It’s in the geographical centre of America. And that’s a great idea! The current Pickle craze is seeping into every corner of the land. But how long will the big green Pickle Bubble last? And does Grillo’s have ‘Plan B’ if the Pickle Bubble bursts?
Not your average Pickle company: Grillo’s has long been
known for its ‘innovative’ promotional ideas…
We’ve a meteoric increase in the popularity of the once-lowly dill pickle over the past couple of years. These days there’s scarcely any food product you can’t get that dosn’t have a version with pickles on or in it. Even if it’s just the tell-tale swumami juice for flavour.
Inspired a ‘cult’
Grillo’s brand has inspired a cult following and is known and loved in every corner off the US and Canada. And, wanting to take greatest advantage of the big Pickle Bubble, the company has has unveiled plans for a new $54 million manufacturing facility in Bartholomew County, Indiana.
The state-of-the-art, 155,000-square-foot production site near Columbus is expected to create up to 150 new jobs and contribute significantly to the local economy.
Only 150 or so new jobs out of such a huge facility? The words, ‘state-of-the-art’ should give you an idea of what they’re planning. After hearing what Claussen Pickles is planning for it’s future, we can expect the Grillo’s plant to make optimum use of robotics, informed by speci-alized AI that will be making a lot of routine production decisions which heretofore have required human intervention.
Strategic collaborations
One of the reasons Grillo’s has leapt ahead of its competition in consumer awareness is it’s relatively recent push for collaborations with a whole rainbow of other brands – large and small, with or with-out obvious connections to ‘pickles’. Note FoodBeast contributor Seannen’s observation that pickles are, “no longer just a side dish. they’ve become versatile ingredients in cocktails, gourmet sand-wiches, snacks, and even toothpaste.”
Many of the company’s co-promotion deals have spotlighted relatively new names in the Foodsphere, such as a Dill Pickle Bloody Mary mix with V8, a Pickle de Gallo Schmear with PopUp Bagels, and a Pickle Hard Seltzer with Two Robbers with a limited-edition pickle beer with Lord Hobo Brewing, Classic Dill Pickle-flavored chips with Utz, and a premium , kettle cooked chip in partnership with Boulder Canyon.
And I don’t think it’s an accident that Grillo’s, a 100 + year old family company is allying itself new, food-forward ‘upstarts’ heading into an uncertain snacking industry future…
My take
The only problem I can see for Grillo’s future is… What happens if the current Pickle Popularity Bubble pops? If I was a Grillo’s shareholder, I’d want to hear what kind of ‘Plan B’ they have up their sleeves for that shiny, new plant…
~ Maggie J.