Dive Brief:
- Tyson Foods has developed a slew of branded prepared foods and plans a major push into the convenience store market.
- The move to prepared meals and value-added items is a not a substantial departure for Tyson, which has a major foodservice operation. The company is best known, however, for selling uncooked meat at retail and being the largest supplier of commodity beef and chicken in the U.S.
- Among the products Tyson is offering to convenience store shoppers are sandwiches, buffalo chicken pieces, Cajun tortellini and charbroiled burgers.
Dive Insight:
Food purchases from convenience stores have risen dramatically in recent years, and there's no surprise that Tyson and rivals such as Hormel see gold in that trend. And we have no doubt that the quality of food at convenience stores has improved too.
Still, there still seems to be something inherently gross about food shopping at the gas station. And we wonder about the risks of associating a brand name like Tyson's with convenience-store food, particularly given that Tyson's already faces some branding challenges.