A Pork Checkoff-funded project has made the case for ground pork’s place in the meat case. During a recent National Pork Board webinar, Joyce Hoppes, consumer information director, Iowa Pork Producers Association, explained the initial test-and-learn with 70 Hy-Vee stores across the Midwest resulted in nearly a 20% sales growth for ground pork in the test stores.

"Iowa along with seven other states have been teaming with the National Pork Board to work with the Hy-Vee grocery store chain. Hy-Vee has about 285 stores in the eight-state area that we're working in so Hy-Vee selected 70 stores, 35 of them were test stores and the other 35 were control stores," Hoppes said.

In the test stores' meat cases, a ground pork section with 11 different ground pork options was added. The ground pork section was then placed in the middle of the ground meat section of the meat case, so right next to ground beef.

The goals of the project were to increase consistent distribution of ground pork, place ground pork where consumers expect to find it — next to other ground meat, and provide choice by adding different fat/lean levels, like beef.

"Ground pork sales in the test stores ended up being 20% higher than in the control stores so we were very pleased with that and obviously Hy-Vee was pleased too because they decided to expand their ground pork section to all 285 Hy-Vee stores and they're currently in the process of resetting those meat cases," Hoppes said.

Hoppes said the next step is to take this information gained and share it with other retailers.

"It takes some of the risk out for that retailer too because they may be concerned about making changes or trying something so we're de-risking it a little bit for the retailer and showing them how they can try different things," Hoppes said. "We know that during COVID that 50% of the households that tried ground pork were trying it for the first time. They had never ever purchased ground pork before that time."

Ground pork is often considered, a "destination item" meaning consumers are purchasing it for a specific recipe in mind, Hoppes said. However, Pork Board research also found that ground pork appeals to a younger audience with many young consumers choosing it for recipes such as ground pork stir-fry.

The research also concluded consumers want choices and one choice when it comes to ground pork is they want more than just the 80/20, Hoppes said.

"They want 90/10 fat/lean ratio products, just like they would find with their ground beef items, so they want choices as well as they want that product right next to each other in the meat case so that they can make choices and substitute if they would like ground pork," Hoppes said.

Hoppes said the project is going to continue to be a focus for the rest of this year and into 2023 and beyond, as the team continues working with retailers to help them implement ground pork and give them ideas and suggestions and help them when they have issues and concerns.

"We're also going to work with that consumer to continue to give them ideas for using ground pork," Hoppes said.