The Boar’s Head listeria outbreak has tanked demand for cold cuts industry wide — and experts warn sales could languish for a year or more as consumers struggle to shake off anxiety over tainted deli meat.
The century-old Boar’s Head brand — whose July listeria outbreak at a Virginia plant has killed 10 people, sent dozens more to the hospital and sparked the recall of more than 7 million pounds of meat — hasn’t disclosed the impact of the disaster on its business.
But Avi Kaner, co-owner of New York City supermarket chain Morton Williams, said sales of cold cuts at his 20 stores across the metro area are down 33% at the chain while the Boar’s Head brand is down by 50%.
Grocery shoppers “have shifted their buying habits to other brands – and it’s substantial,” Kaner told The Post.
Some New York metro supermarkets have stopped promoting Boar’s Head products in their weekly circulars, said another New York grocery executive who did not want to be identified.
“It’s going to take a lot to get consumers’ trust back because this one killed too many people,” the executive said.
“I didn’t want to be promoting a product or company that’s under investigation in our circulars so I’ve been pushing my private label cold cuts,” the executive added. “But it’s still slow because people are concerned about cold cuts and Boar’s Head is the leader and when the leader gets into trouble everyone does.”
Meanwhile, sales at Thumann’s — a 75-year-old, family-owned deli meat brand that’s based in Carlstadt, NJ — have fallen by 10% since August, chief executive Robert Burke told The Post. That’s despite Thumann’s picking up new accounts with distributors and retailers who have ditched Boar’s Head.
Burke — who declined to disclose how many new accounts the company has gained, said Thumann’s has posted disclaimers on its website and social media and bought ads to explain that its products are “not implicated” in the recent recall of “fresh sliced deli meats.”
“We wanted to get the message out that we are a brand you can trust even Boar’s Head has squandered that to some degree,” Burke told The Post in an exclusive interview. “We spent more on media costs to get the word out.”
Some retailers have also dumped Boar’s Head in an effort to save their deli sales. Schnucks Markets, which operates 114 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, switched to Boar’s Head competitor Dietz & Watson this month, the company announced.
Schnucks was named in a lawsuit against Boar’s Head by a customer who became ill after eating allegedly tainted meat.
“Many customers voiced concerns about continuing to purchase Boar’s Head deli products following this summer’s recall,” Schnucks’ director of communications, Natalie Jablonski, told The Post. “By making the move to Dietz & Watson, we’re putting our customers first.”
Philadelphia-based Dietz & Watson did not return calls for comment, but its chief executive, Louis Eni, narrates a several minute video about food safety on the company’s website. “You can trust in our brand,” he promises, adding “all of our facilities are cleaned by outside professional sanitation companies.”
Even caterers are getting slammed.
“Caterers are stressing on menus that their meats are house made and hand carved,” according to food and restaurant consultant Arlene Spiegel. “There is such concern for sandwich driven menus right now.”
Sandwich chains were already hurting this year. Customer traffic to sandwich chains including Subway, Jersey Mike’s, Potbelly, Arby’s, Jimmy John’s, Panera and others has slowed down this year and is flat to declining, according to food service research firm Technomic.
Some of those chains posted signs on their doors informing customers that they don’t use Boar’s Head products.
“It’s hard to know if consumers have pulled back because of food safety, which is more broadly on consumers’ mind today,” or because of food inflation, David Henkes, Technomic’s head of strategic partners.
It could take up to a year or longer for cold cut sales to recover given how consumers responded to other deadly outbreaks, according to food safety attorney Bill Marler.
The Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak in 1993 that killed four children and sickened hundreds of others affected hamburger sales across the board for more than a year.
The spinach E.coli outbreak of 2006 killed three people and sickened hundreds, depressing sales of spinach for more than a year, Marler said.
“The entire spinach industry was devastated,” Marler said.
