Magazine: End of year wurst-litzer with free-from hits!

Wieners and frankfurters are two of the most popular meat products, their buyer base is stable and demand for them has increased recently.

András Muzsek
CEO, Sága Foods

András Muzsek, CEO of Sága Foods Zrt. explained to us: the great variety of products, the many different sizes available, quick preparation, many ways of use and the numerous product price categories all contribute to massive annual sales.

Zoltán Szántó
senior product manager
PICK Szeged

The share of wieners/frankfurters in total processed meat product sales is 15 percent in value and more than 20 percent in volume. According to Zoltán Szántó, senior product manager of Pick Szeged Zrt., like-for-like volume sales were up 4 percent in 2018, while value sales jumped 8.6 percent. Since 2017 only those products qualify as wiener/frankfurter that contain minimum 51 percent meat and maximum 10 percent mechanically separated meat; in the product category there is now a differentiation made between Hungarian Food Book-compatible MÉK wieners/frankfurters and non-Food Book compatible ÉKK products.

Sales of the latter developed faster last year, increasing their share to 35.3 percent; 93 percent of ÉKK product are poultry wieners/frankfurters. Discount supermarkets dominate in sales, followed by hypermarkets, and 81.4 percent of volume sales were realised by pre-packaged products in 2018. The market share of private label products was 41 percent in value and 47 percent in volume – informed Pick Szeged Zrt.’s product manager. Zimbo Perbál Kft.’s experience is that there are many new product versions and formats available in the wiener/frankfurter market – said Beáta Németh, the company’s marketing manager.

Gábor Zab
domestic sales director
Kométa ’99

Gábor Zab, domestic sales director of Kométa 99 Zrt. informed Trade magazin that so-called cracking wieners are becoming more popular to the detriment of wieners in artificial casing, and demand is also on the rise for peeled wieners/frankfurters without collagen casing. The sales director added that none of the Kométa wieners/frankfurters contain soy or flavour enhancers, e.g. sodium glutamate.

András Garai
marketing manager
Gallicoop

András Garai, marketing manager of poultry wiener/frankfurter maker Gallicoop Zrt. called our attention to the trend that more shoppers want to purchase high-quality products than before, while demand is dropping for medium-quality and medium-price products. Éva Tamáskovitsné Gila, marketing manager of Gyulahús Kft. talked to our magazine about the biggest challenge manufacturers need to cope with: the rising price of pork. Zsolt Kazai, sales manager of Wiesbauer-Dunahús Kft. added that the price of pork had augmented by 35 percent in January.

Sága has been building the Füstli brand for 20 years. One of their main innovation directions is using as few additives in products as possible. Andrés Muzsek broke the news to us that in October they would launch the new, E-number free Füstli! The 230g product contains no additives at all and will be available in two flavours, Füstli Natural beech wood-smoked and Füstli Natural beech wood-smoked with Gouda cheese. What is more, the former is also lactose-, soy- and gluten-free, while the latter is soy- and gluten-free.

Pick Szeged Zrt. produces Pick, Herz and Família wieners/frankfurters from pork and beef only. Last year’s most important innovation from the company was Pick Pickolino wiener, a pleasantly smoky, peeled pork wiener with harmonic spicing. After the April 2018 launch the company rolled out the product’s 280g vacuum-packed version last autumn, targeting families, plus they came out with the 140g Pickolino Cheese product too. In June 2019 the latter’s 280g variant followed. September 2019 brought the debut of the 140g Pritamin Pepper-Cheese Pickolino – it is gluten-free and made without flavour enhancers.

Kométa doesn’t plan to add new wieners/frankfurters to its large product selection. Bécsi, peeled Bécsi and flavoured Bécsi wieners can satisfy consumer demand, while the little ones can have 320g peeled Kid Wieners. When New Year’s Eve is approaching, the company focuses on 800g products and on their 640g peeled Cocktail Wiener. What is more, at the end of the year sales of the Horseradish Bécsi and Cheese Bécsi wieners also increase.

Zsolt Kazai
head of sales
Wiesbauer-Dunahús

Last December Wiesbauer-Dunahús Kft. managed to increase both value and volume sales by more than 8 percent. Bécsi wiener in sheep casing has remained popular and sales of the no-casing peeled frankfurter product keeps growing. Size-wise consumers can choose from all kinds of products, from 170g to 1,000g. From the company’s new products Light wiener is special, because it stands alone in the Hungarian market: the 170g product contains 30 percent less fat – at the end of the year an 800g version will also be available in shops.

Beáta Németh
marketing manager
Zimbo Perbál

One of the most popular Zimbo products is the 2x200g cracking, beech wood-smoked wiener in sheep casing, which is characterised by high meat content and being free-from flavour enhancers and artificial colouring agents. The product doesn’t contain gluten, soy or lactose either; there is also a 1kg version of this wiener. Zimbo uses pork for making both wieners and frankfurters. The company produces mini wieners/frankfurters too, and they have also developed a wiener that is completely free from E-numbers, which will be launched soon.

Éva Tamáskovitsné Gila
marketing manager
Gyulahús

Gyulahús Kft.’s marketing manager talked to our magazine about how wiener/frankfurter sales start to grow at the beginning of the school year. Gyulai products are gluten- and lactose-free. It is a very important innovation direction for the company to use as few additives in production as possible. In the wiener high season they mainly sell wiener in sheep casing in the company’s own shops. They also manufacture private label products. Gyulai wieners/frankfurters are sold in bulk and in 180g and 360g pre-packaged versions.

In 2018 Gallicoop Zrt. sold approximately 240 tons of turkey wiener and they calculate with the same quantity in 2019 too. Product innovation tends to take mainly those directions for which consumer demand emerges. Right now the company is developing an E-number free frankfurter. Another new product, a 140g turkey wiener is already in the launch phase. They regularly participate in the tenders of retail chains, trying their luck with Bécsi wiener in foreign markets. Gallicoop celebrates its 30th birthday this year by publishing a cookbook. //