Snac World - May 2017 - 40

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

Top Meat Snacks Brands
Dollar sales
($mil)

%Change

Unit Sales
(mil)

%Change

Volume Sales
(mil lb)

%Change

510.5

1.4%

225.2

4.2%

39.4

5.8%

Slim Jim

239.6

-0.3%

114.9

1.9%

18.5

1.0%

Jack Links

Product
All Other Dried Meat Snacks

105.5

-6.2%

39.6

5.8%

6.0

-2.5%

Old Wisconsin

31.8

11.9%

6.6

13.4%

3.3

10.3%

Old Wisconsin Turkey Bites

12.3

31.5%

4.1

29.7%

1.0

30.3%

Duke's

10.7

56.9%

2.2

61.8%

0.6

59.8%

8.5

11.1%

3.5

9.2%

0.9

8.9%

Private Label
Penrose Big Mama

8.3

13.9%

5.8

20.2%

1.2

15.2%

Matador by Jack Link's

7.1

0.2%

6.3

0.0%

0.4

-1.2%

Tillamook Country Smoker

6.4

28.9%

3.9

27.1%

0.4

19.1%

Old Wisconsin Snack Bites

6.4

34.9%

1.4

38.0%

0.7

39.6%

Jack Link's Squatch

5.9

31.1%

5.8

28.2%

1.2

311.6%

Source: IRI
Total US Multi-outlet
52 Weeks Ending 02-19-17
Note: Many companies may have multiple brand listings in the IRI data.

vice-president and practice leader, at SNAXPO. "This
category is poised for future growth, and a lot of it is
going to come from the flavors."
Meat snack numbers have exploded with artisan
brands. Sales for barbeque flavors in 2016 were up 40%
and hot and spicy 41% over 2015. Hot and spicy has
been around for a long time, but in the US hot, heat,
chili is winning. Whiskey/bourbon flavors went up a
whopping 79%.
"Understanding the flavor preferences of your target
consumer is extremely important, and then implementing a creative twist, for example, innovation with
all the varieties of barbeque flavors," Ms. Lyons Wyatt
said. "Meat snacks are now going into kids' marketing.
They are portable, and there's a 'no waste' idea in meat
snacks - snout to tail. This success can migrate to
mainstream channels."
Protein is a highly desirable health attribute for
consumers, and meat snacks deliver this in spades.
Savvy producers can offer products with high protein
to provide the satiety of a meal replacement. They
can also clean up their labels and minimize additives
and preservatives to further attract health-conscious
consumers. For example, Epic Bites Uncured Bacon with
Pork & Sea Salt, by Epic, Austin, TX, contains 10 g protein
per serving.
"There are so many small companies that do healthfood snack alternatives in the natural space that mainstream producers would do better to acquire smaller
start-ups with better-for-you snack products, which is
what they are doing, or creating new health-centric
40

SNAC World

May 2017 www.snacintl.org

brands," said Kara Nielsen, Oakland-based independent
trend analyst.
Aside from smaller brands being acquired by larger
companies, there are many smaller emerging meat
snack brands, according to the Mintel report. Some of
these brands include Perky Jerky, Duke's Jerky, Country
Archer Jerky and Field Trip Jerky.
Many of these brands offer unique flavor profiles
and a variety of meat bases including beef, pork and
turkey. These smaller brands may be a better fit for
nontraditional retail outlets, including gyms and sporting goods stores.
Meat snacks pack a protein punch that few other
snack categories can match and the market for these
snacks continues to grow.
*

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