This article is brought to you by Lower Foods.

What trends are you seeing in proteins right now?

Michael Mortensen: We have seen a very, very large increase in orders for our presliced deli meats, which we see are used in traditional sandwiches as well as wraps or in breakfast options. We’ve also experienced huge growth within the barbecued smoked meat category.

Customers are looking for a premium product that doesn’t have many ingredients, which is exactly what Lower Foods offers. And it’s flexible—you could make a brisket sandwich or offer mac and cheese topped with smoked brisket, or even switch dayparts and include barbecue in a breakfast burrito or sandwich.

Casey Boren: Birria is a huge trend. A lot of c-store trends follow what QSR is doing, and there are a lot of menus out there that have birria on them. You see different varieties, from birria tacos to birria ramen. Al pastor is on a lot of menus too, and we offer both products to retailers.

Can you tell us a bit about Lower Foods?

Mortensen: Lower Foods is a fourth-generation family-owned company based in northern Utah. When it was founded, Lower Foods began by doing slaughter for the sausage industry. Over the years the company has evolved more as it shifted into the cooked product business.

In the ’80s, Lower Foods started out with just deli meats—offering roast beef, corned beef and pastrami. Now, we have a full selection of deli meats, a full selection of barbecue items, and a full selection of items inspired by Hispanic cuisine

Is there a product in your portfolio that you’re most proud of, or that most exemplifies what Lower Foods is all about?

Mortensen: On the deli side, one of our favorites right now that we’re very proud of is smoked pit beef, which is smoked roast beef. On the barbecue side of things, it has to be our smoked brisket. We’ve gone from being just a deli company to shipping smoked briskets from Utah into Texas and into all of the other traditional barbecue states.

Boren: As Michael mentioned before, a strength of our products is the various applications each product has. Space is a huge issue, so if you have one protein, how do you make multiple things, whether that’s an LTO or a regular menu item. Our chopped brisket, to me, fits that bill the best.

Continue reading “Protein Possibilities” in the November 2025 issue of NACS Magazine.