All Wrapped Up

Case-ready meats are an increasingly growing and profitable segment for grocers.

Shoppers’ simultaneous penchant for both artisan-style products and convenience-oriented products — depending on the occasion, time constraints and budget at the time — is evident throughout the grocery store, including the meat department.

On one hand, there’s a base of consumers who like personal interaction with the butcher, and appreciate meat that’s been cut in the back room. At upscale markets in particular, where service and fresh, natural and locally sourced items are key selling points, the meat counter can be a main attraction.

On the other hand, there is another — and increasingly growing — segment of case-ready meat and poultry products merchandised as easy to buy, store and fix.

The result: retail meat departments that include a mix of products, from an array of case-ready fresh red meat and poultry items to basic tray-and-overwrap cuts.

Another result, and one tied to a high level of competition in the grocery industry, is the emergence of the meat department as one facet of a store’s identity. For example, while Trader Joe’s might hang its hat on case-ready meats merchandised as high-quality, value-oriented and convenient, a natural food or independent retailer might tout its in-house portioned meats and personal service; meanwhile, a mainstream supermarket is likely to offer options for both case-ready and service counter proteins.

Michael Uetz, principal/owner of the food industry marketing firm Midan Marketing in Chicago, says that packaging formats for meat and poultry are part of the bigger picture. “As more retailers offer case-ready meat products, other retailers are now using in-store cutting by butchers as a point of differentiation,” Uetz says. “Bringing consumers back to ‘how things used to be’ not only provides them with engagement and interaction, but also reassurance of product freshness.”

Case in Point

While packaging, merchandising and service vary by store type and location, the advent of case-ready packaging has had a significant impact on meat departments nationwide.

Tom Buttes, director of meat operations for the Bashas’ Family of Stores, based in Chandler, Ariz., says that packaged meats have had a largely successful foray into the traditional meat case, thanks to a combination of rising shopper demand and packaging advances. “All case-ready product and packaging have steadily improved as technology, plant design and processing techniques have improved,” Buttes notes. “The look of the meat case has also taken on a different look, with customer-friendly products being developed and displayed in our meat case, such as resealable packages, cook-in-the-bag items and individually wrapped products.”

Packaging suppliers agree that packaged meats offer both retailers and shoppers more options, and buyers have responded. “The macro trend of case-ready in the fresh meat case has grown. If we look at back at 2002, for example, under 50 percent of the meat case was case-ready Today, that number is closer to 70 percent,” says Jerry Kelly, national retail account manager for Sealed Air’s Cryovac brand food packaging, in Duncan, S.C. Kelly says that much of the growth stems from new case-ready pork and beef products that complement existing case-ready poultry offerings, as well as from innovative formats.

Findings from one recent study support that growth. According to the 2013 “Power of Meat” study, conducted by San Antonio-based 210 Analytics and jointly commissioned by the American Meat Institute (AMI) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), with sponsorship by Cryovac, nearly two-thirds of shoppers consider case-ready meat as good as meat packaged in the store itself.

The study also revealed that an increasing number of consumers express a preference for certain meat/poultry packaging that enhances convenience, and that freezer-ready, pre-portioned and resealable packaging designs are among the most sought-after packaging types.

Another industry trend is contributing to a greater influx of packaged meats: the smaller pool of skilled meat cutters. “It has been a challenge for retailers to find experienced butchers and meat cutters to work in their departments,” Midan’s Uetz says. “Case-ready products help to minimize this issue, as they can be simply stocked in shelves by department staff who might not be meat cutters or experienced in meat packaging.”

Cutting Back

Retail expert Burt Flickinger, managing director at New York-based Strategic Resource Group, likewise underscores the effect of fewer meat cutters. “One of the things that is really driving case-ready, as I’ve learned in talking to CEOs and food retailers across America, is that record highs in price, combined with lingering unemployment and underemployment, have led various local, county and state entities to eliminate trade schools that teach meat cutters,” Flickinger says. “Supermarket chains and food retailers depend on the vocational schools to teach one of the most treasured trades, and it’s become a lost art.”

Because the meat department can account for 30 percent or more of store sales, he adds, today’s case-ready items must meet shoppers’ wants and needs.

To that point, case-ready packaging for meat and poultry spans a variety of formats, from vacuum-skin packaging to cook-in-bag items to modified-atmosphere packaging (MAP), among others. Suppliers like Cryovac continue to develop innovative materials and applications that are increasingly a point of differentiation for branded meat products (e.g, vacuum-skin packaging for branded ground beef, and ovenable bags for branded whole turkeys).

Flickinger says that meat processors have helped build their branded product lines and enhanced their store brand or commodity presence with new packages that appeal to shoppers’ interest in longer shelf life, good eating quality, easy storage and use, and food safety. “Meat companies like Cargill and Tyson are coming up with new ways to make case-ready meats tastier and more competitive with the in-store butcher,” he observes. “Stores like Kroger and Meijer, for instance, have done an outstanding job in meat merchandising with their standing shish kebobs. Rather than laying them out, the merchandising is done in an entertaining way. The standing shish kebobs in the meat case practically say, ‘Buy me and cook me!’”

As such packaging formats lend a different look to the retail meat case, education is key in helping shoppers understand and buy packaged meats. “Consumers have a good idea of packages like vacuum packages for filets and pork loins, but they need to be educated more about MAP. They see the meat in the bottom of the plastic tray and the air in between it, and aren’t sure what it means,” says Flickinger.

Uetz concurs that education is important. “Retailers using case-ready products in their meat case must educate consumers on case-ready products, and get them comfortable with them,” he says.

In addition, retailers should educate themselves about cost structures related to meat packaging formats, Uetz suggests. “They have to balance the increased cost of case-ready products against reduced shrink and out-of-stocks. Case-ready products allow for shelf-life extension, which is good for inventory and loss control,” he says.

Meanwhile, beyond fresh red meat and poultry, packaging improvements are evident in other packaged meats. Bashas’ Buttes provides some examples. “There have been changes like microwavable bacon, lunchmeat packed in a resealable tub, and more items with reduced fat and sodium. Those are just a few of the innovations used by long-term branded items,” he says.

And lest the center of the plate get lonely, Buttes says side dishes “appear to be the fastest-growing new category in the meat department.”

“It has been a challenge for retailers to find experienced butchers and meat cutters to work in their departments. Case-ready products help to minimize this issue.”
—Michael Uetz, Midan Marketing