BEEF JERKY BUSINESS NEWS

Low-carb businesses growing fat
Meaty snacks gain popularity as dieters shun sugar, bread
By Candace Goforth
Beacon Journal business writer

Americans are trying to lose weight, and, apparently, they're eating handful after greasy handful of pork rinds and beef jerky to do it.

The growing popularity of Atkins and other low-carb diets has had an impact on virtually every corner of the food industry: Major food manufacturers are introducing low-carb products, entire stores are catering solely to low-carb dieters, and the bread industry is scrambling to defend itself against the assault on all things carbohydrate.

But perhaps the most striking effect of the diets is their contribution to a sort of snack-food Cinderella story.

In their search for alternatives to carb-laden munchies, dieters have helped legitimize snacks like beef jerky, meat sticks and even the humble pork rind.

Sales of meat snacks have grown steadily over the last few years. And retailers are devoting shelf space to more kinds of dried and preserved meats than ever before.

No one is happier than Tom Stabosz, owner of Toxic Tommy's Beef Jerky and Spices based in Wadsworth.

Stabosz makes his beef jerky in special ovens in a space he rents from a pizza shop. Much of his business comes through sales on his Web site, www.toxictommy.com, and through small distributors in Indiana, Colorado and Florida.

He also sells his recipe to other beef jerky manufacturers.

Stabosz said he expects his 3-year-old company to do $500,000 in beef jerky business this year. Last year, he said, sales barely amounted to $50,000.

Certainly, much of that increase can be attributed to the natural growth of an upstart company. But, Stabosz said, protein-seeking dieters are the real heroes in his success story.

"I know for a fact that there have been customers who are specifically buying beef jerky products because it is considered Atkins friendly,'' he said. "It's not just the Atkins dieters, there's also people who are diabetic and can't have carbs and sugars. Part of the reason our business is continuing to grow is because of that.''

Stabosz's beef jerky has a certain amount of sugar, which drives up the carbohydrate content. Low-carb dieters have such an influence on his business that he is considering launching a product with less sugar.

But Stabosz is just one of many manufacturers, large and small, that have jumped on the snack-meat wagon.

For good reason. According to the Snack Food Association, sales of meat snacks have doubled since 1997.

Exhibitors offering every manner of beef jerky held an unusually prominent place at this year's National Association of Convenience Stores convention in October, said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for NACS.

Lenard said convenience store sales of meat snacks had increased every year since 1999, until last year, when sales dipped slightly. He said he doubts that decrease means fewer people are buying beef jerky. He suspects other causes, including the possibility that sales have gone to other retailers.

"We may be losing sales to other retailers that might have thumbed their noses at meat snacks in the past,'' Lenard said. "Pork rinds and beef jerky have always been thought of as for the Homer Simpson crowd. But now, with the Atkins diet, there's almost a cachet that beef jerky type products didn't have a few years ago.''

Pork rind king

Rich Rudolph can attest to that. His family's company, Lima-based Rudolph Foods, is the largest manufacturer of pork rinds in the world.

The product, made exactly as the name implies -- from the skin of pigs -- has never been considered a particularly highbrow food item. Used to be, pork rinds were relegated to the bottom of the gas station's snack shelf. Those who enjoyed pork rinds did so in the face of a certain amount of healthier-than-thou ridicule.

But these days, the salty puffed snacks are basking in a bit of snack-food glamour, often meriting their own display.

Even Rudolph, who grew up with pork rinds and makes a living convincing others of their merit, is a bit surprised by the trend.

"It is amazing to us, but at the same time, we want to run with the ball as much as is reasonably possible,'' said Rudolph, president of the 48-year-old company. "We've always said that our niche was underdeveloped. We knew it had a lot more potential, and when people really focused on our product, it would sell a lot more.''

Apparently, that's true.

Rudolph would not discuss specific numbers, but he said the company's sales have climbed more than 70 percent since 1998. From 1998 to 2001, growth in sales of pork rinds outpaced that of potato chips.

To meet the demand, Rudolph foods has gone from two plants in 1987 to six plants today, five in the United States and one in Mexico.

"We get kind of poked fun of periodically,'' he said. "But I think people have a misconception of our product.''

Namely, they figure pork rinds are high in fat. They are, after all, smoked, rendered pig skin deep fried in lard.

In fact, Rudolph said, the pork rinds have 5 grams of fat per ½-ounce serving -- the same as potato chips. But here's where the dieters get interested: 70 percent of pork rinds is protein.

Protein, key in low-carb diets, has helped get pork rinds their invitation to the ball.

Bread fights back

Entrepreneurs and manufacturers of other foods usually considered high in carbohydrates are working hard to keep from being left behind.

Snapple is now making a low-carb beverage. Good Humor-Breyers recently introduced Breyers CarbSmart Ice Cream and Klondike CarbSmart frozen novelties.

Even beer, often considered half a loaf of bread in a glass, has found its way into the low-carb diet with products like Michelob Ultra and Rolling Rock's Rock Green Light.

All this rallying around the low-carb flag has left the bread industry feeling a bit picked on. But it's standing up for itself.

Last month, the National Bread Leadership Council, formed by industry leaders, held a national summit to discuss the findings of its study on consumers' attitude toward bread.

The study found 40 percent of consumers eat less bread now than they did a year ago. The group stops short of blaming that change entirely on low-carb diets.

The biggest reason some consumers are turning away from bread is misinformation, NBLC said.

For example, the group's research found that only 17 percent of consumers recognized that breads and other grains make up the base of the food pyramid.

The goal of the NBLC is to educate these consumers, to remind them that nutrients found in whole-grain bread provide health benefits, including a proven reduction in the risk of heart disease. The council maintains these facts seem to have been lost in the frenzy to eradicate carbohydrates from the diet.

Purveyors of high-protein snacks can only hope the frenzy lasts. As far as they're concerned, any diet that counts pork rinds and beef jerky as health food can't be a bad thing.

"You could say we're riding the wave right now, and someday it's going to end, and people are going to go back to eating Ding Dongs,'' said Toxic Tommy Beef Jerky's Tom Stabosz. "But I don't think that, five years from now, people are going to say, 'Why were we on this beef jerky kick?' ''

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Beacon Journal
Dec. 8, 2003