S03E69 The Monster Food Hit - Smucker's Uncrustables

The most popular uncrustable is the traditional grape , peanut butter and jelly sandwich , but you can also get uncrustables in strawberry , hazelnut , honey and even ham and cheddar , turkey sausage and more . Now smucker does virtually no marketing , yet this brand has become a rapidly growing smash hit for the company .

They started with a modest $10 million in sales in 2000 , but over the past five years sales have started to decline , with over $500 million of uncrustables sold last year . Their factory makes over 4 million sandwiches a day and they plan to hit $1 billion in sales soon .

Uncrustables has developed a cult following among many athletes , including many elite triathletes , cyclists . Now smuckers has no pro endorsements , yet there are athletes such as San Francisco Giants' second baseman , tyro Estrada , who eats one before every game . Even top ranked pro golf or Sam Burns can be seen eating them while he's playing .

And former pro basketball player and sports commentator Charles Barkley rhapsodizes about them and I quote loosely . I gotta say that play was terrible , terrible , but one of the greatest things ever created were those uncrustables . So I found out about the sandwich a couple months ago when I saw people all around me eating them .

But it was only when I saw a Wall Street Journal article recently detailing how big uncrustables were for smucker that I realized how big a hit these ultra processed , expensive , gluten filled sandwiches have been amongst children and adults alike . How did this sandwich become so popular , and should I start eating these things ?

I'll try one for the first time on this podcast and I'll let you know what I think . Smucker is not the sort of company you would think would have such a wildly trendy and popular food product .

Founded in 1897 , jm Smucker first started selling apple butter from the back of a horse drawn wagon , and the current CEO and chairman , mark Smucker , is the great great grandson of that founder , and the company is still based in Orville , ohio .

In addition to selling their smucker jams and jellies , their core products now include long standing brands such as Jif , peanut Butter , folgers Coffee Milk , bone Dog Treats and Meow Mix Cat Food . I mean , I remember watching the commercials for these products when I was a kid .

How did a company that seems as bland as Smucker figure out how to sell $500 million of PB&J sandwiches last year ? Well , this smash hit was actually a long time coming . Smucker first bought the product from a couple of guys who developed it in 1999 .

And then Smucker then tried to patent the concept of a sealed crustless sandwich over the next several years , but they failed , mainly because creating a crimped sandwich with a little filling in the middle was something that was done as far back as the 1940s and the concept is actually pretty similar to a dumpling or even a ravioli .

So after they named the sandwich Uncrustable , they began selling these in schools as well as to regular consumers , and the company said they spent a lot of time getting the product right , figuring out how to bake the bread without creating air pockets , and Smucker claims their proprietary equipment and bread baking knowledge is the key to making a delicious soft , round

crustless sandwich . And whatever the production method Smucker uses , the Uncrustable has caught on in a big way . The convenience factor is probably one of the biggest reasons for its popularity . They come individually wrapped and frozen , and after you take it out of the freezer you let it thaw .

The company recommends letting it sit for about an hour at room temperature , but some people say you can eat it as quickly as 15 minutes and they prefer that slightly chilled jelly giving it an ice cream sandwich vibe .

So the Uncrustable is supposedly good for eight to 10 hours , which makes it perfect for throwing in a lunchbox , a briefcase golf bag , road trips . And in 2018 , the sandwich got a big boost of publicity when they were handed out to firefighters working the California wildfires . Now the sandwiches are definitely a little more expensive than making your own .

The last time I checked , it looked like a pack of 10 sandwiches cost nine bucks .

But given the convenience factor and the fact that people say the sandwich tastes good , smuckers has seen sales grow by 30 to 40% year over year , with their stated goal of selling a billion dollars of Uncrustables a year soon and now Smucker has a variety of Uncrustables , starting with their meat and cheese sandwiches , with plans for even more types in the future ,

including pizza toppings , barbecue chicken and even taco meat . The popularity of Uncrustables has allowed Smucker to buy Twinkies Maker Hostess last month for 5.6 billion dollars , and now this one sleepy company is starting to grow bigger and bigger in the pre-packaged food business . So Uncrustables is a bona fide hit .

But just because it's convenient and people like the taste doesn't make it good for you . How healthy is it ? Well , looking at the packaging of this great PB&J sandwich , it has 210 calories , 28 grams of carbs , 9 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein .

If you track macros , that gives the average person about 10% of their recommended daily carb , fat and protein intake . In terms of unhealthy stuff , the sandwich has about 8 grams of added sugar , which is about 25% of what's recommended daily for most people , and it also has about 220 milligrams of sodium , which is about 10% of your recommended daily salt intake .

The ingredient list includes the bread , which is made up of wheat and barley flour , sugar , water , yeast and soybean oil . The peanut butter contains peanuts and sugar , and the grape jelly is made up mostly of sugar and grape juice . So nutritionally it's not the worst food out there , unless you're going to go gluten-free .

But no one would claim that this is brain food , and if you Google under 300 calorie meals out there , there are a million recipes that look amazing . But who has time to cook and prepare food Just to see what else is out there ? That might be an alternative under the frozen or pre-packaged food items out there .

There are a number of choices in the two to 300 calorie range , but most of them are more expensive and they also have a lot of sodium . For example , a lean cuisine protein kick , gluten-free , frozen herb roasted chicken dinner entree costs 349 .

It has 180 calories and three times the amount of protein as an incrustible , two thirds of the carbs and half the fat , but it has almost triple the salt . The other thing is you can't just throw a lean cuisine into your backpack and expect that it'll be ready for you whenever you are . So how do these uncrustables taste ? Well , let's try it out right now .

It's really good . It's not bad at all . I like the jelly , the peanut butter and the bread is super soft .

So my weekly thankful is also a food item that is completely not an uncrustable . It's actually steak , specifically a 16-ounce New York strip medium rare steak that I had the other night at a local steakhouse .

If you don't eat meat , I'm sorry if this doesn't sound very appetizing to you , but I haven't eaten a big steak in a couple months and it tasted awesome . I didn't even know why it was called New York strip in the first place until I looked it up . So basically , a strip steak is a cut from the short loin of the cow somewhere on the side .

Delmonico's , a restaurant in New York City back in 1827 , offered the strip steak as a signature entree and they called it the Delmonico steak . But because the restaurant was in New York , the entree became popularly known as a New York strip steak . It's often a little denser than a filet mignon , but it's often considered more flavorful .

Anyway , it was even better that someone else paid for my meal , but that's another story . If you're a meat eater , what is your favorite cut of beef , or are you also an uncrustable fan ? Let me know , as always . Dm me at Botox and Burpees podcast on Instagram or leave a comment on youtubecom . Slash at sign Botox and Burpees . Thank you .