Consumers are obsessed with meat snacks. From teriyaki and mango jalapeno to sweet maple bacon and pineapple barbecue, the bold flavors, delicious convenience and protein punch are just want consumers are demanding.
No longer an end cap in a convenience store, meat snacks are taking up more space on shelves and nabbing prime displays. Grocery stores are also offering up more options for consumers looking for a healthy, easy-to-grab snack.
“A meat stick is a great snack for your kids, it’s a great snack for you on the go, and it’s at a good price point, too,” says Doug Hankes, meat industry entrepreneur and chief operating officer at Western Smokehouse Partners. “When we talk about what’s driving meat snack growth, It’s really about portability and our lifestyles today. Our lives are so busy, and we are going all over the place. Meat snacks deliver healthy protein on the go.”
Between March 2024 and March 2025, Circana Syndicated data shows meat snacks delivered $3.7 billion in annual dollar sales, up 15.6% versus a year ago. Total meat snacks delivered over 48 million units, up 11% from a year ago. Perhaps the most noteworthy finding was that meat snacks accounted for 6.2% of dollar sales in the snack aisle last year, but delivered nearly 51% of the growth.
“The younger consumer today is more of a grazer,” says Morgan Wonderly, a pork producer and animal science lecturer at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. “They snack a lot more. Getting more pork into the snacking category, and having products like pork sticks, has been super impactful for the pork industry.”
Competing in a ‘Better for You’ World
Meat snacks align with the ‘better for you’ food trend where consumers are trying to live healthier lives and are paying more attention to what they eat and drink. According to a Toluna study, ‘better for you’ means different things to different people. Generally, the term invokes a “healthier” connotation for most consumers, but others have developed more specific associations with it, such as “low in sugar,” “low in calories,” “natural,” or “less processed.”
The top claims discovered in this study were:
• Protein (39%)
• Low or no sugar (36%)
• Natural (36%)
• No artificial flavors, preservatives or sweeteners (35%)
“That consistent trade up in the ‘better for you’ world, is a win for meat snacks,” Hankes says. “Meat offers that naturally. We’re naturally gluten free, naturally no MSG, so when you combine that with basic ingredients, sometimes specific ingredients to flavor profiles, we can offer clean, healthy products to consumers. I think consumers continue to gravitate that.”
One of the newer meat snack items that’s gaining momentum is the “adult lunchable” where pepperoni, ham or any pork cut is paired with cheese and/or nuts.
“It’s that high protein fix people are looking for,” says Patrick Fleming, vice president of demand development for the National Pork Board. “Pork is the portable meat with a great flavor portfolio and unique flavors. Whether it’s ham or salami or pepperoni, it’s all different, yet it all fits in that little container that makes it easy to grab and go.”
Taste is Still King
When it comes to making a great meat snack, Hankes says it must taste good.
“Pork is such a good conduit of flavor, and I think that’s the real key,” he says. “Pork brings a lot of uniqueness out in the seasonings and spices. We don’t use a lot of seasonings in the products that we make, so it’s important to make sure those tones hit. Pork is awesome for that.”
As a pork producer, Hankes gets pretty excited about the opportunity pork has in this growing category.
“When you want to build a snack stick and put a flavor profile out there, having pork in that snack stick, whether it be all pork or a percentage of pork, is massively important in terms of the experience it’s going to deliver to the consumer,” Hankes says.
The evidence is in the carts. Although Hankes is not a “big social media guy,” he enjoys seeing how many times his company’s meat snacks make it into the Snapchat trend where people post pictures of their grocery carts.
“When young people are spending their own money on ‘better for you’ meat sticks, you know the change to healthier eating is sticking,” he says.
