Please stand by for this rather breathless scoop: Portuguese sausage-flavored Spam has been developed by Hormel Foods Corp., and the company has chosen Hawaii to debut the new flavor.
"Hawaii is getting it first," Jennifer Nolander, Spam Brand product manager, told TheBuzz. In fact, "right now Hawaii is the only state that we’re planning on selling it in," she said.
"The idea behind this was that we knew Portuguese sausage is huge in Hawaii, so (the new product) is really a way to thank the people of Hawaii for supporting the brand," Nolander said. "This really is an item meant specifically for the Hawaii market."
Given Hawaii’s Spam consumption and the annual street-party homage to all things Spam, it was no secret to Hormel that we kind of like the stuff and widely consider it a staple.
Hawaii is the No. 1 U.S. state for Spam consumption per capita. Guam and American Samoa have us beat, but neither is a U.S. state, so we claim our No. 1 standing the way we can.
It could be that some international locations receive the new Spam flavor "eventually," Nolander said.
The grand unveiling of Portuguese Sausage Spam will be, perhaps obviously, at the May 2 Waikiki Spam Jam.
The official Spam Brand booth will serve bite-size samples "hot off the griddle … and I do believe Hard Rock Cafe is also going to be featuring the new product in a dish as well," Nolander said.
A select few people in the islands already have had a taste of what officially is named "Spam With Portuguese Sausage Seasoning," and "so far the feedback has been very, very favorable," she said. (Your columnist is not among the early tasters, just so you know.)
The company’s enthusiastic hope is that the new flavor "should be one of our top performers in Hawaii." If it does well, Hormel will keep making it, she said.
The top Hawaii sellers generally are the Classic, Lite and Less Sodium varieties, she said, but the company doesn’t reveal the rankings of flavored Spam products.
One reason the plain flavors sell more is not just because they’re the originals, but because they also are sold in multipacks at membership stores such as Costco and Sam’s Club. "Those three SKUs (products) have the broadest distribution," Nolander confirmed, while most grocery retailers sell cans, especially the flavored ones, individually.
When you see the "rainbow of Spam that’s there at Foodland or Times, it’s pretty incredible," said Scott Gamble, vice president of LH Gamble, which is a broker and "sort of like the sales and marketing arm for Hormel in Hawaii," he explained.
The rainbow is about to get more colorful with cans of Portuguese sausage-seasoned Spam, which is the 13th flavor of the product. It could start appearing on Hawaii store shelves the beginning part of next week, Gamble said, which will be akin to a sort of soft launch of the product before the big Waikiki Spam Jam unveiling.
"Everybody wanted to be first-to-market, to get it on the shelf," he said.
Once the event is over, shoppers will likely see the Aloha Plate food truck offering samples of the new Spam flavor alongside an Ohana Broadcast Co. radio station outside their favorite grocery stores. The remote broadcasts will offer product giveaways, Spam swag and a chance to win tickets to a San Diego concert by British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran.
The seemingly natural Portuguese sausage and Spam combination, as logical as is Teriyaki Spam, came together in Hawaii.
"Members of our brand team were in-market last year, and they were talking to retailers, doing market visits … to see what’s really on-trend and important to (the Hawaii market)," Nolander said.
"After that one of our sales brokers said, ‘We absolutely have to do a Spam with Portuguese sausage flavoring.’"
The logical progression of the thought process was, "Why not put those two incredible categories together and create a single market item?" Gamble said.
He does not take credit for the meat-flavor melding, but appreciates that a multibillion-dollar, Minnesota-based corporation like Hormel would focus such attention on Hawaii. "We always like to think that the Hawaii consumer feels that the (Spam) brand is part of Hawaii."
Also, he was "really impressed with the taste profile," having grown up in Hawaii eating both meats. "They just nailed the flavoring in the product," Gamble said.
It is hardly the first time Hormel has launched a new Spam flavor in the islands. Teriyaki was rolled out here, first as a test item at the 2013 Waikiki Spam Jam, and then it came to market in September of that year.
Previously, the black pepper-flavored Spam had been available in Hawaii long before both it and jalapeno-flavored Spam were launched nationally for the 75th anniversary of the popular pork product in 2012.
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On the Net
» spam.com
» spamjamhawaii.com
» alohaplate.com
» ohanabroadcast.com
Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
