Dive Brief:
- Hormel is ending its Spam Snacks line following a six-month debut, reports the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
- The launch did not match company expectations, according to a Hormel statement. The product used proprietary technology to create dried meat bites in a variety of flavors, all in response to the fast-growing dried meat snacking category.
- The company also reiterated its push into snacking and innovation. Spam Snacks will still appear in stores this summer.
Dive Insight:
This is a notable loss for Hormel. Searching for adjacencies across categories to help boost brand sales and strengthen portfolios is a critical move for food and beverage manufacturers.
That said, Hormel's path to innovation includes the recent addition to its natural and organic portfolio with the acquisition of nut butter-based snack maker Justin's, LLC, for $286 million. Last month, Hormel announced it would implement a clean label initiative across the company.
In its latest earnings report, profit jumped 20%, though volume dipped in all segments besides refrigerated foods. The company hiked up its earnings guidance from $1.50 to $1.56 per share to $1.56 to $1.60 per share. Hormel's stock price has fallen 21% over the past three months as of premarket levels on May 25. That price is still 22% higher than 12 months ago.
Chief accounting officer James Sheehan, the new CFO come October, will be tasked with guiding Hormel into the future.