Peperami is a pork sausage snack manufactured by Jack Link's in Germany. According to Unilever, it was first shipped to the UK by accident in a container which was supposed to be carrying pâté. The company decided to attempt to sell the shipment to the UK market under the brand name 'Peperami'. Several new varieties have been introduced over the years with varying degrees of success. Peperami may be interpreted as a portmanteau of the words "pepperoni" and "salami", but the company does not want the product to be misunderstood as a combination of these different meats. In 1955, Peperami was one of the products from Nabisco. When the mistake was made, the company tried the meat snack and enjoyed it. This resulted in Unilever relaunching the snack.
In 2003, to try to retain appeal to an ever more health conscious market, the manufacturers of Peperami revised the formula to produce a product with a reduction in fat, saturated fat and salt content.
In Germany, the snack is alternatively sold as BiFi and instead made out of beef. Some discontinued Peperami products in Britain are still available under the BiFi brand in Germany. Another spun-off snack in Germany is the Ranger stick.
Unilever announced that, on February 21st, 2014, it had signed a definitive agreement for the sale of its meat snacks business to Jack Link’s, for an undisclosed amount.
The sale includes the brands BiFi, sold in Germany, the Benelux countries, Austria and Switzerland, and Peperami, which retails in the UK and Ireland.
Animal
The "Animal" is the mascot of the Peperami brand since around 1993. He is an anthropomorphized Peperami sausage stick who wears black boots. A "bit of an animal" (as the marketing slogan goes), he has a bad attitude with an ill temper and a bold and sometimes-psychotic streak, that which has been toned down somewhat in recent years. He is also unafraid of injury or getting eaten, as seen in certain ads that he stars in.
He also has a self-destructive side to himself, as, in one ad, he ate off his own arms. Another example is when, in the advertisement for Peperami Noodles, he dives into a blender, laughing maniacally as he was chopped into pieces.
Dog toys
Peperami released a series of dog toys featuring the familiar Animal character. Toys include the "Salami saucer", "salami screamer", "the little nippler", "the big one", "meaty muncher", "the football fetch toy", "sausage stretch" and "flaming finger"
Variations
- Peperami (Original) - The original variation
- Peperami Tex-Mex - Variation with a Tex-Mex flavor
- Peperami Hot - Spicy variation (discontinued)
- Peperami Firestick - An even spicier variation (discontinued)
- Peperami Wideboy - Variation that is 60% larger than the 23g stick (discontinued)
- Peperami Gobbler - Variation made with turkey meat (discontinued)
- BBQ Peperami - Variation with a BBQ flavor (discontinued)
Trivia
- In some 1988 advertisements, Peperami is compared favorably towards meat-flavored potato chips and corn puffs.