Giving the Industry Guidance.
No one can tell the meat industry’s story better than someone who has actually lived it. Midan Marketing leads the conversation by bringing together unparalleled experience and deep understanding of what motivates today’s meat consumers.
Blog
Discover the Top 3 Ways to Reach 5 New Meat Consumer Segments
Earlier this year, Midan Marketing released our Meat Consumer Segmentation 3.0 research, giving a snapshot of today’s meat consumers. One way to get to know the five new segments is to understand how they each feel about three of the top drivers that have a growing...
Utilizing Segmentation To Better Understand Meat and Poultry Consumers
In theory, every product that goes into the food supply chain should be created with the end user (the consumer) in mind. And that thinking applies just as much to fresh beef, pork and chicken as it does to ice cream or Goldfish® crackers. Starting with the end in...
Curate Your Meat Case Using Five New Meat Consumer Segments
The last several years have changed consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic uncertainty that followed have altered consumers’ habits and behaviors in all aspects of their life, including grocery shopping. Now it’s time to get to know your meat customers...
Reflecting on Meat’s Role
Earlier this year, “The societal role of meat – what science says” was published in the Animal Frontiers journal. This paper, along with the series of secondary papers quoted throughout, is the culmination of the work done during the International Summit on the...
Explore the 4 Topics That Had Everyone Talking at AMC 2023
Earlier this year, I had the privilege of meeting in person once again with individuals from all parts of the meat industry during the 2023 Annual Meat Conference. In the three years since the last conference, our world has been completely disrupted by COVID-19. Every...
Tough Economic Times Impact Supply Chain – From Labor to the Consumer
In March, members of the Midan team descended upon Dallas to join the rest of the meat industry for the 2023 Annual Meat Conference. Data and insights were shared from all sides of our industry – from using influencer marketing effectively to the value of supply chain...
Do Your Marketing Claims and Attributes Matter to Today’s Meat Consumers?
Through all the ups and downs of the last several years, shopper demand for meat products has remained strong. But as consumers continue to navigate economic pressures, health and sustainability concerns, the meat industry and retailers will need to collaborate to...
3 Key Messages About Pork in 2023
At Midan, we talk a lot about “sharing your story” with consumers in an effort to make animal agriculture more accessible. Those of us in animal ag must make a conscious effort to step back to understand the consumer perspective. Getting a clear understanding of what...
Recurring Research Theme: Concerns About Antibiotics, Hormones and Animal Welfare
The use of antibiotics and hormones in animal agriculture is a conversation that we’ve been having for years, and I imagine we will continue to have. In 2021, consumers gravitated toward antibiotics claims to the tune of more than $8 billion in sales of meat and...
Promote Beef Attributes to Keep Interest High During Inflation
Consumers today are incredibly aware of and concerned about inflation, and it’s impacting the way they shop for groceries, especially higher priced items like meat. In June, shoppers were paying 8.2% more than last year, on average, at the meat case.1 This continues...
Stability, Value Messaging Ease Consumer Worries During High Inflation
Inflation — a topic none of us are excited about, yet all of us are keenly aware of. The June inflation numbers, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in July, showed that overall inflation is up 9.1% year-over-year with even higher percentages appearing...
Convenience is King to Today’s Meat Consumers
Fall is once again right around the corner, bringing with it school, homework and extracurriculars that push the average consumer’s schedule into overdrive. On top of that, inflation is at an all-time high, adding one more layer of stress to the weekly grocery trip....
Fire Up the Grill for This Summer’s Three Hottest Consumer Categories
As temperatures warm up, consumers have started planning for grilling season. For this summer’s backyard barbecues, we expect there will be three distinct consumer mindsets at the meat case: the cost-conscious consumer who is feeling the effects of inflation but still...
Top 3 Takeaways From NGA Meat Trends Presentation
Midan Marketing Principal Michael Uetz spoke during The NGA Show 2022 about current consumer trends at the meat case. In case you missed it, here are the top three takeaways from the presentation: 1. Supply Chain Woes Have Reached Consumers We have all dealt with...
A Look Ahead at 2022’s Top Meat Trends
As we slip into a new year, the Midan Marketing team has been looking at which trends from 2021 we believe will stick around as well as those new trends we can expect to see in 2022. Our blog detailing 2022 trends for the meat industry is available on our website, but...
Use Animal Welfare to Get Meat Consumers Engaged With Sustainability
As 2021 ends and we look toward the upcoming year, sustainability is one trend we feel certain will stick around. It has been gaining momentum for several years and is now a term that is commonplace for most shoppers. However, that doesn’t mean consumers fully...
Communicate the Value of Meat to Combat Rising Prices
For more than a year, the U.S. consumer has been forced to weigh fears around the economy and health, along with other issues a pandemic and life in general bring. In July, Americans were split on their concern for the public health crisis and the economic crisis.1 We...
Convenience and Premiumization – Two Trends Expected to Influence Fall Gatherings
This year, many Americans are hoping for a normal fall and holiday season. Vaccinations have helped many people feel more comfortable traveling and gathering again. As virus waves and variants come and go throughout the country, many retailers find they’re still...
Three Meat Snacks That Are Making a Comeback
3D printing technology is not new to the food world – chocolatiers have been using the technology for years to create intricate shapes for their pieces. Chocolate, of course, is softened when heated and then hardens at room temperature. This makes it easy to heat...
Learn How Alternative Meats Are Transforming The Meat Case
The meat case today looks different than it did just a few years ago. Branded meat, plant-based meat alternatives, claims, nutrition callouts, new packaging types – today’s meat case is in the process of a total transformation. New technologies, including cell-based...
Use Omnichannel Marketing To Reach Online Meat Shoppers
The biggest shift grocery retailing has experienced due to the pandemic is likely the increased adoption of online shopping, especially in the perimeter departments, where consumers were not yet comfortable allowing others to choose their products. According to the...
Does Your Meat Case Reflect the Diversity of Today’s Multicultural Consumer Base?
With each new generation, the population of the United States is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show that about 60% of Americans today identified as non-Hispanic White in 2019. By 2030, that number is expected to...
See Why More Meat Consumers Are Hopping On Board the Charcuterie Trend
From 15th century French origins to social media phenomenon – charcuterie has made an impressive and visually pleasing comeback. Charcuterie boards traditionally feature a curated selection of cured meats and cheeses alongside noshes like crackers, berries, nuts and...
Four Key Drivers That Will Keep Meat Consumers Coming Back
The meat case has changed significantly in the last decade, but so has the consumer. Today’s meat shopper has a lot on their mind when making meat purchase decisions – sustainability initiatives, product convenience, food safety, animal welfare, the use of antibiotics...
Is Your Meat Case Stocked With Claims Your Customers Are Looking For?
The COVID-19 pandemic has put health in the spotlight. During the tumultuous year that was 2020, personal health and the health and well-being of others was repeatedly a concern of consumers.1 When it comes to the meat case, consumers often equate “health” to natural,...
Consumer Insights Are The Key To Retail Success
Data – it’s at the heart of every business decision. Should you run the same St. Patrick’s Day corned beef promotion as last year? What meat cuts do your shoppers usually gravitate toward in the early spring? Is there a new opportunity to cross promote fresh produce...
Technologies That Will Impact The Meat Case In The Next Five Years
The science fiction genre has long been predicting the technologies and foods of the future. In the 1970s and ‘80s, 2021 was a far-off world ripe for narratives. Lucky for us, few of the stories provided an accurate picture of our reality – we aren’t eating wafers of...
Turn The Pandemic’s Unforeseen Changes Into Future Business Growth
2020 has been a year for the history books. Just inside the grocery store walls, we have experienced panic buying, supply chain disruptions, hero pay, out of stocks, price increases, new cleaning regimens and customer mandates, and – maybe finally, a sense of what our...
Use Brand Power To Grow Revenue And Loyalty In Fresh Meat
Historically, fresh meat – especially beef – has been sold as a commodity with no brand labeling. Today, the meat case has more brands in it than ever – national brands (like Tyson, Hillshire or Perdue), private label brands (including store-branded products) and...
Meal Solutions Offer Options for Consumers and Opportunities for Retailers
The past several months have created millions of more confident home cooks, many by necessity. With restaurants and office buildings closed, American consumers have been spending more time at home and in the kitchen.According to Midan’s July COVID survey of meat...
Data Shows Consumers Reaching For Fewer Meat Snacks
The coronavirus pandemic has upended how consumers eat as well as what they are eating. For most retail categories, this has been a boon – with significantly more dollars being spent on groceries to offset the decrease in dining out. But one category has lagged behind...
Blended Proteins: A Healthy Balance For Retailers And Flexitarians
As consumer attitudes toward meat are undergoing significant changes, new lines of meat alternatives are hitting the shelves every day. These changes are being driven by shifts in the U.S. population toward younger generations with increasingly diverse ethnic profiles...
Multicultural Consumers Are Vital to Your E-Comm Meat Purchases
Every day, the U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse. In fact, 44% of Millennials, the largest living generation, are considered multicultural.1 The traditions and heritage of multicultural consumers – including U.S. Hispanics, African Americans and Asian...
Meat Processors in the Spotlight: Five Best Practices for Transparency
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive, heartbreaking devastation both in the number of lives lost and the number of livelihoods threatened. The meat industry has been hit especially hard: 67 meat plant workers have died and more than 17,000 have been sickened. In...
Replace My Bone-In Ribeye? Never.
Last week you read in Steve Hixon’s blog that he and I attended the Cultured Meat Symposium last November in San Francisco. Steve shared from a very personal perspective the dichotomy he faces daily as a voracious carnivore with a family unit that includes a...
What’s Really Driving Plant-Based Protein Purchases?
If you’ve been paying attention to the happenings in Hollywood, you might think that meat will have a starring role in the next big-screen blockbuster as the evil villain. Along with the Golden Globes serving a meatless entrée at its awards ceremony, prominent actors...
The meat industry could take a page out of baseball’s book
Another World Series is complete. While my Chicago Cubs weren’t in it this year, I always love the Series when we watch two great organizations come together to show how well they play as a team. It takes some very talented individuals who decide they want to work...
Flexitarians: Don’t write them off
I must admit I was amused by the banter that followed Gregory Bloom’s blog a few weeks ago entitled, “The fake meat fad will fade.” The extended list of comments showed that even within the meat industry, there are varied and very strong opinions on the potential...
Understanding meat eaters’ key drivers to purchase
As a researcher who has been tracking the consumers’ relationship with meat for many years, I get very excited when the consumer is the headliner at an industry conference. This was the case at the 2019 Annual Meat Conference held in Dallas earlier this month. Nowhere...
Tomorrow’s Meat Consumer: Are You Ready?
I recently had the honor of presenting at the 2018 World Meat Congress (WMC) in Dallas on June 1. Hosted by The International Meat Secretariat and the U.S. Meat Export Federation, WMC brought together more than 700 meat industry leaders from 40 countries to discuss...
Top Six Meat Industry Trends
There’s a saying in the Midan office: “What got us here, won’t get us there.” It’s a reminder that we need to keep our game sharp to compete in the ever-evolving meat industry. It was in that same vein that my partner Danette Amstein and I presented the top meat...
AMC 2017 Top 10
Bigger than ever before (with 1,300 attendees!), the Annual Meat Conference (AMC) 2017 was an awesome opportunity to hear from experts across all phases of the meat industry about what’s next for our favorite proteins. We came prepared with our trusty notepads and...
Five Opportunities to Sell More Fresh Meat
At Midan, our Market Research Team is always scoping out the consumer trends that are having the biggest impact on the meat industry. A key part of our job is to help our clients understand the implications those trends can have on their business. By assigning meaning...