Chilean Smokehouse and Retail Chains Embrace U.S. Pork: Spareribs and Bacon-Wrapped Loin Gain Popularity

This year, U.S. pork exports to Chile have rebounded, increasing 30% through April year over year, reports the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

According to Sebastian Gré, a professional chef who also serves as the USMEF program coordinator in Chile, recently shared insight to pork industry leaders regarding promotional efforts that are advancing U.S. pork’s presence in the Chilean retail and foodservice sectors, USMEF reports, which is supported by the National Pork Board and the USDA Market Access Program.

Specifically, bacon-wrapped U.S. pork loin in the Lider and Tottus supermarket chains and small retail shops has been the focus of the retail campaign.

Gré says the specialty product was first introduced into the supermarket chain, Lider, which has 140 total stores and is operated by Walmart, in December of last year.

“We did a marketing campaign with [Lider] in 20 stores with samplings, and due to the great success that the product had, they will be introducing the product to another supermarket—Tottus, a very big supermarket in Chile. It has 41 stores all over the country. They will be also introducing [the bacon-wrapped U.S. pork loin] to some small retailers to see how it works,” Gré explains.

Additionally, U.S. pork is gaining traction in the foodservice industry, USMEF reports. Specifically, spareribs have become quite popular since being featured at Curacaribs, a well-known Chilean smokehouse restaurant.

“Chile’s becoming more and more obsessed with smoking pork, smoking a lot of things. So, during September of last year in Espacio Food Service, which is a food show in Chile, we met with a smokehouse called Curacaribs, and they were looking for U.S. pork because they wanted to have something different at the restaurant,” Gré explains.

After putting the restaurant in contact with importers, the company now features U.S. pork spareribs in their restaurants and highlights the offering through their 150,000+ social media following, Gré adds.

Visit CuracaRibs on Instagram to see how they highlight U.S. pork: