Supermarket Perimeter - January 2020 - 33

Ball Park is one
of the many Tyson
Foods brands excelling
in case-ready

to case-ready lamb and veil in 2020. "Some people like this because of
the convenience, some follow the trend of natural and organic," he
says. "From different surveys I have read, a lot of millennials like these
because they know it's coming from one place and some view it as a
more controlled environment."
While it's not so much a category that's increasing in the stores,
Bell does expect an uptick in the year ahead with the addition of the
new lamb and veil cuts.

Packaging Plays a Part

ANDREI - STOCK.ADOBE.COM, BELL & EVANS, TYSON FOODS, BEYOND MEAT

by Nate Hodne, senior vice president of PPI at Tyson Fresh Meats, and
consists of sales and operations employees based across the nation.
"Tyson Fresh Meats has seen steady growth in the value-added and
case-ready categories and formalized the PPI team to meet the growing
needs of customers in these categories," Worpel says. "The primary
goal of the PPI team is to bring innovative solutions to customers and
consumers, speciﬁcally in meeting the growing demand for portioned
proteins that provide function and convenience for consumers today."
The company believes that retailers can capture more sales from
the growing ethnic foods market with ready-to-sell, quality products
that generate incremental volume in the case-ready, variety meats segment. Among its meat products are tongue, oxtails, intestine-braided
marrow gut, feet sliced and cheek meat.
"This option lets you build loyalty and drive sales by carrying the
products your customers want," Worpel says. "Additionally, shoppers
are assured freshness from our clear, vacuum-sealed packages which
require no repackaging or special handling."
Todd Keys, director of meat operations at Mechanicsburg,
Pennsylvania-based Karns Foods, notes the trends that seem to be
drawing more customer excitement are unique and value-added meat
items in the case-ready varietal meat section.
He cites kabobs, sausage, pre-seasoned or marinated meat, and items
that take a small amount of effort and time to prepare as those growing
in popularity.
"As the demand for these items have increased we have expanded
our varieties," Keys says. "I have been in the meat business for nearly 20
years. When I started in the business we had roughly ﬁve pork sausage
ﬂavors. We are now producing over 25 different types of sausage. Some
of these are now chicken- or turkey-based sausage and we are now
also offering seasonal sausage ﬂavors as well."
Karns Foods has experienced increased sales every year in this
category.
"In my opinion the increase in sales in this area is due to several
factors-the high paced daily lives most people live which leads to a
need for convenience, more exposure for unique and value added items
due to social media, cooking networks on the television, and marketing
pushes by companies in the industry all lead to increased demand and
sales," Keys says.
Charlie Bell, manager of meat and seafood sales at ACME Markets
in Malvern, Pennsylvania, says 95% of its chicken program is part of its
case-ready variety meats strategy. The retailer is also switching over

According to Stein there is a desire from today's consumer and retailer
in extending the shelf life of meat products through vac-sealed packaging, and in some cases, the ability to eliminate waste associated with
Styrofoam and soaker pads makes the category even more desirable.
"Based on the category growth, consumers seem to be more accepting of these items in the meat case," he says.
Bell agrees that it's about the "eye appeal" of the packaging to the
consumer, and that's what attracts them to the products.
"Younger people like that cleaner product and they gravitate towards
them in the meat case," he says. "That's leading to more items and that's
leading to an upside overall."
At Bell & Evans, Sechler notes it used 100% air chill in its processing
so the chicken juices aren't diluted and there's no water pick-up in the
packaging.
"Our industry is ﬁnally recognizing that packaging matters too," he
says. "We introduced our leak proof, freezer safe and recyclable trays
10 years ago already. These are details that matter to the customer and
add value. Even our chicken livers are very popular because of their
nutritional value and leak-proof packaging."

Packaging on case-ready meats allows producers like Beyond
Meat to communicate their unique messages to consumers.

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