Meat supplier Boar’s Head has made its fortunes by signing exclusive deals with delis to sell only its products. But meat maker Dietz and Watson is starting to serve up some heavy competition. Alex Goldmark reports.
Steve Chiotakis: In a lot of industries, brand names rule. Cars, clothes, even ketchup. But it’s a tougher job to earn name recognition for, say, sandwich meat. Boars Head has built a billion-dollar business in large part by signing exclusive deli deals to market their meats. That includes signs, posters — the marketing works. Now the marketing war is getting ugly. And reporter Alex Goldmark investigates the big battle of the baloney.
Alex Goldmark: There’s only one way to order cold cuts here on 80th and York in Manhattan:
Customer One: Thinly sliced.
Customer Two: Very thin! It’s the only way.
Customer Three: Mortadella and prosciutto.
Customer Four: It has to be sliced thin!
Deli meats are serious business here at D’Agostino’s Supermarkets in New York. So fourth-generation owner Nick D’Agostino thought carefully when he decided not to go with Boar’s Head.
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