Beef Industry Provides Restaurants with Menu Ideas to Build Beef Demand

DENVER (March 26, 2004) – As the challenges to be more creative and economical continue to grow in the food service industry, the Beef Checkoff Program has been out front with new and ground-breaking recipes to increase consumer demand for beef. The colorful new 28-page recipe collection entitled Innovation in Action offers a variety of recipes and menu concepts to tempt every palate.

This piece was funded by beef producers through their $1-per-head checkoff, and coordinated for the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

“We are extremely pleased to offer “Innovation in Action” to restaurant and other food service operators,” said Sid Sumner, Bartow, Fla., beef producer and chairman of the Joint Foodservice Committee.  “Creativity is the ingredient that helps turn occasional customers into loyal ones, and we’re happy to help with this to make sure beef is part of the picture.”

Today’s growing food industry is continually evolving and heavily influenced by many ethnic cultures. Innovation in Action embraces these influences by pairing beef with complementary ingredients to create dishes with Latin, Mediterranean and Asian flavor, among others.

In addition to innovative recipes and concepts such as steak moo shu, beef pretzels, Cheeseburger Fries and all-American sushi, readers will also find starters, cooking and preparation tips, and information featuring exciting new beef products recently developed for foodservice operations. The collection also highlights ideas from some of the hottest operations on how to transform good menu items into profitable hits.

“As a partner with restaurants in growing beef business, America’s beef producers know the best thing we can do is develop new products and creative recipes that allow them to build relationships and loyalty with their customers,” said Sumner.  “We believe this booklet will be very helpful to restaurants and other food service establishments.”

Innovation in Action also highlights the newest beef value cuts that are a result of a new cutting approach developed through beef checkoff-funded research: taking the best portion of what used to be sold as larger roasts and cutting them into higher-value steaks. These new cuts are low on plate waste and high on tenderness, flavor and quality. Distinctive recipes for all occasions -- including breakfast -- are included.

The booklet will be distributed to food service operators throughout the country. Additional copies of the brochure can be obtained by calling the NCBA Customer Service Department at 1-800-368-3138 or emailing a request to innovationinaction@beef.org and requesting item #24708.

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