Vermont Smoke & Cure Sold to Johnsonville

Natural meat snack brand Vermont Smoke & Cure has been sold to sausage company Johnsonville LLC and will operate as a subsidiary, the company announced last week.

Vermont Smoke & Cure sells a variety of meat sticks, along with summer sausage and smoked pepperoni. The brand was founded in Vermont in 1962 and rebranded in 2006 around an emphasis on using better-quality, ethically raised meat in its products. After launching nitrate- and antibiotic-free meat sticks in 2010 in natural and specialty retailers, the brand relocated to its current facility in Hinesburg, Vermont. It attracted investment from VMG in 2015 and relaunched with a new logo and colorful packaging.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Vermont Smoke & Cure CEO Tara Murphy said with the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 hitting the marketplace, now is a “really fantastic time to align forces and create the next chapter” for the brand. The partnership with Johnsonville, which was founded in 1945 and markets sausage products in more than 45 countries, will allow Vermont Smoke & Cure to improve its products and operation processes and reach new consumers through marketing efforts and expanded distribution, according to Murphy. While the brand has a significant presence in the Northeast and on the West Coast, in retailers such as Target, Whole Foods, Kroger and Sprouts, Murphy said the brand aims to establish a national retail footprint, particularly in more conventional retailers, and scale it’s production to meet this increased demand.

“Like every up and coming natural product brand, it’s always about finding ways to reach more consumers,” Murphy said. “And we thought this merger with Johnsonville would enable us to do that.”

While Vermont Smoke & Cure will now operate as a part of Johnsonville, Murphy will continue to run the business as CEO and the brand will continue to operate out of its Vermont facility, according to the announcement from Johnsonville. All current team members will remain with the brand, and Johnsonville will also add additional members to the company’s operating team. The brand will also maintain its existing product portfolio, with particular focus on some of its “powerhouse items,” including its original beef and pork sticks, turkey pepperoni stick and barbecue beef stick, which Murphy said will expand into “more places and more formats.”

In addition to its operational capabilities, Murphy said Johnsonville was an appealing partner because it emphasizes values similar to those at Vermont Smoke & Cure. In a press release, Johnsonville CEO Nick Meriggio called the deal “a great marriage of complementary capabilities and culture/values,” with Murphy noting that the two share similar ideas about “being neighborly.” As an example, Murphy noted that Vermont Smoke & Cure has offered meat processing at its facility for several local Vermont farms, and it will continue to do so after the acquisition.

“That fits perfectly with Johnsonville’s philosophy as a family-owned business,” Murphy said. “They started in a tiny little place in Johnsonville, Wisconsin, and they’ve grown a business, but still run it like that tiny family shop. They really are like us, they share our same values for how important it is to be a member of a community and how important it is to do right by farmers.”

Over the years Murphy said she’s not only seen meat snacking evolve from both a brand and consumer standpoint, but also a format shift, moving from predominantly jerky to more meat sticks. She said she expects meat sticks’ rise in popularity to continue as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on due to the “cleanliness of individually wrapped meat snacks.”

The brand experienced an uptick in sales as consumers loaded up on shelf-stable meat at the beginning of the pandemic, but then saw a slump in retail sales around May and June due to a lack of grab-and-go purchases from consumers, Murphy said. These sales have since rebounded, she said, and the brand now has its sights on developing new products.

“We have so many ideas,” Murphy said. “It’s so exciting, because now we’re partnered with Johnsonville, and they bring a ton of capability. Expect some exciting things to come.”