Background
Ed Miniat LLC, a fifth-generation, family-owned business, has been supplying high quality sous vide meats to customers since 1896. The company has an outstanding reputation for quality in the B2B food manufacturing industry. Their products are served in many Top 100 Quick Serve Restaurants (QSRs) nationwide and are used as the manufacturing gold standard for several well-known QSRs. Miniat has even earned Supplier of the Year recognition from Chipotle Mexican Grill.
In early 2023, the Miniat leadership team completed an in-depth strategic plan with ambitious growth goals. While to-date their business had been built on the strength of their products, their relationships, and their operational excellence, the leadership team decided it was time for marketing to play a bigger role going forward. Argentum was engaged to conduct a Marketing Audit and Positioning project in July 2023.
What We Did
Marketing Audit
We started with a thorough marketing audit: reviewing Miniat’s existing marketing budget, plan, and processes and compared them to best practices. The assessment included conducting a detailed competitive review, identifying gaps, and recommending strategic marketing priorities.
Marketing Plan Development
A core outcome of the audit was the need for a strategic marketing plan. We drafted a plan for the 2024 budgeting process, and then, after the rebranding and website work was completed, we worked with Mabbly on a more detailed plan for 2026. There was some confusion around the proposed plan, so I translated it into Argentum’s strategic framework. This helped Miniat fully evaluate and confidently approve it.
Positioning: Miniat Custom
When I conducted the marketing audit, I noticed something that gave me pause. In the 1980s, Miniat had been the first company to bring sous vide meat manufacturing to the United States. At one point it would have been a genuinely powerful competitive differentiator for marketing messaging. But in Miniat’s sales-driven culture, it was never developed into a marketing asset. By the time I started working with the team, sous vide had become a standard offering across the category.
As the person charged with helping Miniat develop a strong, differentiated position in the market, that was a bit of a bummer. I needed to find a competitive Point of Difference that was ownable and equally compelling.
As with most Argentum positioning projects, we started with in-depth qualitative customer interviews to get an outside-in view of how Miniat was perceived and where the real competitive opportunity might live. What came back from those conversations was consistent and exciting: Miniat’s customers thought of them as a standard-bearer in the category. That, combined with a careful look at the competitive landscape, led us to a positioning platform that was true and ownable: Miniat: The Gold Standard Leader.
Positioning: Miniat Gold Standard
Given the growing strategic importance of Miniat’s new Gold Standard product line (MGS), we developed a separate positioning statement for the sub-brand. The result was a compelling, separate identity for MGS while remaining consistent with the broader Miniat brand.
Agency Search
With strong positioning in place for both businesses, the next step was finding a creative agency that could rebrand Miniat and bring the positioning to life through compelling messaging. Miniat asked Argentum to lead the search for a branding agency. We wanted a partner that specialized in B2B, ideally with food experience, that did gorgeous work. After laying out the specific goals and criteria, we built a curated list of qualified candidates and managed the evaluation and selection processes. (You can read about the methodology I use for agency searches here.)
We ultimately decided to partner with Mabbly, a Chicago-based agency specializing in B2B marketing with strong experience in the food manufacturing space. They were the right fit for both the task at hand and for Miniat’s culture. (Thank you, Mabbly!)
Leading the Rebrand
After onboarding Mabbly, I stayed on in a retainer capacity to lead the rebranding effort, working closely with Miniat’s Sr. Business Development Manager. The deliverables included guiding the website redesign, ensuring all new messaging aligned with the positioning work, and taking an active role in the content development process.
One of the most exciting outcomes of the rebrand is Miniat’s new brand color. The company has moved away from the industry’s standard red to a distinctive green. It was a meaningful change that the entire Miniat team worked through thoughtfully, and the enthusiasm has been wonderful to see.
Results
The rebrand is live, the new website is up, content and email marketing programs are underway, and digital advertising is getting ready to launch. Equally exciting, Miniat recently brought on a full-time Manager of Sales Support and Marketing Insights to own the company’s marketing going forward.
That’s exactly how this is supposed to work. As part of the Argentum Timeshare VP of Marketing® model, one of the goals from the beginning was to help Miniat build toward the point where they were ready to fully take the reins. They’re ready now, and the successful engagement is scheduled to wrap up on June 31, 2026.
I was thrilled when Matt Miniat, President of Miniat Meats, recently introduced me to someone by saying: “Susan has been instrumental in helping me define our strategy, identify our strengths and weaknesses in the market, create a marketing strategy, identify and select a marketing agency, and lead our entire re-brand.”
It’s been a privilege to work with a company of this caliber and to help them build the marketing foundation their business has long deserved.