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Dakota Style

Thursday, October 29, 2015
filed under: Utilization/Trade: Confection-Non-oil

According to the 2010 census, Clark, S.D., is home to 1,139 people. The northeastern South Dakota town doesn’t have a stoplight, but it does have a very successful sunflower seed business. Jody Kerzman visited with Riley Dandurand, vice president and general manager of a Dakota Style Foods, a big business in the small South Dakota town.

Explain the idea behind Dakota Style Foods.

Where the company is now and where it started is a story in itself. In 1985, a farmer started Dakota Style. This is potato country, and so for years Dakota Style was known for our potato chips. Potato chips made up 95% of our products sold; sunflower seeds and kernel were the other 5%. In 1997, my dad purchased the company; it was still a heavy potato chip company.

In about 2001, sunflower seeds really started taking off, and we decided to concentrate on sunflower. That’s when Dakota Style began to grow by leaps and bounds. And while our in-shell products were taking off, sunflower kernels were becoming popular as well. Today, I’d say 95% of our business is sunflower seeds and kernel while 5% is potato chips. We have completely flipped those percentages.

We are proud to be a family owned company. My dad purchased Dakota Style from the original owners, so we are only the second owners in 30 years. My two brothers and I came back to work with our dad in 2009. I am the vice president and general manager; my brothers, along with two other people we consider to be family, handle sales. But we all truly have our hands in every detail of the business, from the fields to the shelves. We want to give our customers a quality product for a reasonable price.

Clark, S.D., is a small town. Why build your company here? Has it helped the town?

The company was started as a potato chip company, which made sense because this is potato country. It was a natural fit because of the potato farms, and there is a large potato manufacturer here as well. Our roots are here.

As we started growing, people of Clark really stepped up and helped us. The development board helped us build a brand new building. Clark is a small, no-stoplight town. We are so happy to be here. Businesses are welcome here, and we think we provide something good for the people who live here. We provide about 35 jobs. We also create cash flow and bring business into the town. Clark, S.D., is one of the best-kept secrets I can think of. It’s just a great place to be.

What makes Dakota Style sunflower products stand out?

The market for in-shell has really changed in the past five years. Consumers have asked for a jumbo seed that has a good snap but doesn’t leave your mouth feeling raw. We think we’ve figured out how to provide that consistently, bag after bag. We don’t dabble a lot in flavors. We feel like flavors are a trend, and we want to stick with what’s tried and true. We offer our seeds in original, barbecue, ranch, dill and honey roasted. That’s pretty basic, but it works for us.

I think our kernel products are unique and make us stand out. The idea behind the kernels was to provide something for the health-conscious consumers. Sunflower kernels really can fulfill the needs of people looking for healthy choices. It’s a good source of protein, a good snack that fills you up but isn’t bad for you. We’ve been pretty aggressive with kernels, offering lots of different flavors but keeping the prices reasonable. Our flavors include original sated, no salt, honey roasted, savory bacon, salted caramel and ranch. They are delicious on a salad, and the salted caramel is really good on ice cream.

Our kernels are not cross-contaminated with tree nuts, pine nuts or peanuts. They are allergen-free. That’s a huge thing these days because millions of families deal with food allergies.

Approximately how many pounds of sunflower products do you produce a year?

We produce over six million pounds of in-shell and kernel products per year. We use only U.S.-grown sunflower. That’s important to us. We have increased contracts every year, and we are looking to grow even more.

Where can Dakota Style seeds be purchased?

Our large one-pound bags of kernels and seeds can be purchased at grocery stores in all 50 states. We have a 32-ounce bag of kernels that’s available in SAM’s Clubs in the Midwest. We have smaller bags of kernels available in about half of the country.

Our seeds are also available on walmart.com, amazon.com, and on our website (dakotastyle.com). We do a lot of personal orders through our website this time of year. The gift box we have for sale on our website is a great Christmas gift.

What are the latest trends in the market segments you serve?

Sunflower kernels are being incorporated into baking a lot. They’ve been a staple ingredient in Europe for years, and that’s now happening here in the U.S. People are using sunflower kernels for coatings on tenderloins, toppings on salads, and in cookies. It’s interesting that sunflower kernels have long been a staple at salad bars in restaurants, but it’s just now becoming popular to do that at home. We also hear people are incorporating sunflower kernels into their yogurt and topping their ice cream with kernels. There are 101 uses for kernel, and it’s exciting to be a part of that.

What is your customers’ perception of sunflower seeds?

People love our sunflower seeds. I know that because they tell us on social media. Of course, we get a handful of negative comments, but we get many more positive reviews about how nice and consistently big our sunflower seeds are, low salt content, good taste, love the alternative of the kernel, allergen, no cholesterol. They really love what we’re doing.

We get that feedback daily. People will pick up the phone and call us and yell at us if a product isn’t on the shelf at their store. We have heard of people buying four one-pound bags at a time because they want to make sure they don’t run out. That tells me they like our products.

Are there any new offerings or products?

We are really just planning to stick with what’s working now. We do talk about developing a sunflower butter or spread, but we believe it’s important to not wander too far from your roots. We’d love to grind up kernels and make a spread, and I think that’s our target; but we are not steamrolling toward it.

We did launch a new product with our chips that is completely new to industry called Kettle Shake. Kettle Shake is a crunchy potato chip coating mix found in the baking and coatings aisle. It’s used to coat chicken and top casseroles. It is a fun baking alternative that is also gluten and allergen free, which is very important right now.

What does the future hold for your company? New products? New promotions or marketing strategies?

We sponsored a bull in the Professional Bulling Riding circuit this year. Dakota Style HyTest is a member of Jared Allen’s Pro Bull Team (JAPBT), which also benefits Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors (JAH4WW). We also partnered with Benny Spies and his TV show, “Gun It with Benny Spies.”

But while those partnerships are fun and it’s cool to be on television, we really try to concentrate our promotions at the retail level, where really, our concentration is on the customer. We want to give our customers [reason] to be repeat customers, and we think the best way to do that is to give them the very best deal we can.

Are you doing any advertising, PR, social media or grassroots to promote your product? If yes, what?

We felt pressure to get into social media, and we’re glad we jumped on board. We’re now on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

I think we have done a good job of building our presence on those social media sites. We post multiple times a week. Our posts are fun and factual, and sometimes we ask questions and giveaway products to the people who answer correctly. We try to be as interactive as possible.