DINZ Venison Marketing Manager Nick Taylor said he was impressed with what he saw on his recent Scandinavian trip.
DINZ have been hard at work supporting venison companies in Scandinavia, Taylor noted:
"It was great to meet with the importers, to see some of the fantastic new products hitting the market, and talk about the promotional opportunities and how DINZ can support this."
He echoed exporters' concerns about the increased costs that consumers are facing but observed that venison customers are less impacted.
"Unlike Covid, our high-end restaurant clients are somewhat insulated from these increasing costs, but retail products are potentially vulnerable to this with consumers tightening their belts."
Taylor's conversations with importers suggest that despite the economic outlook, they see the long-term outlook for venison as positive.
A personal highlight for Taylor was seeing the new retail items that Mountain River had launched in Scandinavia with support from the Marketing Innovation Fund last year.
"The range of chilled items complements the frozen retail items available at the supermarket, giving venison a bigger overall footprint. In addition, large in-store promotions tell our natural farming story, giving consumers confidence in the product."
Shannon Campbell helped Mountain River Venison with a presentation for distributor Menigo, which was well-attended by local restaurants in the Uppsala area. "It went very well," he reports.
"We presented new recipe ideas and talked about costings and getting added value out of the cuts."
Mountain River Venison Scandinavia - Salami counter ICA
With a diversified product range, Mountain River continues to reap the benefits of its promotion efforts. "There is very good brand presentation," he said. In addition, customers told Taylor it was important to keep targeting young up-and-coming chefs, exposing them to the product early in their careers.
"Using digital channels such as Instagram is critical. Chefs are generally visual people; this is where they look for inspiration," says Nick Taylor.
Keep up-to-date at www.instagram.com/mountainrivervenison and www.instagram.com/kvicken71.
Find Out More:
See the full DINZ article here: https://deernz.org/home/our-stories/deer-industry-news-issue-116-december-2022/
MRV Scandinavia website: www.mountainrivereu.com
MRV Scandinavia Instagram: www.instagram.com/mountainrivervenison
Henning Kvick Instagram: www.instagram.com/kvicken71