The launch of Jimmy Dean brand bacon has proven wildly successful for Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods. The creation of the product is a tale of teamwork, one that Tyson Foods president and CEO Donnie Smith was only too happy to share with analysts at the Consumer Analyst Group Europe conference in London held in March.
“So a couple years ago, Hillshire Brands wanted to launch a Jimmy Dean bacon, knowing how strong the Jimmy Dean brand was at breakfast,” Smith explained. “But they didn’t have the supporting supply chain capabilities.
“Tyson has excellent supply-chain capabilities in bacon, so now with that capability we were able to launch Jimmy Dean bacon. The great thing about Jimmy Dean bacon is that as an example, in a grocery chain in the Northeast, we saw over 40 percent of shoppers switching from competitive brands into this brand so far this year.”
Jimmy Dean Bacon is available in Hickory Smoked and Applewood Smoked profiles and was initially distributed in 2015 in the Northeast, Dallas-Fort Worth, Florida and Phoenix-Tucson markets. Tyson positioned Jimmy Dean bacon to compete with other 16-oz., premium-category bacons at retail.
