May’s Hawaii meat products, found widely in local stores and home freezers, are about to become more accessible to your loved ones on the mainland.

May’s kalua pork is being introduced this week in 10 Sam’s Club stores in Southern California and to all six in Las Vegas. May’s teriyaki beef patties also will be introduced to the Vegas-area stores and to the three Sam’s Club locations in Alaska that already carry May’s kalua pork.

“We’re going to kick off our promotional plans on the 13th of May with product demos,” said Gary Hanagami, general manager of Palama Holdings, parent company of May’s. Demos in Las Vegas and Southern California will be carried out in partnership with King’s Hawaiian Holding Co. and will feature kalua pork sliders served on King’s sweet rolls.

In all, either the kalua pork, teriyaki patties, or both, depending on the location, will be sampled across nearly two weeks’ worth of demos in May, June, July and September, including on dates just prior to major grilling holidays.

“We have been trying to build our mainland business now for a couple years,” Hanagami said. There have been some successes and some hard lessons, but given market research, demographic studies and experience, he is hopeful about the potential with Sam’s Club stores.

“We know we have demand out there; the problem is, the demand is fragmented,” he said. Successfully selling to tens of thousands of customers among hundreds of millions from 2,500 miles away has been a challenge.

“It’s a question of density,” he said, “and if you can’t supply consumers in a fairly efficient manner, costs go out of control and your prices are very high.”

Akamai shoppers in and around Vegas know that May’s products can be found in certain drugstores, primarily Walgreens, thanks to an area distributor.

“We know in Las Vegas there is a high concentration of people who like our products,” Hanagami said. Vegas has among the “highest concentrations of ex-Hawaiians” who moved there and “brought their desires with them.”

In Sam’s Alaska stores, May’s entered the top 10 percent of perishable items sold within two months, Hanagami said. When the Sam’s Club buyer told him that, “I almost fell out of my chair.”

May’s products are also carried at another grocery store in Alaska.

If the Vegas and Southern California ventures prove as successful as Alaska, May’s next has its sights set on Northern California, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona and Utah. “Those are the markets that we’ve defined,” Hanagami said.

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