Boar’s Head recall leaves some delis without alternatives 

At Maxwell Meats & Processing in Indiana, a massive Boar’s Head recall has left the small butcher shop in “total chaos,” according to management. 

The business has to refund its customers immediately, while waiting for Boar’s Head to refund them for that lost revenue. The shop sells a lot of lunch meat and cold-cut sandwiches, and now its deli case is empty, said Crystal Palmieri, operations manager.

The deli meat supplier Boar’s Head announced this week that it’s recalling 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat products over concern about potential listeria contamination. That’s on top of nearly 208,000 pounds of deli meat it recalled last week, which included its liverwurst, ham and bologna products. Thirty-four people across 13 states have gotten sick, while two people have died. 

Pregnant women, newborns, adults over the age of 65 and people with weakened immune systems are the most vulnerable to infections from the foodborne bacterial illness. Symptoms can begin developing anywhere from a couple of days to three months. 

Maxwell Meats tossed out ham, bologna and salami products that were recalled, along with anything that was stored alongside those products.

“We kind of erred on the side of caution and got rid of not just the products on the list, but anything that had been stored with those products just to be overly cautious. We had hundreds of pounds of inventory,” Palmieri said. 

Boar’s Head sales comprise about 30% of the shop’s business, and over the past week, the shop has lost an estimated $5,000 in revenue, Palmieri said. 

Boar’s Head controls about 25% to 30% of the premium deli meat market, said Darin Detwiler, a food safety expert and an associate teaching professor at Northeastern University. 

Boar’s Head has “a great marketing team,” said Russell Zwanka, director of the food marketing program at Western Michigan University. On top of that, Boar’s Head is actually a good product and has developed a loyal following as a result, Zwanka said. 

But some also credit its expansion to what they say are exclusivity agreements. Those agreements can then reduce competition, Detwiler said. Retailers will prominently market and display their products. You may see a prominent Boar’s Head stand at your grocer, featuring the Boar’s Head name and logo. That dominance on the market means that when there’s a massive recall like this, small delis who rely on Boar’s Head may face financial setbacks.

The deli meat wars have been fierce. In 2010, Marketplace reported that deli meat rival Dietz and Watson waged a campaign to get supermarkets to end those agreements. Around this time, Dietz and Watson said that Boar’s Head wouldn’t allow the grocery chain Harris Teeter to sell products from another premium competitor. 

In 2012, AdAge also reported that Boar’s Head can dictate what stores are allowed to carry. If Boar’s Head gets approval, they “own and manage every nuance of [a deli] program. They will tell the retailer what other brands to have in the case,” Jen Ehresmann, former director of marketing for Jennie-O Turkey Store, told AdAge. Jennie-O Turkey Store is one of the country’s largest producers of turkey products.

AdAge reported that Boar’s Head will provide training to deli managers and on-site assistance. It also offers retailers a “larger-than-average meat selection” and an advertising allowance. 

In 2009, a Boar’s Head spokesperson commented on the nature of its agreements with retailers, telling the publication Meat + Poultry: “It’s really the retailers who are making the choice in every single solitary situation [to offer Boar’s Head as their only premium deli offering]. When they decide to do business with us, they choose to feature one premium brand. It is not because Boar’s Head insists that’s the only way we’ll do business with them.”

Marketplace reached out to a Boar’s Head spokesperson for comment, and got the following statement via email: “Boar’s Head Provisions does not have any exclusivity agreements with any retailers. Rather, we partner with retailers who share in our mission to provide exceptional customer service and superior quality products.”

Jim Prevor, the late founder and editor-in-chief of Deli Business magazine, told AdAge that there is no “legal exclusivity” and stores can sell what they want. But they “cannot sell it in the Boar’s Head branded deli,” Prevor said. While they could have another branded deli in the store, most retailers “would consider this a waste of space.”

While Maxwell Meats is grappling with the fallout from the recall, companies who have alternative brands are faring better,  said Richard George, professor emeritus of food marketing at St. Joseph’s University’s Haub School of Business.

Some consumers are still buying from other brands even if they’re apprehensive about Boar’s Head products. “It seems to be a Boar’s Head-focused situation,” George said. 

That’s the case with Liehs and Steigerwald, a New York deli and butcher shop that carried some of the recalled Boar’s Head products, including some of its hams. “We have to disappoint some customers at this point with some of the items that they come looking for.  But I think we’re in a unique position, because we can continue to sell the cold cuts and meats that we make ourselves,” Steigerwald said. 

Confreda Greenhouses & Farms in Rhode Island carries Boar’s Head products, but none of those items were recalled, said general manager Jonathan Confreda. However, from what he’s observed, people don’t trust the brand at the moment.

“Customers are gravitating towards other brands,” he said. That includes Confreda’s own cold cuts, whose sales have gone up between 15% to 20%. 

“It’s actually been a positive for us,” Confreda said. 

Park Wood Deli in New Jersey serves Boar’s Head products, but none of the cold cuts it sells were recalled, said owner Roger Schnorrbusch. The outbreak hasn’t hurt business, although there might be the occasional customer who is reluctant to buy anything cold-cut related and will opt for an item like grilled chicken, Schnorrbusch said.

Over at Maxwell Meats, which hasn’t been as lucky, the shop is just going to continue refunding customers.

“There was a lot of panic on the customer side. So it’s just taken lots of reassurance that we are going to make it right for them,” Palmieri said.