Chicago - Chicago-based Boca Burger's marketing slogan is “You Won't Believe It's Meatless,” and neither did Oprah Winfrey nor Rosie O'Donnell when they recently tasted the delicious meatless burger on each of their shows, which aired October 20 and November 4, respectively.
“We were thrilled with the impact these shows had on our business,” said Katie Torres, vice president of marketing for Boca Burger, Inc., the manufacturer of great-tasting, soy-based Boca Burger products.
Since Boca Burger appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show alone:
Company sales have nearly doubled; Costco, the top club store chain in the U.S., doubled the number of stores in which they're testing Boca Burgers, and claimed Boca Burger one of the best new product tests ever; Wal-Mart Super Centers opted to expand distribution of Boca Burgers to all of its nearly 500 stores in place of a planned test of the product in select stores; American Stores, which includes Lucky (Northern California), Acme (Philadelphia), and Jewel (Chicago), signed on Boca Burger for distribution in all of its stores; Several new food service clients signed on with Boca Burger including Chase Manhattan Bank, American Express Processing Center, Microsoft, Notre Dame University, and the University of California at Irvine; and The company has received thousands of hits on its website (http://www.bocaburger.com), which Oprah's website provided a hotlink to following the show.
“America's love affair with soy and Boca Burgers continues to grow,” said Torres. “As consumer interest in the health benefits of soy continues to rise, and as more and more medical reports point to evidence of soy's many health properties, we expect the trend to continue well into the 21st Century,” she said.
“We call these recent national TV show appearances 'Boca moments,”' said Torres, vice president of marketing for Boca Burger, Inc, “and they're happening with more frequency and intensity than ever,” she added. According to Torres, “Boca moments” are consumer affirmations that the company is right on track with its goal toward making Boca Burger the premier meat alternatives company in the U.S.
“Oprah and Rosie were huge Boca moments,” said Torres, as was an October 1 airing of NBC's Today show, which also featured Boca Burger.
Boca Burger distributes three varieties of its great-tasting meatless burger, including the Vegan Original, Hint of Fresh Garlic, and Chef Max's Favorite with real cheddar cheese.
And just last month, the company introduced three new products: The Original Ground Boca Burger(R) Recipe Basics(TM), a ground beef substitute; and The Original Boca Breakfast(TM) Patties and The Original Boca Breakfast(TM) Links, two breakfast meat alternatives.
According to the latest industry information, Boca Burger holds three of the top four meatless burger spots in the natural food channel, including the No. 1 position.* Boca Burger products are distributed nationwide to the natural food and mainstream supermarket channels.
Boca Burger, Inc. was founded in 1993 by a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based natural food restaurateur who saw the need for a great-tasting meatless hamburger alternative. In February 1997, the company was acquired by a group of private investors that is aggressively expanding distribution of the company's products nationwide.
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