2005 News Archive
Beef Business Symposium Draws Foodservice Execs
DENVER (March 18, 2005) - More than 150 foodservice executives attended the Beef Business Symposium for Foodservice in Dallas, March 1-2. Those in attendance gained in-depth information about issues impacting their businesses, and valuable new information about beef safety, nutrition and new product development.
In addition to foodservice operators and suppliers, 17 state beef council representatives and nine beef producers participated, along with staff and speakers from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).
Foodservice marketing is part of the Global Marketing Program funded by America’s beef producers through the national Beef Checkoff Program. It is coordinated on behalf of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by NCBA, which serves as one of the Beef Board’s contractors for checkoff-funded programs.
“It was a great business symposium,” said Al Svajgr, a Cozad, Neb., cattle producer and chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. “A lot of people only think of foodservice as restaurants. But we also had people at this meeting that supply the restaurants, as well as schools, hospitals and a large realm of the industry.”
Svajgr noted that an ever-growing percentage of beef is prepared and consumed outside the home, which makes outreach to the foodservice industry even more important. According to the National Restaurant Association, the nation’s 900,000 foodservice locations should hit $476 billion in sales in 2005, and the overall economic impact of the restaurant industry in 2005 is expected to exceed $1.2 trillion, including sales in related industries such as agriculture, transportation and manufacturing.
“It’s a growing part of our future in the beef industry,” Svajgr said. “Marketing effectively to foodservice providers – and educating them about the benefits of beef - is absolutely critical.”
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval. The checkoff assessment became mandatory when the program was approved by 79 percent of producers in a 1988 national referendum vote. Checkoff revenues may be used for promotion, education and research programs to improve the marketing climate for beef.
Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the NCBA is the trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.