Wal-Mart Supercenters Conducts Cheeseburger Fries Sampling

Samples of Circle A Ranch-brand Cheeseburger Fingers were handed out at more than 700 Wal-Mart Supercenters nationwide on April 18 and May 1, 2004.  Wal-Mart represents the first retail chain to carry the unique beef appetizer.

Cheeseburger Fingers are a tasty combination of ground beef and cheese in a French-fry shape with a crispy coating.  They have been described as a cross between a chicken nuggets and cheese sticks – fun finger food that is portable, quick cooking, capable of being served with a variety of meal applications in a variety of flavors and shapes, and typically served with ketchup, ranch dressing or buffalo-style hot  sauce.

Cheeseburger Fingers are based on the new product concept Cheeseburger Fries®, one of many new products developed by the beef checkoff funded R&D Ranch® team, whose focus is to stimulate beef demand among consumers via introduction of new beef products.   The R&D Ranch is coordinated for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, one of the Board’s contractors.

Demand for beef continued its upward trend last year, with figures indicating an increase of 5.7 percent from 2002 to 2003.  With that increase, demand has increased more than 16 percent since 1998.  Since 1998, more than 2,100 new beef products have come to market.

While beef enjoys unprecedented popularity among consumers, only 4 percent of beef servings are breakfast or snack products.  Americans consume more than 8 billion hamburgers and cheeseburgers each year.  Cheeseburger Fingers build on the popularity of burgers and transforms them into a fun, sharable and portable food.

Among states included in the sampling were:  Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.