Barbecue season on a low flame

By: Szalai László Date: 2023. 05. 03. 12:28

In a little more than a year and half, meat prices got 1.5 times bigger, and while the VAT on raw meat is just 5%, there is still a 27% VAT on processed meat products.

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2023/5

Tünde Matyasovszky, Bonafarm Zrt.’s senior brand manager (Valdor):

Tünde Matyasovszky
senior brand manager
Bonafarm

“It is still supermarkets and discounters where customers can choose from the biggest selection of grill products. Meats and sausages continue their reign, but grill cheese and vegetable products are coming up”.

Gyopár Géger, Bonafarm Zrt.’s brand manager (Pick Fresh meat):

Gyopár Géger
brand manager
Bonafarm

“As regards meat types, poultry is the most popular, because it can be roasted rather quickly, especially chicken breast fillet, chicken thigh fillet and chicken wings”.

Discount supermarkets in a key role

András Benkő
sales and marketing director
Kaiser Food

After the price hikes of last year, this year can be a real milestone in shaping consumption habits.

András Benkő, Kaiser Food Kft.’s sales and marketing director:

“It is already clear now, in the first quarter of the year, that this year consumers are downgrading to products of almost similar quality, which are cheaper. People don’t just favour buying in discount supermarkets, but other store formats are also switching to discounter type smaller assortments, which causes problems to brand owners”.

Hungarian consumers prefer tried and tested traditional tastes

In the pork segment Bonafarm offers Pick Fresh meat, while in the poultry category the company is present with the Valdor brand. Marinated Valdor fresh chicken products contain no preservatives, added flavour enhancers or colours, so they are the perfect choice for health-conscious consumers. The biggest advantage of Pick fresh meat products is that they meet strict requirements and are fully traceable. These meats have high added value, as they come from pigs raised exclusively on GMO- and antibiotic-free animal feed, in the best animal welfare conditions.

In the grill cheese segment contest is getting fiercer between manufacturers’ brands and private labels

New flavours, new format, new design

This year Kaiser Food Kft. added a cheese and a cheese-piquant grill sausage to its product selection. Not only new flavours, but also new product formats will be waiting for customers in stores, packaged in the brand new design of the Kaiser brand.

Zsolt Kazai, Wiesbauer-Dunahús Zrt.’s sales manager:

Zsolt Kazai
sales manager
Wiesbauer-Dunahús

“Shoppers like our mix selections the most, which feature several types of products. Last year our 300g Party Mini mix debuted with great success, but the 360g GrillMix was also very popular. Unfortunately this year isn’t about innovations, as for many the goal is survival”.

The Wiesbauer brand is so well-known and popular that sales of their branded products don’t decrease in a period when sales of the private labels they make keep growing.

Expanding distribution

Zsuzsa Takácsné Rácz, Pápai Hús Kft.’s sales director:

Zsuzsanna Takácsné Rácz
sales director
Pápai Hús

“Discount supermarkets are increasing their share in sales year after year, so it is important for us to be present on the shelves of these with our branded products from 2023. Last year the company successfully launched its Hipster grill offal sausage products, and this year their new grill sausage flavour will appear in several retail chains. What is more, the marinated products of Pápai Hús Kft. will also become available in new retail chains.”

Balázs Hunya
senior brand manager
Bonafarm

Balázs Hunya, Bonafarm Group member Sole-Mizo Zrt.’s senior brand manager:

“Grill cheese is also popular when the barbecue season comes, but the recent economic hardships have had a negative effect on buying frequency, as volume sales dropped 20%. While back in 2021 private label grill cheese had a 30% market share, by 2022 this jumped to 40%. Our company has reacted to new type shopper needs with smaller Mizo grill cheese products, made using a new recipe”.

Collaboration for new flavours

In October 2019 Szarvasi Agrár Zrt. started producing premium cheese. Severus Nacsa, head of the FMCG and marketing division:

Severus Nacsa
head of FMCG and marketing
Szarvasi Agrár

“This year we don’t calculate with a drop in demand for grill cheese, because the category already has a stable group of buyers. Last year consumer interest was the biggest in our plain grill cheese product, which was responsible for 39% of total sales. The second best-seller was the 2022 innovation, a bear’s garlic variant, while the third most popular was chilli grill cheese, with a 22% sales share in 2022”.

Szarvasi Agrár Zrt.’s latest innovation is flavouring grill cheese products with GMO-free Kotányi spices. In addition to the basil and herb variants, they are already working on new grill cheese specialties in collaboration with Kotányi. //