A star performer in the frozen food aisle is not only feeding American families, but it’s also driving brand growth for one of the biggest food companies on Earth.
“We love demand, we love to sell protein and feed the world. And so we’re always looking for ways to do that economically, for our shareholders, to bring value, but also to have those reasonable price points for the consumer,” Tyson Foods chief growth officer Kristina Lambert told Fox News Digital.
“We’ve been in the industry now for 90 years,” she added. “We have found a lot of ways to overcome any kind of market conditions or consumer needs.”
In June, Tyson launched a revamped version of a familiar favorite meal: Mega Dino Nuggets. The new fun-shaped nuggets are twice the size of the original and are expanding into more grocery aisles nationwide.
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Frozen chicken nugget sales rose nearly 18% last year, according to NielsenIQ, making it a $1.1 billion industry. For Tyson, nugget sales account for roughly 21% of its total sales volume.
“We already liked our Dino Nuggets, but making it even bigger makes it even better. And it’s great that the consumers are receiving it and there’s just as much excitement,” Lambert said. “They’re selling very well at our club partners and they’re moving into more retail partners as we speak.”
“I think everyone loves a reason to play with their food because we’re all a little bit of kids at heart. And so giving permission to have fun with our food again has been the spirit of not only the Mega Dino Nuggets, but some of our spooky nuggets and some of the other shapes we’ve brought,” she expanded.
In early August, Tyson reported strong third-quarter earnings, with revenue rising 4% year-over-year to $13.88 billion, and adjusted earnings per share coming in at $0.91 – beating analyst expectations. The company also raised its full-year sales outlook for 2025, now projecting 2 to 3% growth, fueled by continued demand for chicken and prepared foods, even as Tyson readies for deeper losses in beef.
“I remember when I started, it was a much smaller company, mostly chicken, and now we have grown into beef, pork, and a whole bunch of delicious branded prepared items,” Lambert reflected.
“We came from humble beginnings, and we certainly take that to heart as we consider all of our products so that we have a breadth of products available for anybody to be attainable,” she continued, “to meet any of those budgetary needs and nutritional needs.”
While playful on the outside, launching a product like Mega Dino Nuggets at scale is serious business. Lambert praised Tyson’s 138,000 team members for executing on both creativity and operational efficiency.
“We allow people to be creative wherever they are to solve whatever problems, whether it be the operational efficiencies to provide great-tasting products, or whether it’d be around the innovation side and coming up with those new fun ways to have fun with our food,” Lambert explained.
Tyson has been listening to consumer feedback as well. In response to a viral review that criticized the Mega Dino Nuggets for being mushy and underseasoned, the company moved quickly to investigate.
“We want to correct [it] as quickly as possible, anything that might give a consumer a disappointing experience,” Tyson’s chief innovator said. “A lot of our packages and air fryers do vary just a little bit… I know my son personally loves to not follow the cooking instructions and to heat them a little hotter, because he likes his a little bit crunchier.”
“The breading profile has a wheat profile, which we see some people really looking for that, that it provides a little extra crunch within there,” Lambert noted, “but there’s a lot of protein in that nugget versus some of the traditional nuggets.”
Leading growth at one of the largest food companies in the world, Lambert pointed out future opportunities in the snacking space for Tyson and offered advice to the next generation of food industry inventors.
“What are consumers looking for, and what are you willing to eat yourself? And if it’s not something you’re not willing to eat, then maybe it’s not the right thing for the consumers,” she posited.
“But always understanding the consumer needs, where there’s a gap in what they have in the marketplace where no solutions have been provided, those are great opportunities to align what you might like and what consumers definitely want.”
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