by James A. Bacon

Step aside, Artificial Intelligence, it’s time for a business story that really matters to every American household. Smithfield Foods, the Chinese-owned, Virginia-based pork producer, has gone public in an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The company’s big challenge, according to CEO Shane Smith, is persuading Americans to eat more pork. That shouldn’t be too hard, given the fact that bacon is the most delicious food in the history of mankind!

“In a more than $50 billion pork industry that produces far more bacon, chops and hams than Americans will eat in a year,” reports the Wall Street Journal, “Smithfield needs to push U.S. buyers to fill up their bellies with pork.”

While Americans’ per capita chicken consumption has tripled and beef consumption has declined since 1965, consumption of pork products has barely held its own — a sad commentary on American cultural norms.

It seems that young people prefer chicken sandwiches, reports the Journal.

Chicken? Really? Can you get any wimpier? I suppose there’s always tofu.

Meanwhile, holiday ham sales volumes are in freefall — shrinking at the rate of 5% per year. Smithfield is innovating new products such as cubed and diced ham for omelets, and thicker ham slices in deli-style wraps. Smithfield’s ham sales are increasing 2% per years as a result. But how much growth potential is there? To get people to eat more diced ham, you have to get people to eat more omelets. Who benefits from that? The egg producers! That’s a dead-end business strategy.

If the Journal’s silence on the topic is any indication, Smithfield is overlooking its greatest growth opportunity of all — bacon.

Bacon has a mystique in popular American culture unmatched by any other food, as evidenced by the profusion of bacon memes. What other food has an activist fan base like bacon? Chicken? How many chicken memes do you see?

CEO Smith should take his cue from social media, a never-ending source of culinary creativity.

Bacon cupcakes! There’s the ticket.

And bacon salad:

And bacon tacos:

Line up the right celebrity endorsement, and the sky’s the limit!

This is your chance to shine, Mr. Smith. Run with it!