As the third-largest meat holiday behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, the three-week shift in Easter timing had a substantial impact on meat sales in April, according to the latest Performance Report from Circana, 210 Analytics, and Hillphoenix. The department grew dollar sales by 9.8% versus April 2024 and pounds increased by 7.9%. Both fresh and processed meat had strong April results.
Meat sales started gearing up the week before the holiday (the week ending April 13th). The holiday week itself was massive. Sales reached $2.27 billion, up nearly 20% in dollars and 21.6% in pounds compared to the same week in 2024. Sales levels remained elevated in the post-holiday week, with an increase of 2.1% in pound sales year-over-year.
Fresh Meat Sales by Protein
Holiday classics, including turkey and lamb, showed aggressive year-over-year growth rates — keeping in mind sales are compared to everyday demand in 2024 due to the Easter date mismatch. For lamb, this means continued growth with the annual view showing 11.5% in pound growth, now closing in on being a $1 billion category. Beef impressed once more. Despite the 8.5% increase in the average price per pound across cuts, pounds grew 5.6% in April. The annual rate of increase for beef pound sales was 6.1%, which was the second-highest rate of increase behind lamb.
| April 2025 | Latest 52 weeks | ||||||||
| Type | $ sales | $ vs. YA | Lbs vs. YA | Type | $ sales | $ vs. YA | Lbs vs. YA | ||
| Total fresh meat | $5.9B | +9.9% | +3.4% | Total fresh meat | $74.4B | +8.3% | +3.9% | ||
| Fresh beef | $3.3B | +14.6% | +5.6% | Fresh beef | $42.0B | +11.7% | +6.1% | ||
| Fresh chicken | $1.5B | +2.8% | -0.2% | Fresh chicken | $19.9B | +5.3% | +3.2% | ||
| Fresh pork | $634M | +1.0% | -0.1% | Fresh pork | $8.5B | +4.0% | +1.2% | ||
| Fresh turkey | $212M | +12.3% | +24.2% | Fresh turkey | $3.3B | -0.2% | +2.4% | ||
| Fresh lamb | $108M | +52.4% | +45.9% | Fresh lamb | $930M | +9.0% | +11.5% | ||
| Fresh exotic | $16M | -1.5% | +8.9% | Fresh exotic | $221M | +1.1% | +2.0% | ||
| Veal | $3M | +2.4% | -1.8% | Veal | $44M | -3.4% | -6.0% | ||
Source: Circana, Integrated Fresh, MULO+
Grinds
Though ground beef typically has a more subdued performance during key holiday months, sales continued to grow in April, at +1.1% over April 2024. Ground lamb sales, while strong all year, appear to indicate that some consumers chose ground lamb as their Easter protein. Ground chicken sales continued to be strong in April.
| April 2025 | Latest 52 weeks | ||||||||
| Type | $ sales | $ vs. YA | Lbs vs. YA | Type | $ sales | $ vs. YA | Lbs vs. YA | ||
| Ground beef | $1.3B | +11.4% | +1.1% | Ground beef | $16.0B | +10.9% | +4.6% | ||
| Ground turkey | $155.5M | +3.7% | +0.2% | Ground turkey | $2.0B | +4.2% | +5.6% | ||
| Ground chicken | $30.1M | +17.2% | +19.7% | Ground chicken | $350M | +12.0% | +11.9% | ||
| Ground pork | $16.0M | -2.7% | +2.6% | Ground pork | $225M | -0.5% | +1.2% | ||
| Ground lamb | $4.6M | +17.4% | +17.6% | Ground lamb | $56M | +10.8% | +9.7% | ||
| Ground veal | $0.7M | +4.1% | +3.2% | Ground veal | $9.5M | -2.2% | -5.7% | ||
