Supermarket Perimeter - May 2020 - 53

Meat suppliers reap benefits of
cross-marketing with alcohol

OLEMAN NATURAL FOODS, NIMAN RANCH

BY KEITH LORIA
LOVE AND MARRIAGE; baseball and apple pie; alcohol and meat.
While the latter might not seem to be an obvious pairing, many meat
companies have dipped their toes into the alcohol waters recently and
have found great success.
BBQ and beer are often enjoyed in the same eating occasion, and the
popularity of alcohol-infused meats has been on the rise. That's why
Golden, Colo.-based Coleman Natural Foods decided to partner up with
Budweiser.
"The Coleman family has been in the meat business for more than
100 years and always take pride that we are an American-born and
raised company. We've got strong ties to our family farmers and have
always had a focus on simple, real ingredients," said Mel Coleman, Jr.,
vice president of Coleman Natural Foods. "In late 2018, Budweiser came
to us when they were looking for an opportunity to enter the meat
category from a licensed product standpoint. It was perfect timing as
we were looking for a like-minded partner to develop a new product
and it turned out Budweiser was a natural fit."
Furthermore, he shared, Coleman Natural and Budweiser share the
same values and heritage to be proud of, so it was an obvious fit from a
cultural perspective, but also, who doesn't love beer and barbeque?
The Budweiser BBQ Collection hit shelves in May 2019.
"Everyone is looking for more convenience and easy to prepare
meals for one, two, or a crowd, so making a heat-and-eat product line
to enhance the Coleman Natural Foods existing offerings made sense,"
Coleman said. "The Coleman
Natural brand itself is having a
sort of renaissance, so partnering
with one of the most recognized
brands out there provided an
opportunity for us to enhance our
brand recognition as well."
Since there are a lot of alcohol/
food brand partnerships out there,
one thing the company wanted
to make sure of was that it went
beyond just combining the two
brand names on a package.
"When you look at our
ingredient statement, one of
the ingredients near the top of
every single item is Budweiser
American Lager. We've held true
to that," Coleman said. "When
developing the product, it was all
about getting the right balance
of ingredients. You have to have
the perfect balance of beer
and pork so one flavor doesn't

overpower the other and both flavors remain authentic. Both Coleman
and Budweiser are very happy with how well both ingredients work
together."
Drew Calvert, vice president of innovation at Northglenn, Colo.based Niman Ranch, admitted this sort of collaboration was uncharted
territory for the company when it decided to team up with New
Belgium Brewing in 2019, but from the start, it felt like a natural fit.
"This partnership came together through a shared passion for
quality flavors and doing good in the world," Calvert said. "We are both
Colorado-based brands with teams who are passionate about creating
the most delicious craft products, sustainably."
New Belgium Brewing is a Certified B Corp., meaning that they
balance purpose and profit, have ambitious sustainability goals for their
company and work on public policy to protect the planet. Similarly,
Niman Ranch is the largest meat company in the Western Hemisphere to
be certified humane and is committed to supporting small independent
family farmers who are dedicated to raising their livestock with care and
using traditional farming practices that preserve biodiversity, support
pollinators, build soil health and protect our waterways.
Niman Ranch launched its Craft Beer BBQ Collection in the fall of
2019, pairing New Belgium's award-winning Fat Tire Amber Ale with
its certified humane meats. The initial team-up included Fat Tire Beer
Bratwurst, Fat Tire Spicy Cheddar Beer Bratwurst, Pulled Pork with Fat
Tire BBQ Sauce, Shredded Beef with Fat Tire BBQ Sauce and St. Louis
Ribs with Fat Tire BBQ Sauce.
"This line has been so successful, that we expanded it with the
Voodoo Ranger Mango Habanero IPA Beer Brats this past February,"
Calvert said. "The daring new brats get their heat from the bold spice of
habanero pepper balanced with Mmosaic and Amarillo hops from the
premium IPA, creating a fresh, clean and perfectly elevated brat."

supermarketperimeter.com

SP_May20.indb 53

MAY 2020 - 53

5/5/2020 4:10:55 PM

http://www.supermarketperimeter.com

Supermarket Perimeter - May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Supermarket Perimeter - May 2020