First Take Bison

While the new year brings fresh goals and ideas, sometimes the best way to reach those goals and set expectations is by looking at the past to find out what worked and what didn’t. Over the years, leading companies within the bison category have found that consumers are consistently looking to add various dishes and ingredients into their weekly and even daily meals. Companies have been able to capitalize on this through educating consumers on the various ways bison can become a fun addition or substitute to a meal.

We have worked very hard over 2022 to keep our retail ground bison consistent in price. We have looked for other lines of revenue to offset our product cost coupled with internal efficiencies of

“Consumers want and are demanding variety. The ‘new normal’ has created an environment where people are more comfortable trying new products. We’ve seen this new normal drawing people to bison as another great protein option. This doesn’t mean completely replacing another protein with bison, but rather adding bison to their mix. Bison is a perfect ‘additional option’ because of its great taste and healthy benefits. While the bison category is not huge—in comparison to beef, for example—it’s a premium option that adds incremental ring to basket size. Our research shows that a bison consumer has a higher average basket size than other premium proteins.”

— Dan Swartz, High Plains Bison

Ace Ward, COO for Great Range Bison expressed how the company has been driving sustainable growth in the bison category.

“Here at Great Range Bison, we like to stay as consistent as possible with what we do,” Ward said. “If we are good at producing the Best Fresh bison then let’s get better. Our consumer appreciates that when they buy Great Range bison, they get the same consistent quality every time."

"That said, we also believe that increasing SKUs at the store level will help with consumer trial," he continued. "As we grow the category we can add more SKUs, but we only want to add SKUs we know will sell. That is why we like to expand slowly; if we add too many SKUs up front, without getting consumer following, it will shrink the category.” operating our facilities. So far, we have succeeded but it sure is becoming more difficult with the increased cost of labor, packaging and freight.”

In an effort to drive category growth, Ward highlighted how the company was able to innovate and market.

“We are always looking for new ideas or better ways to do things, to innovate our products, or market ourselves uniquely,” he said. “With that being said, we still believe the best way to grow is to do things right, stay consistent in our values, and stay consistent with price.

When it comes to leadership, Great Range Bison has been able to expand and implement new ideas through its team, which has been a huge success for the company.

“The leadership team we have put together is full of young, talented, and motivated individuals," Ward said. "They are proud of our brand and work hard to keep Great Range Bison in a leading position. We have always had a food safety culture here at Great Range Bison but recently we decided to expand on the idea. We implemented a program which all employees understand and follow, Best Fresh bison (BMP). Best Fresh bison has three core principles on how we run our business, food safety, human safety, quality and service. If we can continue to produce the Best Fresh bison, we will continue to be a leader in the industry."

As a strategy to ensure the company has dedicated its time to practicing the policies and procedures in place, High Plains Bison mentioned the company keeps consumers at the center of everything it does.

"We see it less about policies and procedures that were set in place, and more about building on our best practices and our key service pledges,” said High Plains Bison CMO Dan Swartz. “This starts with being extremely retail customer-focused and working with our retail partners to be as flexible and responsive as possible. The pandemic forced retailers to be nimble and quickly change priorities— we made sure to step up our communication on a weekly basis, 'be there' when they needed inventory or quick order fulfillment and provide some flexible options on products.”

Alongside keeping consumers at the forefront, High Plains Bison has prioritized education within the space.

“Education is very important, but it doesn’t mean that it needs to be difficult,” Swartz said. “We’ve built engaging merchandising and educational components that are ready to go- easily implemented into a wide range of store formats. In-store education, along with beautiful packaging that’s designed to educate makes the difference. We’ve also built online education components available to our retailers.”

Consumer demands have shifted as they become more interested in trying new things and expanding their eating habits to include various products. High Plains Bison noted that consumers have been recently adding bison into their weekly meals to give it some variety.

“Consumers want and are demanding variety,” Swartz explained. “The ‘new normal’ has created an environment where people are more comfortable trying new products. We’ve seen this new normal drawing people to bison as another great protein option. This doesn’t mean completely replacing another protein with bison, but rather adding bison to their mix."