Page 73 - February2019

of nuts has grown,” suggests Jacob Basecke, vice president sales and marketing for Hammons Products Company in Stockton, MO. “Today’s consumer has a better under- standing of the health bene ts of nuts, which has led to more uses, more applications and more versatility.”
Nut consumption also has grown with the rise of the plant-based food category. With the impact that dietitians and food bloggers have on consumers’ eating habits, these in uencers are reinforcing the importance of incorporating nuts into the mainstream diet.
“ e availability has improved over the years, as well,” says Basecke. “In past years, nuts were sold in produce only during the holidays. Now you see most stores carrying them in produce year-round, and typically with a prom- inent display and variety of nuts.”
Basecke says he is not surprised to see private label’s growth. “Traditionally, private- label brands o er great value but tend to provide very basic information of the product on their package. I’m seeing more and more private-label packaged nut brands roll out more creative package designs with added value information — nutritional bene ts on the front, sourcing info, new recipes — to try to appeal to a wider audience, and I think it’s working.”
Last fall, the company introduced its newly rebranded Hammons Black Walnuts retail packages. e new look includes a bright white and natural packaging highlighting the unique attributes (naturally bold avor, highest protein nut, wild harvested) of black walnuts.
Branding and the narrative that goes with it is proving an increasingly power sales motivator,
“I’m seeing more and more private-label packaged nut brands roll out more creative package designs with added value information — nutritional bene ts on the front, sourcing info, new recipes — to try to appeal to a wider audience, and I think it’s working.”
— Jacob Basecke, Hammons Products Company
one that some companies are using to good advantage. As Basecke points out, “Story telling is huge in today’s marketing strategies, so what better way for us to tell our unique story than to feature it on our packaging for consumers to learn about the wild harvest.”
Black walnuts are di erent from the more common English walnut, Basecke explains, “but probably the biggest di erentiator is where and how they are sourced.” English walnuts are grown in orchards mainly in California and harvested mechanically. Black walnuts are sourced from wild trees and foraged by hand by individuals across the Midwest.
“It is a grassroots fall tradition that involves thousands of people across the heartland collecting millions of pounds of wild black walnuts every year,” he notes. “It is such a unique harvest, we wanted to high- light the people of the black walnut harvest,
so each one of our eight sizes/SKUs pro les various people of the harvest.”
PURE AND SIMPLE
Howard Brandeisky, senior vice president, Global Marketing & Customer Solutions for John B. San lippo & Son Inc. in Elgin, IL, says health-minded consumers are looking for better-for-you snacks and nuts. ey are also looking for “pure and simple products. at is why all our Orchard Valley Harvest items contain no arti cial ingredients, no arti cial colors, no arti cial avors and no arti cial preservatives.”
Orchard Valley Harvest successfully markets “wellness mixes” that include an Omega-3 Mix, Antioxidant Mix and Heart Healthy Blend. It also introduced Salad Toppers over the past year, which has proven a major success. A better-for-you snack that is also indulgent is the company’s Orchard Valley Harvest Dark Chocolate Almonds, which are made with 65 percent cacao.
Orchard Valley executives have found that line pricing all of their company’s items is an e ective pricing strategy. “All of our 8-count multipacks are line-priced, and all of our 1.4- to 2-oz grab-and-go sizes are also line priced,” notes Brandeisky. e 8-count multi- packs are the best-selling size.
Americans’ love a air with nuts in general, and packaged varieties in particular, is only going to grow in the years to come. e attri- butes they demand are well known and avail- able in abundance — which means retailers looking to spur sales already know what they need to do. pb
n GROWING THE NUT CATEGORY
As in so many product categories, spurring trial is critical. With packaged nuts, barriers to trial that must be over- come at retail vary from lack of access to being unable to find the right va- rieties or size for specific occasions.
“This is an important question,” says Adam Cooper, vice president of market- ing for The Wonderful Company in Los Angeles, “and something that our people are always seeking to understand and quickly address, because we know if we overcome barriers to trial we can grow the category and delight consumers.”
For example, Cooper points out, some shoppers “really want flavored snacks, which is why we have a Wonderful Pis-
tachios In Shell Salt & Pepper and Sweet Chili, and why we are launching Wonder- ful Pistachios No Shells Honey Roasted and Chili Roasted in the Summer of 2019.”
For those shoppers who are not par- ticularly shopping for flavors, he adds, Wonderful’s Natural Raw options “are perfect for them. These are people that also have chosen some other raw nut or no nut at all if we did not offer that option. We look at barriers to trial all the time and work to address them.”
“Price is a barrier,” says Chad Hart- man, director of marketing for Truly Good Foods in Charlotte, NC. Nut pric- es “can get high, and spending for nuts when you can get a cheaper snack else-
where does not always happen. Consum- ers want to snack healthier, but in prac- tice, price sometimes gets in the way.”
Hartman says private-label packaged nut sales “are doing great. In many cas- es, if you trust a store enough to shop there, you also trust their brand and in turn the store-branded products.”
When it comes to merchandising, stand- up bags create “a larger billboard to attract the consumer,” says Hartman. “SUR [stand- up resealable] also have created more space on the shelf for retailers, which leads to betterselection,moresalesandpopularity.” Truly Good has found perimeter displays, front end-caps and grab-and-go at registers “all work great for increasing nut sales.” pb
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