Castle Wood Reserve ‘elevated experience’ for premium snacking
by Eric Pereira / staff writer
During the NAMI/FMI Annual Meat Conference in March, the booth for global food corporation Cargill highlighted three different brands. Among them was Castle Wood Reserve deli meats, a premium sliced solution that offers consumers the same quality as they would find in the full-service case.
Hilary Gerard, brand and category marketing director for Minnesota-based Cargill, helped tell the story of how Castle Wood Reserve has become the fastest growing packaged lunch meat brand. It is up 550 percent year over year, compared to all other brands at 3.3 percent.
“Our product is a premium product with strong quality attributes, no nitrates or nitrites, no artificial colors,” Gerard said.
Seeing more people purchase food in retail has worked well for Cargill in category and consumer dynamics.
“I think what happened during the pandemic, not only did the consumer value proposition really become more apparent and more relevant, I think the Cargill customer value proposition from just our supply chain and ability to keep product on shelves – not only in deli, but across all of our segments – became very valuable to our customers,” Gerard said.
“As customers, we’re striving to keep product on shelf for consumers, knowing this category was in such high demand, Cargill was able to show up.”
The Castle Wood Reserve products include:
- Smokey Honey Turkey Breast
- Uncured Honey Ham
- Angus Seasoned Roast Beef
- Virginia Brand Uncured Ham
- Oven Roasted Turkey Breast
- Oven Roasted Chicken Breast
- Turkey Pastrami
- Four Pepper Turkey Breast
Available in 16-ounce packages, Castle Wood Reserve premium deli meats offers parents a quick and easy lunch or snack option. The brand portfolio also includes snack kits and deli trays.
“We are targeting that kind of health-conscious mom who’s looking to feed the family,” Gerard said. “I think we found that we had this sort of interesting space in the premium snacking, where we felt like we could offer an elevated experience.”
Castle Wood Reserve sliced deli meat offerings can be found at Walmart, Aldi, Kroger and Ahold Delhaize stores, as well as Lidl and other select local retailers across the country.
Cargill’s 155,000 employees across 70 countries work to achieve its purpose of nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Every day, they connect farmers with markets, customers with ingredients and people and animals with the food they need to thrive.
Cargill combines 155 years of experience with new technologies and insights to serve as a trusted partner for food, agriculture, financial and industrial customers in more than 125 countries.
