Today’s grocery shoppers want the most bang for their buck, prioritizing nutrition, flavor, and value when they’re exploring new brands. That’s a lot to deliver! Fortunately, brands offering value-added protein have an instant leg up. Approximately 92% of shoppers agree that meat and poultry are a great value (Progressive Grocer, 2023) – and that perceived value only goes up when paired with delicious custom sauces, dips, and marinades. In fact, premium sauces can make customers even more likely to purchase protein, elevating classic cuts like chicken breast and strip steak. Read on for a few examples of our favorite chicken marinades, sauces for steak, and other retail trends in the value-added protein space.
Build Retail Loyalty with Scrumptious Sauces for Chicken and Beef
First, let’s dig into why customers are reaching for value-added protein options.
With the rise of hybrid work and a renewed focus on work-life balance, more consumers are looking for food solutions that align with their increasingly casual and flexible schedules (Kantar Profiles/Mintel 2022). In other words, customers are looking for convenience, which means opting for protein they can pop into the microwave, air fryer, or oven with minimal fuss. They’re also willing to pay for that convenience, with 39% of red meat consumers in the U.S. saying that pre-prepared meals featuring red meat are worth paying more for. Meanwhile, 34% of poultry consumers say that it’s worth paying more for pre-cooked poultry products (Mintel 2023).
Finally, chicken is the most popular value-added protein, closely followed by beef. Specifically, 84% of consumers eat chicken weekly, and 72% eat beef (Consumer Beef Tracker 2024). With so many consumers purchasing these proteins, innovative flavors are an absolute must.
So, how can you attract those shoppers? First, look to the retail trend data for a little saucy inspiration. Incorporating marinades, glazes, and sauces can elevate your proteins with unique flavors that consumers can’t wait to try.
Top Retail Trends in Poultry
Value-added poultry products with pre-portioned sauces, dips, and marinades deliver the value and flavor that customers crave. We’ve crunched the numbers, and below are a few examples of the most popular flavor profiles for value-added formats:
- Buffalo: Today’s customers are all about hot, spicy goodness. Buffalo Sauce continues to be a crowd-pleaser, with a spicy tang that kicks any value-added protein up a notch. Who can resist a crispy frozen chicken wing paired with a pre-portioned Buffalo Sauce in a handy dip cup?
- Sweet and smoky: Today’s sweet-smoky options go way beyond classic barbecue flavors. We’d recommend a pre-portioned chicken breast meal with a Maple-Chipotle Glaze for a rich finish.
- Fresh and herbal: Pre-marinated garlic, herb, and lemon chicken will appeal to health-conscious foodies.
- Global flavors: Customers continue to reach for global flavors, whether that’s Harissa, Korean BBQ, Jamaican Jerk, or tangy Greek Dressing. Frozen applications lend themselves especially well to global sauces and marinades, allowing customers to try something new without investing in an entire bottle of sauce.
Top Retail Trends in Beef
Whether they’re cooking at home or dining at a restaurant, about 90% of consumers feel satisfied when they choose beef (Consumer Beef Tracker 2024). And, as we mentioned above, value-added beef specifically continues to be a favorite among grocery consumers. When it comes to the best sauces for beef, below are a few of today’s top trends:
- Smoky: Smoky sauces – Hickory BBQ Sauce, for example – continue to be crowd-pleasers, especially for consumers who may not have the time or space to grill their own meat. In cases like these, pre-marinated Hickory Smoked BBQ Steak can be a perfect fit.
- Spicy: Just like in poultry applications, customers love their red meat with a side of spice. If you’re looking for dipping sauces for steak, we’d go with a Spicy Chimichurri, Horseradish Cream Sauce, Jalapeño Ranch, or Spicy Honey Garlic.
- Global flavors: Rich, global-inspired sauces like Mole, Teriyaki Garlic, Chimichurri Rojo, and Korean BBQ are an ideal pairing for red meat – for example, a frozen teriyaki beef meal with a perfectly portioned, microwaveable drizzle.
Today’s busy consumers are all about convenience and flexibility, and value-added protein options are an easy yes. Make that yes even easier with crowd-pleasing sauces, dips, dressings, and marinades, like a classic BBQ or a trendy Spicy Honey Garlic sauce.
And if you really want to stand out, lean on the custom capabilities of our team at Giraffe Foods. Our culinary experts can elevate a classic – Buffalo Sauce, for example – by transforming it into Buffalo Ranch, Garlic Parmesan Buffalo, Buffalo Maple Sauce, Buffalo Thai Chili or Buffalo Blue Cheese. That’s just one example of the ways we can fire up your value-added options with unexpected flavors. Whether you’re enhancing your value-added protein product with mouth-watering marinades for beef or scrumptious sauces for chicken, we can help. Our culinary researchers and kitchen experts can provide the latest insights into protein flavor trends. By partnering with a custom sauce formulator like Giraffe Foods, you can stay ahead of trends and build real loyalty among your customer base.
