CHICAGO – Meat-snacking companies are in a pickle. The category has a 53% household penetration rate, which pales in comparison to nuts and seeds (81%) and chips and pretzels (96%), said Tracy Quigley, brand director of Lorissa’s Kitchen, a subsidiary of Minong, Wis.-based Jack Link’s Protein Snacks, citing Nielsen panel data from July.
The reasoning for this decline is that consumers haven’t yet bought fully into the concept of meat snacks, said Tim Goldsmid, vice president of marketing for Jack Link’s. On average, jerky products are bought only six times a year, and that’s from people who say they “love” meat snacks, he said, citing Nielsen scan data from May. Goldsmid said the meat-snacking industry faces three challenges: altering consumers’ health perceptions to make them realize jerky isn’t junk food, lowering jerky’s price point and moving meat snacks to consumers’ top-of-mind products instead of in-store basket builders.
Here are three ways jerky suppliers and convenience-store retailers can boost jerky sales …
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