Johnsonville Sausage “Kitchen to Kitchen” Mom Blogger Event

Arriving in snowy Milwaukee on Wednesday mid-day, I embarked on an exciting two days of in-depth meetings and fun cooking immersions with the Johnsonville brand teams. This event marked the first time that the brand team has invited influential Moms to come spend time with them – both to learn more about the brand’s new positioning in the midst of robust sales to add to their existing strong equity on the grill and to focus on bringing their sausages into the kitchen, helping moms create diverse, flavorful family meals.

This emphasis on family resonates with Johnsonville’s roots, when Ralph and Alice Stayer created their premium sausage recipe 65 years ago in Johnsonville, Wisconsin, with a focus on helping gather family members around the dinner table. By 1956, the company expanded “all the way” to Port Washington – 30 minutes away. Mr. Stayer would buy space in the meat department of local stores to sell his Johnsonville sausages. Today, the company still remains privately held, with a family-oriented culture. The 1,300 employees are called “members” (like family members), and supervisors are called “coaches.” The Stayer family remains involved, and the current CEO, Ralph Stayer, is the son of the founding Stayers.

Interestingly, sales have run in front of Johnsonville’s brand equity – booming sales for kitchen use by Moms helped signal to the team the brand’s greatest potential for growth. With more than 95% of distribution in the U.S., as well as 33 countries (including France, Japan, the Caribbean, Canada, Mexico and more), the company continues to keep its focus in growth mode. Plus, Johnsonville also uses creative strategies to break into the Asian market like owning several high-end restaurants in China to expose consumers there to fresh sausage. Restaurants, stadium concessions, and domestic food service distribution (including Olive Garden, Sonic, A & W to name a few), helps round out the company’s distribution strategy.

The key to this diversified growth? Johnsonville has successfully bridged the gap from being a bratwurst company to a sausage company. Bratwurst used to be 62% of the bottom line – now it’s 30%, and within next two years Italian sausage will grow even stronger.

But as the company navigates this transformation, the brand team also realizes that it needs to grow and embrace new markets beyond the already-mature grilling market. So the brand now needs to further increase its insight into and understanding of the Mom market and just how Moms will use Johnsonville sausages in the kitchen – in recipes, as part of family meal solutions, and as a component to special-occasion cooking.

With the company’s brats, Italian sausages, smoked/cooked links, breakfast links and patties, and summer sausage all No. 1 national brands, Moms have even more quality ingredient options. All Moms struggle with the “what’s for dinner?” dilemma, and Johnsonville products, like Italian sausage, prove a key ingredient.

For example, Johnsonville Italian sausages can jazz up a ho-hum plate of pasta and tomato sauce, add a little zip to baked lasagna or meatloaf, top off a home-cooked pizza, and transform soups and stews from standard fare to star quality. And, for special occasions, sausage can add a whole new level of flavor to corn bread stuffing, and a bubbly breakfast strata with Italian sausage turns the typical morning sausage and eggs routine on its head.

Recently, Johnsonville extended its traditional sausage appeal with a launch of a smoked chicken sausage line, coming in three flavors: Three Cheese Italian Style Chicken Sausage (could not get enough of this one- my favorite!), Chipolte Monterey Jack Cheese Chicken Sausage, and Apple Chicken Sausage. Made with 100% premium cuts of chicken, these varieties offer 50% less fat than the USDA standard for fully cooked sausage, with the traditional Johnsonville taste, as well as 0 grams transfat and no MSG. They’re better for you than hot dogs and a great option for Moms who’ve in the past shyed away from cooking with sausage because of nutritional concerns. I’m definitely adding this to my weekly shopping list!

And as 70% of Johnsonville sausage now finds itself in the griddle instead of the grill, Johnsonville has developed website videos and tips featuring Food Network host Melissa d’Arabian to help Moms slice, dice, cook, and de-case sausage like a pro. She also shares a variety of recipes ranging from Italian sausage rigatoni to Italian sausage and pepper skillet to stuffed mushrooms – all in an effort to get families seated around the dinner table, enjoying kids, conversation, and a fresh, delicious, mouth-watering meal.

But most of all- the intimate gathering enabled me to interact with the top brand team at Johnsonville- and I found myself both drawn in to the warmth and keen intelligence of what I had previously jokingly thought of as the “boys of brat!” and came away feeling I had a whole new group of Milwaukee friends! There’s much savvy to their instincts to move their products deeply into Mom’s kitchen, and away from the traditional image of the guys in t-shirts manning the grill. So look for some exciting brand momentum form the Italian and chicken product teams- and enjoy the fantastic recipes we all rolled up our sleeves and cooked together!!

Visit Mom Central Food to see some of our favorite recipes from the event including hearty Wisconsin Grilled Cheese and Sausage Soup, Spicy Sausage Queso, and Italian Meatballs.

For more photos from the event, take a look at the gallery below:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. Disclosure: Stacy DeBroff attended the Johnsonville “Kitchen to Kitchen” event at the request of the Johnsonville Brand Team and received promotional items to thank her for participating. Johnsonville also provided travel and lodging for event attendees.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.