Vermont Smoke & Cure, the Hinesburg, Vt.-based artisanal smokehouse, has launched two co-branded meat sticks developed in partnership with Kraft Heinz Licensing, bringing the A.1. steak sauce and Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce identities into the fast-growing meat snack category for the first time. The products are now available nationwide through Kroger.
The launches represent the first meat sticks ever produced under either the A.1. or Lea & Perrins names, according to the company. Vermont Smoke & Cure, which has operated since 1962, is positioning the collaboration as an extension of familiar steakhouse flavor profiles into a portable, convenience-oriented format — a segment that has posted consistent retail volume gains as consumers shift snacking spend toward high-protein options.
The tie-up with Kraft Heinz Licensing gives Vermont Smoke & Cure immediate brand-equity leverage with two of the condiment category's most-recognized names. A.1., which traces its origins to the 19th century, and Lea & Perrins, the dominant Worcestershire brand in North America, collectively command shelf presence and consumer recall that would be difficult for an independent regional producer to replicate organically. For Kraft Heinz, the licensing arrangement extends both brands into an adjacent, growth-oriented aisle without requiring direct capital deployment in manufacturing.
The meat snack segment has attracted significant investment from both legacy protein companies and better-for-you challengers over the past several years, driven by convenience retail expansion and rising consumer appetite for portable, protein-dense formats. Placement at Kroger — one of the largest U.S. grocery chains by store count — provides Vermont Smoke & Cure with immediate national distribution scale. The company did not disclose financial terms of the Kraft Heinz Licensing agreement, projected revenue contribution, or retail price points for the new SKUs.
The partnership underscores a broader licensing and co-branding trend reshaping the snack aisle, as established food conglomerates seek to monetize intellectual property across categories beyond their core manufacturing footprint. Vermont Smoke & Cure's move also reflects the premiumisation dynamic driving growth in the meat snack segment, where heritage provenance and recognizable flavor cues are increasingly used to justify above-average price positioning at retail.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
