Magazine: Wiener: they are buying it!

Wiener and frankfurter sales are growing but the main driver of this growth are private label products. According to Zoltán Szántó, senior product manager of Pick Szeged Zrt. the volume share of wiener made from pork increased from 43.4 percent to 44.8 percent this year, while these products’ value share augmented by 3.5 percentage points to 53.2 percent. The market share of poultry wieners reduced just about this much. Nearly 80 percent of sales are realised by pre-packaged wieners. Erzsébet Szalayné Szilágyi, sales manager of Sága Foods Zrt. told us that discounters lead the way in wiener and frankfurter sales, followed by hyper- and supermarkets. Hajnalka Németh, commercial director of Pápai Hús 1913 Kft. informed Trade magazin that a growing number of consumers make their decisions based on convenience factors, adding that poor-quality wieners are losing ground. Sága’s view is that in the wiener category New Year’s Eve is the high season. Under the company’s popular Füstli brand they put a special innovation on the market this summer: Snacki & GO! is turkey wieners, which are also special because there is no other meat product in the snack category in Hungary. This product is in line with modern trends as it can be consumed on the go as well. They can be eaten cold too, they have very high 74-percent meat content, they are made without soy and they are gluten-free. Füstli Snacki & GO! is available in a plastic cup with protective atmosphere, in two flavours: smoked and smoked and cheese; the smoked version is even lactose-free. PICK Szeged is busy changing its brand and product portfolio in a way that it falls in line with market demand better. With the FAMÍLIA brand they try to serve the needs of consumers whose purchasing decisions are strongly influenced by price and promotion campaigns. 280g pre-packaged FAMÍLIA Poultry Wiener is one of the most popular products in this product line, but demand is growing for the pleasantly spicy FAMÍLIA Frankfurter too – sales of the latter soared 53 percent from December 2013 to December 2014. In the premium wiener in sheep casing category shoppers can buy the PICK Békebeli cracking wiener (pre-packaged), while in the artificial casing segment PICK smoked wiener is available – this product and the PICK long shelf life wiener can both be purchased from the deli counters of grocery stores. In the peeled wiener segment PICK is present with 180g Wiener and 180g Frankfurter. PÁPAI Hús sells a wide range of wieners and frankfurters. At the end of 2014 their sales were 6.4 percent higher than in the same period of 2013. This year they plan to launch no new product in the end of year high season. The bulk of Pápai Hús’ wiener sales is realised by products in sheep casing. Traditionally the company focuses on high-quality deli counter products, sold in 1-2kg packaging. They are also preparing for the winter holiday season with smoked meat products, as demand is high for these tasty traditional products. Tamás Kováts, sales director of ZIMBO Perbál told that sales of their dual-pack 400g Wiener have been growing steadily since it got a new design at the end of 2014. Although they are aware of the fact that price is the main decision-making factor for many consumers when buying wiener, they hope that quality matters too because it is one of the biggest strengths of ZIMBO Perbál products. In August the company appeared in shops with a new product line, which consists of 250g Debrecziner, 250g Wiener and 200g Veal Wiener. Péter Fábián, brand manager of Kaiser Food Kft. informed our magazine that both the company and the category performed well in 2014 and the positive trend continues this year. Luckily enough demand is growing for quality products like Kaiser Food’s wieners. From deli counter products the mildly smoked, cracking Kaiser Frankfurter is the best seller in terms of volume. In the pre-packaged segment Kaiser Gold Turkey wiener is consumers’ favourite, in both smoked and cheese version. This year’s main innovation was the appearance of mini wieners in the Gastro product line. n