Meat&Poultry - July 2011 - 80

S Seasonal Marketing
works hard with retailers to secure that display space. “So when the warm weather hits, we’re on the shelf,” he adds. Kayem always has big plans for its summer marketing efforts with a focus on quality. “When we do something, we like to do it big and put everything we have into it,” Monkiewicz says. “We want to exude quality, so we don’t do retail discount-type advertising. We try to partner with brands as big as us. We don’t want to partner with a discount potato chip supplier when we’re a premium hot dog brand.” The summer grilling season is vital to Sara Lee Corp.’s Ball Park brand, and it’s important to offer consumers a variety of options, says Amy Grabow, marketing director for the Downer’s Grove, Ill.-based company. “Product innovation is always a priority for us to ensure we’re offering a wide variety of options to meet the evolving needs and tastes of our consumers, particularly as families approach the summer grilling and outdoor entertaining season,” she says. The hot dog season, of course, includes sausages, so it’s no surprise the summer grilling theme is a big component of Johnsonville Sausage’s business. “Sales that we don’t capture in summer are very difficult to make up after the grilling season,” says Jim Mueller, group marketing manager for the Sheboygan, Wis.-based company.

(Photo courtesy of Kayem Foods)

Fired up
Hot dog makers cash in as consumers cook out
BY LARRY AYLWARD
meatpoultry@sosland.com

t’s hot dog season. Flip-flop wearing, tong-toting Americans from Connecticut to California are firing up their backyard grills for wiener roasts. Pass the relish, please. If you’re a hot dog processor, the grilling season is hot dog heaven. That’s because about 40 percent of your business takes place during hot dog season, comprised of the summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day, according to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council. In fact, 10 percent of annual retail hot dog sales occur during July, which is designated as National Hot Dog Month. “Memorial Day to Labor Day is

the sweet spot,” says Matt Monkiewicz, vice president of marketing for Chelsea, Mass.-based Kayem Foods, which produces several varieties of hot dogs, brats, sausages and deli meats. There are hundreds of other hot dog and sausage processors throughout the country that realize the bestlaid plans for their businesses must be geared toward the outdoor-cooking season. Hence, they spend plenty of time readying marketing plans for the summer grilling theme. Monkiewicz says it’s important to get Kayem’s brand on retail shelves early enough to take advantage of the warm weather. Kayem’s sales team

The marketing plan
In coming up with a summer grilling marketing plan, Grabow says Ball Park marketers try to think like consumers. “We think about what will make our consumers just as excited as we are for the season,” she says. The goal is to develop a “home-run marketing plan that resonates with the consumer and also gets the retailer excited.” Ball Park takes a strong integrated marketing effort toward the season and focuses on consumer nuances, such as how and when their purchase

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