If you read Progressive Grocer’s recent article series with the grocery industry annual report you might get a bit down from seeing meat declining in importance across the grocery category. However, as I look at it, we can’t just blame the decline in meat’s ability to generate sales and produce’s rise to the top solely on consumers supposed lack of interest in meat. Instead, let’s look at the lessons learned from produce that contributed to their ascent to the top.

First, here’s a quick re-cap of some of the notable rankings for meat and produce:

For most influential department driving store overall brand/image/point of differentiation, meat and produce tied for the number one spot both at 21 percent. What’s more notable is last year meat alone was number one with 37.8 percent of retailers saying meat was best in the category; produce didn’t even make it into the top last year with only 12.2 percent.

For most successful department at generating sales, meat was down from number one last year, to number three this year with 59.8 percent. Produce scored the number one spot with 65.7 percent of retailers saying that this was the best department for garnering sales.

For most successful department at driving traffic, meat was again down from number one last year, to number three this year with 51 percent. Produce swapped places with meat and was up from number three last year to number one this year with 57.8 percent of retailers saying produce was the top traffic driver.

In addition, despite the shift to produce as the top sales and traffic generator, for in-store services, retailers cited on-site butchers (63.4 percent) as an extremely or very important strategy. However, one must wonder if this is meant to exclusively mean meat butchers, or if last year’s Whole Foods announcement to add “produce butchers” to some of their stores is catching on at other retailers.

In any case, it’s clear that produce has been effective in reinventing their decades old department to (I think) appeal to millennial audiences primarily. Here’s three ways produce is winning and where meat can take a page out of their playbook.

Convenience

Just as millennials don’t like to touch meat, they also don’t like to cut up produce. Produce departments evolved to offer more pre-cut offerings for cantaloupe, pineapple, watermelons and the like. These offerings are often available at a higher cost to the traditional item, but consumers have proven they are willing to pay for it.

Offering more pre-cut or diced meats besides basic stew meat could earn you more money and satisfy a user need. Also, by offering smaller pack sizes, you eliminate the need for consumers to touch the meat, when they can just drop the whole package right into the pan.

Snacks

Millennials are always on the go, so to cater to this trend produce perfected the on-the-go snack. Think pre-packaged apple or mandarin orange packs. You also see smaller packages of grape tomatoes or carrot packs that make fruits and veggies more mobile.

Meat should think beyond beef jerky in terms of making meat snackable. Pre-sliced and pre-cooked fajita meat like John Soules or Tyson’s varieties are mainstays now, but think about taking that application even further to individual small packs with breakaway packaging. This could make it even easier for a consumer to snap off one pack and put it on top of a salad or on a wrap for lunch.

Wow factor

Many produce departments are now offering exotic seasonal produce like monkfruit or designer produce like pink pineapples. This gives shoppers something to look forward to and can drive traffic to the department.

Creating the “treasure hunt” like atmosphere similar to Costco’s strategy might also work for new and different kinds of meat cuts. Think about having that frenched pork chop in your case to make the typical bone-in pork chop look a little sexier and create that cool appeal.

What other lessons do you think meat can learn from produce? Beyond pre-marination, what else should fresh meat departments be doing?

What meat can learn from produce

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