In-Forum: SunButter sales spread

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SunButter sales spread
By Jeff Zent, The Forum
Published Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Robert Majkrzak, left, is president and CEO of Red River Commodities Inc., makers of a variety of SunButter styles. The SunButter is packaged in containers that weigh from 11/2 ounces to 450 pounds. Jason Bjorndahl,right, fills small bottles with SunButter at the Red River Commodities plant in Fargo. The bottles are destined for use by an airline.

Fargo-made SunButter sandwich spread apparently is winning over the nation's toughest food critics: its children.

Students in 12 states have gobbled up about 600,000 pounds of the peanut butter alternative this year, said Dan Majkrzak, president and CEO of Red River Commodities Inc., 501 52nd St. N.W.

Officials at the Fargo-based company said demand for SunButter will grow in the nation's schools and in retail outlets.

Driving SunButter's success, in part, is that it doesn't contain the allergens found in peanut products. SunButter tastes a lot like peanut butter, but is made of sunflower seeds.

"That was key," Majkrzak said. "That opened up a huge opportunity for us."

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology estimates that about 3 million Americans are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts.

Offering a similar sandwich spread without the allergy concerns helped get the U.S. Department of Agriculture to include SunButter in the National School Lunch Program in December, said Dan Hofland, marketing vice president of SunGold Foods, a division of Red River Commodities.

The creamy spread also is being served on some United Airlines flights, Majkrzak said.

The Fargo School District started carrying SunButter in January, said Debra Laber, director of nutritional services.

"We started offering it as an alternative for students who may have a peanut allergy or don't like peanuts," Laber said. "We wanted to give them a choice."

Peanut butters are more popular, but students are also spreading SunButter on their bread, Laber said.

SunButter was an experiment three years ago. Selling the sandwich spread started with a box full of SunButter jars delivered to a local Hornbacher's Foods grocery store, Hofland said.

Sales expanded to grocery and health food stores in the Minneapolis area, and then throughout the Upper Midwest, Majkrzak said.

"We were pleased the way it moved off the shelves, he said.

The regional success helped convince other retail stores to stock SunButter. Today, SunButter is sold in health food stores in every state, he said.

School districts in at least four other states will add SunButter to their menus next year, Hofland said.

Red River Commodities offers contracts to area farmers to grow sunflowers used to make SunButter.

Red River Commodities had a lot of help along the way, Majkrzak said.

The USDA's Agricultural Research Service helped develop the SunButter, and North Dakota's Agricultural Products and Utilization Commission gave Red River Commodities about $120,000 to market and advertise the sandwich spread, he said.

An occasional plug from Gov. John Hoeven and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns doesn't hurt, either.

Hoeven handed Johanns a sample of SunButter during the Agriculture Secretary's recent visit in Fargo.

Johanns tasted the spread and gave it a thumbs up.

SunButter illustrates the benefits of value-added agriculture, Johanns told a group of news reporters.