacon."
the merchandising issues are probably
regional. He says the poultry industry
should do a better job of educating retailers where to display turkey bacon at
grocery stores.
Turkey bacon, despite increased sales,
is also caught in the dilemma facing
other breakfast meats. Despite the advancements by breakfast-meat makers to
develop bacon and sausage that is faster
and easier to prepare, breakfast eaters
still have a tendency to save bacon and
sausage for weekend breakfasts, according to Mintel, whose research states that
57 percent of breakfast eaters have bacon on weekends, while only 31 percent
have it on weekdays.
Mintel's research says consumers
might be more willing to work breakfast meat into their weekday mornings
"if category players marketed products as
providing the protein that is essential for
brain and body activity Monday though
Friday." About 31 percent of breakfast
eaters say protein content is something

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they consider in deciding what to eat for
breakfast, according to Mintel.
The research firm also notes that
"convenience is crucial to the success
of many food products - and this trend
is applicable to the breakfast and sandwich meat industry." Fully-cooked turkey bacon that can be warmed in a
microwave would help turkey bacon
processors in this realm.

Making headway in
foodservice
Turkey bacon seems to be making
some headway on the foodservice side,
Rosenblatt says. "Places like Starbucks
are now including it as part of their
breakfast lines that offer turkey bacon
sandwiches," she adds.
Stevenson has no doubt that turkey
bacon sales would take off at retail if
the product has more of a presence at
the foodservice level. For instance, a turkey bacon selection at a national chain
like Denny's could spur the category,
he points out.
Rosenblatt says it's difficult for
her to answer where the category is
heading.
"Each individual company needs to
look at their product lines and figure
out what the future holds for them as
they continue to grow a variety of turkey products in the turkey bacon/turkey sausage category," she adds. "The
industry is looking to increase awareness of the variety of the products that
are available, and turkey bacon will be
part of that increased awareness."
Turkey bacon will remain an important part of Butterball's marketing strategy, Lock says.
"Our brand is our greatest asset, and
one we won't use unless the product
inside the package can live up to the
high standards set by our whole turkeys," he says.
Larry Aylward is a freelance writer from Cleveland.
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Meat + Poultry - January 2008

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