Consumers Confirm Protein is In: Meat Continues to Have Its Moment on the Plate

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 19:21:04 GMT

Key findings from the July Meat Demand Monitor report show an increase in consumers’ willingness to pay for meat compared to June. Both retail and food service demand demonstrated strength, with food service experiencing a particularly notable improvement.

Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University professor of agricultural economics, describes this as “meat having a moment,” highlighting the continued popularity of protein consumption.

Tonsor shared results of the July report providing insights into the current state of meat demand across beef, pork and chicken on a recent AgriTalk with Chip Flory.

Taste Trumps Other Considerations

The conversation focused on the dynamics of meat purchasing. Tonsor says that taste and freshness are the primary drivers of consumer choices, outranking price as the most important factors. While environmental concerns, origin traceability and animal welfare claims matter to a niche market (10-20% of consumers), the majority of Americans prioritize eating experience over other considerations.

“For the typical American … taste and freshness carry the day, and importantly, those factors are more important than price,” he says. “So, price matters. No economist can tell your price doesn’t matter, but it’s actually outranked by taste and freshness.”

Taste and freshness regularly are identified in the Meat Demand Monitor as the most common factors on deciding whether or not to buy a meat protein item.

Glynn Tonsor

Price Sensitivity Varies

“We have not found new consumer resistance to price,” Tonsor says.

He emphasizes that ground beef price trends are more critical to monitor as an economic indicator compared to premium steak prices. High-end cuts like ribeye steaks are less affected by price fluctuations, primarily purchased by higher-income consumers who are less concerned about incremental price increases. In contrast, ground beef remains more sensitive to pricing, which is a key concern for many consumers and producers.

“The folks buying a ribeye steak... are much more likely to be higher income and a little bit less sensitive,” he explains.

Economic Uncertainty Hasn’t Dampened Protein Consumption

The current economic landscape presents both opportunities and challenges. Despite macroeconomic challenges like inflation and limited consumer financial improvement meat demand has held up well. Consumers are still prioritizing protein purchases, particularly in retail channels.

Tonsor says only 19% of consumers reported improved financial conditions in July, with 81% indicating stable or worsening financial situations. According to Tonsor this metric is crucial because consumers who feel financially secure are more likely to purchase multiple meat protein meals and spend more on food service.

He highlights several macro-economic concerns or challenges that loom on the horizon:

Ongoing tariff uncertainties
Recent upticks in inflation
Growing unemployment concerns, particularly among younger workers

Trends in Pork

Tonsor portrays pork as a competitive protein with potential for growth, actively working to improve its market position through marketing efforts and maintaining strong consumer appeal.

“The pork industry is trying to keep up with the beef demand story that we’ve had for a few years,” Tonsor says.

The pork industry recently launched a new marketing campaign: “Taste What Pork Can Do.” He points out pork owns the breakfast market with bacon and sausage.

Protein Purchasing Outlets

Tonsor explains consumption varies by meal type. Consumers continue to rely primarily on traditional grocery stores for at-home protein purchases, with different protein types dominating various meal occasions.

For more details on channel specific consumption data, maps and state summaries, check out the Meat Demand Monitor.

Ongoing Market Monitoring is Crucial

The Meat Demand Monitor serves as a critical tool for understanding consumer behavior, providing insights for producers, retailers, and industry stakeholders. By tracking willingness to pay across different market segments, it offers a comprehensive view of protein consumption trends.

Tonsor’s analysis suggests that while caution is warranted, the meat industry continues to demonstrate robust consumer interest and potential for growth.

Meat demand shows resilience despite economic uncertainties. Tonsor notes that while he has maintained a pessimistic outlook throughout the year, the market has consistently performed well.

“It’s very clear beef demand has been good, and it’s mixed or good for the other proteins,” Tonsor summarizes. “But it’s not clear to me that there’s a challenge in any of them.”

Bacon Maintained Star Status During the Pandemic

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 16:45:47 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic created a year of challenges and change, but one thing remained unchanged: American consumers’ love of bacon. Retail giant Costco reported in its second quarter earnings call with investors that demand for bacon at its stores had risen 45%, Fox Business reports .

But just how well did bacon do overall in the last year? Bacon has really been a star within the protein portfolio, especially throughout the pandemic and amongst millennials.

In terms of specific cuts of meat consumers are likely to keep on hand, bacon reigns supreme for pork, trailing only ground beef and boneless chicken, according to the National Pork Board’s At Home Meat Pulse Tracker, and it’s being used across breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“Seventy percent of consumers report eating or preparing bacon at least once a month or more,” says Tara-Ann Dugan, director of strategy and insights for the National Pork Board. “One of the fun dynamics that we’ve seen over the pandemic is that bacon love grew amongst millennials, where 75% of millennial consumers are eating or preparing bacon, versus the 70% of the general population.”

Translating that love to retail sales in 2020, based on IRI data through November 29, 2020, the trends persisted in a similar manner.

“Bacon sold $6 billion dollars and 1 billion pounds in that time, and it actually outpaced the total category in sales growth. Dollar sales increased by about 20% in volume and 14% in pounds, versus the same period a year before,” Dugan says.

Even with growing prices, demand was strong. The gap between dollar sales and volume is indicative of a price increase, she notes.

“There was an increase in bacon pricing during this time, but the fact of the matter is, because of the fact we also saw demand growth, it was a really strong story for bacon during this period. Ultimately it was good for meat overall during the pandemic,” Dugan says. “Food was pretty darn impervious, and meat was absolutely one of the leaders in the store across the board. It outpaced total store and growth, and then bacon outpaced total meat.”

Bacon was really a hit with adjusted behaviors as people actually took the time to sit down to breakfast and eat more meals together as a family, and when they did, they reached for bacon.

“I can’t travel anywhere. I can’t go be with my friends, so I’m going to splurge on quality bacon,” says Jason Menke, director of marketing communications for the National Pork Board.

Ingenuity at the start of the pandemic allowed the sector to shift bacon supply from foodservice packaging in 10-pound boxes, to more retail friendly 1-pound packages, he notes.

“It was a year ago when everything transformed dramatically and overnight in our world, and at the time not quite two-thirds of all bacon produced in the U.S., went into foodservice. It’s on burgers, in salads, milkshakes and cocktails. It’s everywhere in foodservice and in every section of restaurant menus,” Menke says. “When foodservice shut down overnight, it had an impact on belly market pricing, and it was one of the things the supply chain was initially trying to solve for. There were all of these large packages of bacon made for food service distribution sitting there, while one-pound packages were flying off the shelves at retail.”

“There were some real innovations as these meat packers worked to make bacon that was packaged for foodservice accessible to the folks at retail. Bacon was one of the first problems that the supply chain kind of had to solve for,” he notes.

The trend has continued into 2021, Dugan says, with continued growth in the category overall. And for those interested in checking out meat demand trends for themselves, Dugan suggests checking out the Kansas State University’s Department of Agricultural Economics Meat Demand Monitor that is publicly accessible. One of the insights that has been seen in that data is a willingness to pay increased prices for bacon over time.

“It totally aligns with the trend that we’ve seen where there’s been a boost in demand, and there’s also been a boost in sales, and the sales outpaced the volume growth because of prices and consumers are actually willing to pay the higher prices,” she says.