Hormel Foods and Jack Link’s Among Meat Snacks Manufacturers Meeting Consumer Demand

Meat snack manufacturers have started adding more variety to their products. Historically, the meat snack category has had two basic applications and flavors: strips and sticks in teriyaki, original, barbecue and spicy flavors. However, the protein trend has accelerated and manufacturers are having to add a wider range of new flavors and format to keep up.

Vancouver-based Premium Brands Holdings Corp. acquired the assets and operating divisions of a meat snack manufacturer Oberto Brands in mid-April. The Washington-based company is a manufacturer of beef jerky.

Oberto brands markets meat snacks under several brands: Oberto, Pacific Gold, Lowrey’s and Cattleman’s Cut brands. The company, founded in 1918, features a range of snack applications including the basics as well as bacon jerky, chicken strips, pepperoni jerky and a trail mix. The three varieties of trail mix feature a blend of dried fruit, nuts and pieces of beef jerky, teriyaki chicken and spicy sweet beef jerky.

Premium Brands also owns several food manufacturing and distribution businesses who operate in Canada and the United States. These include Raybern’s, Buddy’s Kitchen, Food Group, Belmont Meats and many more.

“I have no doubt that both Oberto and our legacy businesses will benefit from each other’s respective strengths.” George Paleologou, president and CEO of Premium Brands told Food Business News.

Oberto brands isn’t the only one who added wider range of meat snacks to their production. Jack Link’s added more products earlier this year, including a pork ring variety featuring eight grams of protein and one gram of carbohydrates per serving, along with three varieties of Lorissa’s Kitchen Beef Stick in smokey sweet, jalapeño flavours and original. An interesting addition is Jack Link’s Cold Crafted, which is a new line of portable snacks featuring smoked meats combined with cheese. Those snacks include smoked meat sticks with cheddar and pepper jack, and beef and cheese bites.

Hormel Foods is another manufacturer that introduced on-the-go snacks this past year. These snacks are available in four varieties: oven-roasted turkey breast with cheddar cheese cubes and chocolate covered pretzels which can also be paired with honey ham, or the same ingredients with pepper-jack cheese and chocolate covered blueberries. They also introduced oven-roasted chicken with mild white cheddar cheese and chocolate covered almonds.

According to the Global Meat Snacks Market Size Analysis (2018-2028), meat snacks are an indispensable component of today’s consumers’ diet. With the consumption of snacks increasing by the year, the global meat snack market size is estimated to be worth over $4.3 billion in 2018.

In North America, meat snacks are estimated to experience the fastest compound annual growth rate (CAGR). With a CAGR of 8.8 percent during 2016-2021 they are forecast to reach a value of $6.6 billion by 2021. With the growing demand for new protein snacks with on-the-go convenience, meat snack manufacturers are on board for a successful ride in the coming years.