Capitalize on Ham, America’s Versatile Protein

A category with tradition behind it, delis have opportunities to tell this meat’s story.

“It’s always a good day when you wake up, and you know that you’re going to be talking about ham,” says Michael Burgess, director of marketing at Charcuterie Artisans in Mapleville, RI. And why not? Ham is a category with centuries of tradition behind it and numerous flavor profiles with a range of price points, giving delis many opportunities to tell its story.

Long before refrigeration, ham was salted and hung to dry, usually over the winter, in a barn or cellar. This created a preserved product that could sustain a family through the year. This act was necessary for survival, but eventually became craft.

David Yourd, president of Lady Edison, a small artisan producer of dry-cured and salted country ham in Chapel Hill, NC, knows the history, which shows that the preservation technique spread and evolved across continents, developing distinct regional characters tied to climate, soil and livestock breed.

Yourd points out that if you map the world’s great dry-cured ham regions — prosciutto di Parma, Ibérico from Spain, Jinhua from China, and American country ham — they all fall within a similar latitude. “It was where it wasn’t cold enough to freeze, but not hot enough to spoil,” he says. “The terroir drove the flavor.”

A CATEGORY WITH REMARKABLE RANGE

One of the most important things deli professionals can understand about ham is its sheer variety. Lauren Eni Canseco, chief marketing officer at Dietz & Watson, a producer and distributor of deli meats, cheeses and other specialty food products that began in 1939 in Philadelphia, PA, notes that the category spans up to 30 distinct flavor profiles, shaped by geography, curing method, spice blends, and aging time.

Different regions have different preferences. From mild, lightly cured deli slices to deeply funky, aged country hams that rival European charcuterie in complexity — there is no single “ham,” she says.

“Each variety serves a different role in the deli case,” she says. “Honey ham is sweeter and more approachable, with notes of honey, brown sugar or maple that make it especially appealing for families and entertaining. Black Forest is more robust, with a deeper smoky flavor and subtle spice from pepper and curing. Virginia-style is the most traditional. It’s savory, slightly milder and extremely versatile, which makes it a staple for everyday sandwiches. Offering that range allows deli operators to meet a variety of taste preferences and occasions.”

At the premium end, products like Lady Edison’s two-year-cured country ham compete directly with imported prosciutto. The aging process draws out moisture and creates a more concentrated ham flavor. At the accessible end, everyday cooked hams offer mild, crowd-pleasing flavor at a price point that makes them ideal for sandwiches and hot bars.

Burgess at Charcuterie Artisans, which specializes in prosciutto with roots going back to 1945, offers a variety of price points through its different companies. Its flagship, Creminelli, is super-premium; Del Duca offers high quality at a more accessible price. Burgess says Charcuterie Artisans’ Creminelli 2-ounce prosciutto is the No. 1-selling prosciutto item, and the Del Duca 6-ounce prosciutto is the second-best-selling prosciutto item in the U.S., by both dollars and units.

Charcuterie Artisans recently acquired La Quercia Cured Meats, which produces American-made prosciutto in Norwalk, IA. The company is pushing the category in a new direction with flavored prosciuttos. These are produced with heritage craftsmanship but are rubbed with blends, such as hot honey or Old Bay-style seasoning, then allowed to cure so the flavor penetrates the meat itself.

“There are some folks who are really traditionalists in this category,” Burgess acknowledges, “and what they’re doing is bucking tradition.”

Meanwhile, brands like Dietz & Watson are meeting evolving consumer demand with hams that carry cleaner labels, “using celery powder and cherry powder to cure and replacing synthetic preservatives with cupboard-familiar ingredients like vinegar,” says Eni Canseco.

She also notes that products like theirs, which are made from whole muscle, will never carry the “too processed” taste that has given lesser hams a bad reputation. “A great deli ham should be tender, juicy and well-balanced, with a clean finish that doesn’t feel overly processed,” she says.

FLAVOR CHARACTERISTICS AND PAIRINGS

Cory Dunn is director of retail sales at Lower Family Foods, which makes deli products from beef, pork and poultry in its Richmond, UT, facility. His advice to delis is to pair ham with straightforward accompaniments, like potatoes, gravy, green beans, and other simple sides for a pick-up-and-go home meal replacement (HMR).

Prosciutto is a different story. “The complexity of flavor, the depth of flavor of prosciutto makes it the star of the show,” Burgess says. “Nine times out of 10, you are building the charcuterie board or the recipe around prosciutto.”

That intensity comes largely from fat. Sliced thin, the fat cap renders on the palate, creating what Burgess describes as “a really captivating, visceral experience.”

MERCHANDISING, MARKETING STRATEGIES

Claire Flannery, senior director of marketing and media at Greenridge Naturals, a deli meat and cheese company based in Chicago, IL, sees opportunity in creative cross-merchandising. Pairing ham with unexpected condiments, such as hot honey, interesting mustards or artisan pickles, increases impulse-buy moments that can lift basket size and move multiple items at once.

Dunn notes that ham is running around $4 per pound while turkey and roast beef often fetch $7 to $9. That comfortable price point means delis can do a lot with demos. Nothing converts a hesitant shopper like tasting a product. Dunn describes bringing a competitor’s ham and a Lower Family Foods ham side by side, slicing both and letting the product speak for itself. “The more they know about our products, the more they can tell the consumers that come to the counter,” he says.

Samples remain one of the deli’s most powerful tools. “When people get a chance to taste something, they want to go back and get it,” Flannery says. “Or they’ll buy it right there.”

Charcuterie Artisans’ Burgess notes that consumers approach deli products much like they approach produce, meaning they want to inspect what they’re buying. He suggests showing them there’s a nice fat cap, meaning the strip of fat that runs along the outside, and tell them why that is desirable. Show them the consistent coloring on the lean portion. “It should be a rich red color,” he says.

Delis that train their staff to guide customers through these quality checks build trust and justify premium price points.

Charcuterie Artisans offers a “Charcuterie 101” program, sending representatives directly to stores to train deli managers. “We will educate the deli managers and provide all the resources that they need to be able to hold these conversations really confidently with their customers,” says Burgess.

For specialty products like Lady Edison’s country ham, Yourd recommends telling the product’s story through American history. “People don’t understand that we have this traditional regional product that came out of the U.S. for hundreds of years, which is kind of rare in American food,” he says.

SELLING THE MOMENT

For deli professionals willing to engage with ham, and prosciutto in particular, it offers what Burgess calls “an emotional category.”

“I would compare it, maybe, to music or a sunset,” he says, “because prosciutto is such an intense, impactful sensory experience. It checks a lot of boxes in terms of what creates a moment. It helps to lock in a memory of that type of intense sensory experience.”

The deli counter is where that memory starts. A staff that understands the flavor differences and can walk a customer through what makes a great prosciutto or everyday ham by handing over a sample and explaining why it tastes the way it does turns casual shoppers into regulars. As Burgess puts it: “It’s a lot easier to get really energized about marketing when it’s for a collection of products that you just love.”