Long-established Hungarian meat brands stand firm

Although meat is one of the essential food products, the market was unable to evade the effects of economic recession. Zoltán Nagygyörgy, PICK Szeged Zrt.’s product manager told us that the company reacted to people’s more cautious spending by focusing on promotions, in cooperation with retail chains. Krisztina Bódi, Kométa 99 Zrt.’s marketing director spoke about the emergence of cheaper products and the growing market share of private labels. Despite this trend strong brands such as Kométa Kemencés roasted ham were able to keep their market position. Éva Tamáskovitsné Gila, Gyulai Hús Zrt.’s marketing manager revealed that the first three months were really poor on the meat product market but the second half of spring brought some improvement. Gábor Temesvári, the owner of Temesvári Hús Kft. is of the opinion that 2010 is going to be a difficult year. Discount stores are trying to drastically lower prices, even at the cost of quality. It is needless to say that Temesvári Hús is not willing to make such compromises. Research data by Nielsen did not indicate significant changes in product structure or packaging types. Kométa is a strong umbrella brand and the company’s goal is to offer consumers good quality products in all the categories Kométa covers.

Their portfolio is characterised by constant renewal and they never cease to innovate. Market leader PICK Szeged Zrt. has several brands and product ranges at its disposal, therefore they can reach retailers and consumers targetedly. Their latest move is bringing back the Herz brand to the market this September. This prestigious salami brand returns to the market with sliced salamis and sausages, informs Éva Kulich, PICK’s marketing manager. PICK’s traditional brand line is widely and deeply structured: from the more simple sausage types in Pick Szögedi try to Pick Winter Salami everything can be found in the portfolio. From autumn the company’s biggest ‘marketing tool’ will be the changes in the image of Pick’s basic range. Délhús sausages are favourites with less well-off consumers. Gyulai Hús Zrt. is well-known for its traditional Gyulai and Csabai brands, but they also introduced the Békési brand name – liver sausage, pariser, lunch meat and ‘lecsó sausage’ belong to this range. Another way forward is healthy eating: Gyulai liver sausage is already lactose- and gluten-free and the company intends to extend this characteristic to Gyulai and Csabai sausage and to Csabai Csípős. One of the main elements in the marketing strategy of Temesvári Hús is popularising the brand itself: because of the name many people still think it is a foreign company. Their main message is that the brand name Temesvári stands for high quality Hungarian products. Temesvári’s leading products are sausages: peasant’s sausage, horse sausage and different thick sausages. Their latest novelties are hot-pepper sausage and deli salami.