“We are excited to add Golden Island to our strong portfolio of brands, as it provides an entry point into the attractive dried meat snacks category,” said Sean Connolly, president and CEO of Hillshire Brands. “This highly appealing category generates retail sales of more than $2 billion annually and has had 10 percent volume growth over the past two years.”
Made with all natural ingredients, no preservatives and less sodium than traditional jerkies, the Golden Island brand joins high-end brands Aidells and Gallo in Hillshire Brands’ Gourmet Food Group division. Sally Grimes, senior vice president and chief innovation officer, additionally will oversee the gourmet division as president.
“Hillshire Brands is the perfect company to help take the Golden Island brand to new heights,” said Anna Kan, president of Golden Island. “I look forward to continuing to work with the great people at Hillshire Brands to maximize our potential.”
A family-owned business with 60 years of specialty meat experience, Golden Island produces 20 gourmet varieties of jerky using a proprietary cooking and marinating process to kettle-cook its beef and flame-grill its pork jerky in small batches. The products are available at select Costco locations nationwide.
