Demand for products in the meat snack category continues to grow. One key component of the growth is a continuing consumer focus on health and wellness. Today’s consumers embracing this popular trend tend to make more conscious decisions regarding their dietary choices and meat snacks offer a go-to option for those who want a convenient and protein rich alternative when snacking.

Polaris Market Research and Consulting, Dover, Del., said in its recent “Meat Snacks Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report… Segment Forecast, 2024 – 2032,” the market size was valued at $9.7 billion in 2023, and it is expected to grow from $10.3 billion in 2024 to $17.7 billion by 2032, for a compound annual growth rate of 7% during the forecast period.

Statista, a global data and business intelligence company, headquartered in New York, NY, projects the consumption of meat snacks and beef jerky in the United States to increase from 128.73 million consumers in 2020 to 132.58 million in 2024, based on US Census data and the Simmons National Consumer Survey (NHCS).

With the majority of meat snacks sold through retail channels, processors recognize packaging is an important element if they’re going to venture into the segment. But many companies produce meat snacks exclusively and have already figured out what their packaging needs are.

Perfect fit

Old Wisconsin produces over 40 million lbs of sausage and shelf stable meat snacks annually. In the last 10 years, the company has grown significantly and increased its production and manufacturing footprint. Old Wisconsin has plants in Sheboygan, Wis., and Montgomery, Ill., with Sheboygan being the location for thermal processing, stuffing and cut down and the Montgomery facility handling the manufacturing duties. The company focuses on meat stick processing.

Meat sticks are primarily sold through retail channels, making packaging a key attribute. Due to the increases in business, the company built the packaging plant in 2015 and moved into it in 2016. It handles 130,000 lbs of product a day from about 35 different formulations.

Chuck Pfrang, vice president of operations, said when dialing in the packaging process one of the key factors is portion size related to the application a customer wants to use. Within a given portion size there can be a single stick, which a customer might want in certain lengths or diameters, multiple sticks in certain lengths or bites.

“If a customer asks for a package to be 28 oz or 26 oz, that’s multiple sticks, and that’s typically six inches long,” he said. “If it’s 8 oz, 6 oz, or 5 oz, a lot of times it’s a four-inch stick.”

There are also individual sticks, the type that are often thrown in a lunch box or picked up at a convenience store. For these, it’s still a matter of what the customer wants.

“It starts with how big is the package size and then how long do you want it to be,” he said. “There’s a diameter-weight relationship based on the target length or weight.”

Old Wisconsin also manufactures bite-size snacks with multiple bites per package. Pfrang said they see a lot more one-inch bites going into smaller packages than in the past, and to get more pieces into the smaller sized package, the company will use a narrower diameter casing.

“We’ll use a 14, 15, 16 mm diameter and that allows you to get more bites in the package, whereas if we’re running an 8 oz package then we’ll use a larger diameter.”

The company packages 100% of multiple-stick packages with a tear strip and resealable zipper on the top of the pack, while single stick packages get skin packed.

“Multi-stick packages are always gas flushed with nitrogen,” Pfrang said. “We don’t produce a vacuum pack with multi-stick packages, there’s just too many voids for the oxygen to hide.”

Team effort

Striking the balance for packaging meat sticks, or any other product, means working with many different people and departments both inside and outside the company. Old Wisconsin’s sales and marketing team, its material and equipment suppliers, and those individuals working on the line and running the machines all play a crucial role and have valuable input to give when making decisions on packaging configurations.

Typically, the sales team works with operations to develop a package configuration that suits the needs of the customer, according to Pfrang. Many factors go into the design of a package, such as price point, portion size, product size or overall size requirements when the product is part of a snack kit. Old Wisconsin has the capability to manufacture several different package configurations to suit the needs of customers. In rare cases, such as a new product creation, the company may need to purchase new tooling for an existing packaging machine or even a completely new line.

Material relationships

When choosing its suppliers, Old Wisconsin’s operations team understands the similarities in the packaging machines currently on the market. Machine and equipment manufacturers all incorporate their particular uniqueness into every design, and processors often choose processing equipment based on those special features and attributes.

Pfrang said the company looks for specific qualities when working with equipment suppliers. Some of those qualities are inherent to the machines themselves. But he said there are other specific qualities he looks for within the manufacturer’s actions.

“In no specific order, reliability, quality, support, price and lead time,” he said. “Those are the things that we’re going to consider” especially when Old Wisconsin reviews its business each quarter because packaging is a part of that process.

After food safety and quality, the company will look at sales versus projections and the feedback from customers. In the rare case that sales appear to noticeably decline, all departments would begin looking into their operations and processes to make any needed adjustments.

Sustainability regarding meat stick packaging poses a continuous challenge for Old Wisconsin and its supplier partners to overcome.

The current focus is trying to come up with a recyclable films and pouches for meat snacks, he said. But the number one job of the packaging material and process, “…is to keep the product fresh and be airtight and be watertight, but I think the push for sustainability is not just from Old Wisconsin, it’s from everybody in the industry.”

Source: Vermont Smore & Cure

Snack ‘n sip

As meat snacks continue to grow in popularity, many new and different trends have emerged. While traditional flavors remain the overall favorites, according to a jerkybrands.com survey, other flavors consumers favor include teriyaki, peppered, spicy, smoked/mesquite, barbecue and hickory. Many flavor developers take these general flavors and differentiate them by incorporating a regional flavor into the general formula. For example, Windward Jerky Co., Eastvale, Calif., offers an Alaka’I Island Teriyaki Beef Jerky. The company uses a family-secret Hawaiian marinade passed down through generations. The flavor highlights hints of ginger, soy, garlic and pineapple.

Two Vermont, craftsman/artisan style companies have partnered on a snack stick flavor aimed at meat snack and cocktail enthusiasts. Vermont Smoke & Cure, a subsidiary of Johnsonville LLC, Sheboygan, released a limited-edition Maple Old Fashioned Recipe Smoked Pork Stick inspired by the classic Old Fashioned cocktail.

The first cocktail inspired meat snack contains both barrel-aged maple syrup and rye whiskey from WhistlePig Whiskey, Quechee, Vt. Once ready, the all-pork product will be smoked using wood chips repurposed from barrels formerly used to age WhistlePig’s whiskey.

“We recognized the longstanding tradition of pairing whiskey with cigars and saw an opportunity to echo that in our unique smoking process,” said Catherine Weiner, senior brand manager at Vermont Smoke & Cure. “This playful concept bridges the gap between traditional pairings and innovative snacking, offering a new way to savor the flavors of Vermont craftsmanship.”