07/14/2023

Schnucks to Offer Products Featuring 'Mizzou' Student Athletes

1st-of-its-kind program will compensate University of Missouri athletes

Associate Publisher/Executive Editor, Store Brands

Schnucks' new exclusive pizza features student athletes from the University of Missouri.

Schnuck Markets and Every True Tiger Brands (ETTB) are partnering on an exclusive line of Schnucks products that will feature student athletes at the University of Missouri.

The first-of-its-kind program features student athletes from various sports on a variety of products, through new Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rules, where college athletes can be compensated.

To launch the partnership, Schnucks is introducing “Pizza With the Mizzou Crew” – a mega meat, thin crust frozen pizza featuring Tigers defensive stars Ty’Ron Hopper, Ennis Rakestraw, Jr., and Kris Abrams-Draine. Every two months, Schnucks will introduce a new frozen pizza variety that will feature different in-season Mizzou student athletes. Retail price of the pizzas will be $7.99, and they will be available in all Missouri Schnucks locations as well as metropolitan St. Louis stores in Illinois.

Products from the collaboration to follow potentially include branded ice cream, candy, snacks, coffee and cookies.

“These items give our customers and Mizzou fans the opportunity to support University of Missouri athletics while enjoying delicious products they can pick up at their hometown grocery store,” said Schnucks Category Manager Scott Wilmoth.

According to ETTB CEO Nick Garner, Schnucks’ work with Mizzou’s student-athletes is a great benefit in Every True Tiger Brands maintaining its leading position in NIL efforts for its student athletes.

“We are excited to partner with a great Missouri brand like Schnucks for this innovative program,” said Garner. “This is just another example of businesses being a pioneer in creating vehicles for our student athletes to grow their personal brands, while also promoting Mizzou.”

St. Louis-based Schnucks operates 114 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, and employs 12,000 associates. The company is No. 64 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named the company one of its Outstanding Independents for 2023.

This article first appeared on the site of sister publication Store Brands.