MEAT+POULTRY - February 2015 - 29

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NUMBERS
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THE TOP
SAUSAGE
CONSUMING

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bout five years ago, Christopher
Salm was a finance and technology
consultant, while his lifelong friend,
Eric Romberg, was a mortgage lending
professional. Both desired a career change and
wanted to go into business together.
"We originally were dead-set on pursuing
craft brewing as a career and spent several
years researching it. But new microbreweries
began popping up in just about every town
across the country. Growing up around the
meat industry, I learned about Salm Partners
LLC's unique processing technologies [including
collagen co-extrusion, cook-in package
production systems] and thought, 'Let's apply
the same technologies of producing craft beer
to craft sausage,'" Salm explains. "Gilbert's
Craft Sausages (www.GilbertsSausages.com),
Wheaton, Ill., was formed in April 2010 and
by June 2010 I quit my former job to be with
Gilbert's full-time. Eric soon joined me and we
are now co-owners of the business."
Salm just happens to be the son of
Christopher P. Salm, one of four co-founding
brothers of Denmark, Wis.-based Salm Partners
LLC (www.salmpartners.com), a leading copacker of smoked sausages and hot dogs. This
leading-edge co-packer produces all of Gilbert's
Craft Sausages products - but it is not involved
from a management or equity standpoint.

GREAT OPPORTUNITY
Only a handful of key players dominate the
retail dinner-sausage category in the United
States, but many of them offer identical
products, Salm and Romberg claim. There's a
lot of room for growth within the artisan-style
sausage category where people are looking for
healthier products that feature higher-quality
ingredients and more unique flavors, they add.
"Consumers are willing to pay a little bit
more for such products," Salm adds. "We may

never be as big as Oscar Mayer, but we're
doing our own thing making different, high-end
sausage products."
Indeed, they are. The company's upscale
product line-up includes Beef & Bleu Uncured
Beef Smoked Sausage with Bleu Cheese; The
Froman Uncured Beef Franks (named after
Abe Froman, who is known as the Sausage
King of Chicago); Chipotle Mozzarella & Lime
Uncured Pork Smoked Sausage; Gluten-Free
Beer Bratwurst (the only one on the market);
Chicken Bratwurst with Sautéed Onions; Beef
& Cheddar Uncured Beef Smoked Sausage -
and the current best-seller Caprese Chicken
Sausage with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Basil and
Mozzarella. Two more yet-to-be-identified new
products will soon be launched.
Meanwhile, retail dinner sausage sales
continue their healthy climb. For the 52 weeks
ending Nov. 30, 2014, Retail Refrigerated
Dinner Sausage category sales (for the total US
multi outlet - supermarkets, drugs stores, mass
market retailers, military commissaries and
select club and dollar retail chains) totaled $3.2
billion, up almost 10 percent from the same
one-year earlier period, according to Infoscan
Reviews, IRI, Chicago.
Equally important, potential for further
sales growth exists. Although dinner sausage
is loved by millions of Americans, many others
haven't embraced this product because they're
unsure about the quality and safety of some
of the artificial ingredients in such products,
Salm says. Gilbert's strives to use only the
finest ingredients. All proteins used are fresh,
refrigerated and never frozen from animals
slaughtered within one week of arriving at
the plant. Suppliers include American Foods
Group, beef; JBS USA, pork; and Wayne Farms
for chicken. Gilbert's beef sausages also use
beef sirloin to gain better flavor and texture, as
well as a leaner nutrition profile.

CITIES 2013
Chicago
Detroit
New York
Atlanta
Washington, DC
Philadelphia
Boston
San Francisco
Pittsburgh

F AV O R I T E
SAUSAGE
13%
13%

30%

27%

Italian
Breakfast
Kielbasa
Bratwurst
Source: Oct. 2014 Harris Poll
of 2,000 US adults

$2.5

billion
spent on hot dogs
in US supermarkets
in 2013.
www.meatpoultry.com | 02.15 | MEAT+ POULTRY 29
Source: NHDSC/Nielsen Co.
http://www.GilbertsSausages.com http://www.salmpartners.com
MEAT+POULTRY - February 2015

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