Applegate Meat Company Partners with Whole30 Diet Plan

Hormel Foods’ brand Applegate, has partnered with Whole30, a popular elimination diet plan, to receive their stamp of approval on 17 meat products. The diet plan receives over 60,000 Google searches per month and is primarily based on eliminating grains, dairy, legumes, alcohol and sweeteners entirely from participant’s diets for 30 days.

Hormel plans on building on this diet’s popularity to boost their own product sales. With consumers consistently looking for healthy food options, this new Whole30 stamp on their products will likely catch the attention of those looking into the diet. The company also claims that their Applegate products are organic and naturally sourced, which will also help their efforts to transition into the health-food category.

“At Applegate, we are motivated to continuously offer delicious food choices that fit in with a diverse range of eating habits and lifestyles. We are delighted to be working alongside Whole30 to deliver Whole30 compliant options to consumers,” said Nicole Glenn, Applegate vice president of marketing.

According to the Whole30 website, the diet is a 30-day restrictive diet that is designed to “cleanse” the body through eliminating foods that are in “the most common craving-inducing, blood sugar disrupting, gut-damaging, inflammatory food groups.” Foods that contain any sugar, grains, dairy and legumes are completely removed from the nutrition options the dieters have.

Applegate’s 17 approved products can be found on their website under “Whole30 Approved.” These approved products include hot dogs, no sugar bacon, prosciutto, roast beef, turkey burgers and grilled chicken breast strips.

Applegate’s partnership will likely increase product awareness in the market, but the brand found success in sales prior to this relationship as well. When Applegate was purchased by Hormel in 2015, the brand was forecasted to generate annual sales of $349 million.

Food manufacturers have partnered with popular diet brands before to help boost the sales of their products. Weight Watchers is well known for having a points system with their diet plans and they have partnered with many food brands to have Weight Watchers points on their packaging. These partnerships have proven to be successful for both parties because it makes it easier for consumers who are following the diet to purchase affiliated products.