The Emerging Retail Trends Shaping Pork Demand

The Emerging Retail Trends Shaping Pork Demand

On this page:

• How We Work With Retailers
• From Relevance to Building the Basket
• Ground Pork: A High-Growth Opportunity
• Fareway Launches Boston Butt Pork Burgers
• Tony's Fresh Market: Reaching Hispanic Consumers
• Giving Producers a Voice

How We Work With Retailers

The biggest opportunity to grow pork demand right now is sitting in the meatcase.

To bring pork into more households, it's important that the focus shifts to younger consumers whose shopping habits and expectations differ from previous generations. They aren't buying family packs of chops or whole shoulders. For one, many (including my own daughters) wouldn't know how to prepare them. Instead, we are meeting consumers where they are by understanding their preferences, behaviors and expectations. From there, we can earn a place in their shopping basket.

The Taste What Pork Can Do^® campaign creates awareness for shoppers and strengthens relationships across retail and foodservice by giving pork a stronger voice in the marketplace. Retailers are focused on increasing traffic and building bigger baskets. Pork plays a role for both.

By leveraging the affinity younger consumers have for bold flavor and convenience, we are:

• Driving interest in cuts like ground pork
• Introducing smaller, air-fryer-friendly options
• Merchandising pork in new, more relevant ways

At the same time, retailers want to change how they show up in the digital space and are using campaign assets to better connect with younger shoppers online and in-store. This is essential to building demand as retailers are the last point in the supply chain to reach the consumer. The National Pork Board (NPB) is working with retail partners to expand pork offerings and attract more shoppers into stores through integrated campaigns across in-store promotions, retail websites and mobile apps, and influencers and social content.

These efforts tap into younger consumers' affinity for flavor, cultural cuisine and seasonal moments like summer grilling and holiday gatherings.

From Relevance to Building the Basket

What I'm seeing with retailers right now is encouraging. Retailers are thinking about how they can merchandise differently to meet that younger consumer and build long-term value for pork. When I meet with retailers, I always tell them I want to help them sell more of what they already have and get more households eating more pork, more often.

That goal drives NPB's Taste What Pork Can Do^® consumer brand campaign. As we continue working to connect with younger consumers and help them realize how pork aligns with their preferences for taste, flavor and versatility, our strong collaboration with retail partners is proving invaluable. It allows us to reach consumers where they're actively making food purchase decisions - both in-store and online.

Ground Pork: A High-Growth Opportunity

Ground pork has really allowed us to open the door to that younger consumer. As one of the most versatile and accessible proteins, it fits seamlessly into how consumers cook today. We're also seeing that the consumers buying ground meat are in a specific mindset where ground pork can be an incremental purchase when placed with the other ground proteins.

Pork producers can expect to see ground pork being featured all year in our consumer marketing for everyday meals, seasonal favorites and in a wide range of recipes.

I view the strength of this momentum being reflected in a few key trends:

• Gen Z shoppers are spending more per trip on ground pork than any other generation¹
• Millennials and Gen Z are purchasing ground pork more frequently²
• Retail volume for ground pork is outpacing total pork³
• 90/10 ground pork has seen 18% growth⁴

There are tons of opportunities on the ground pork side. And over time, ground pork growth translates into increased demand and greater value for producers.

Fareway Launches Boston Butt Pork Burgers

Building off the ground pork potential, the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) led the charge with Fareway to introduce Boston Butt Pork Burgers across 143 stores in seven states, including Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois.

Boneless butts are ground fresh in-store to make the 6-ounce burgers. The burgers rolled out as part of Fareway's month-long Best at BBQ promotion and will be available throughout the summer.  The launch is being supported with social media, email, influencer content and in-store signage. 

Celebrity pitmaster Thyron Matthews shared the campaign on his social media channels, helping bring the product to life for consumers.

This is a great example of the power of our state pork associations to deliver localized impact.

Tony's Fresh Market: Reaching Hispanic Consumers

Pork is a foundational ingredient in Hispanic households. For Hispanics, culture is highly celebrated, and pork is featured in popular dishes such as al pastor, carnitas, chiles rellenos and tamales. You might be surprised to learn that 66% of Hispanics prefer familiar dishes inspired by family recipes or childhood favorites. This reinforces pork's role as a culturally relevant staple.

The recently launched Hispanic community-focused campaign called Explora Todo El Gusto Del Pork ^™ celebrates exploration, adaptability, cultural pride, and everyday relevance for a new generation. Retailers are really stepping up to ensure pork is in the consideration set. We're seeing this with retailers like Tony's Fresh Market, which predominantly serves Hispanic communities in and around the Chicago area.

Retailers like Tony's understand their customers and know how to merchandise to them. Working closely with the Illinois Pork Producers Association, Tony's is featuring both Taste What Pork Can Do^® and Explora Todo El Gusto Del Pork™ messages through in-store signage, service meatcase clings and other promotional materials. The messages focus not on the meat cut but on the finished dish, helping to inspire the consumer at the point of purchase.

The buy-in from the retail side has been very strong, and we're focused on what's important for the retail audience: driving traffic into their stores, building that bigger basket, and when pork is in the basket it's a more valuable consumer.⁵

Giving Producers a Voice

Together, NPB and our retail connections continue to identify up-and-coming consumer preferences to ensure we're positioning pork to make the most of every opportunity.

With the help of retailers and the ongoing work of the Taste What Pork Can Do^® consumer brand campaign, we're knocking on the door of reaching ground pork's full potential, meeting the needs of the consumer, bringing opportunity to retailers and driving demand for producers.

And in doing so, we're delivering value up and down the supply chain -from the farm to the meatcase.

Sources:

1 Numerator, latest 52 weeks ending 1/11/2026

2 Numerator, latest 52 weeks ending 1/11/2026

3 Circana Total US MULO+

4 Circana Total US MULO+ Latest 52 Weeks Ending 12.28.25

5 Numerator, 52 Weeks Ending 11.23.25, Total US