1999 News Archive
"BEEF MADE EASY" IMPROVES BEEF CASES OF SUPERMARKET CHAINS
DENVER (November 30, 1999) -- Many consumers don't know what a chuck blade roast is, much less know how to cook it. But that's changing, thanks to simple color-coded labels and cooking instructions to find out what cut of beef they are buying and how to prepare it.
It's a checkoff-funded program called "Beef Made Easy," and it's in some of the largest grocery store chains in the country. These chains are finding that the new program is beefing up sales and reducing consumer confusion at the meat case.
"We're in an age where, if consumers don't understand how to shop for and prepare beef, they simply won't buy it," says Perry Teeter, a beef producer from Mooresville, N.C., and chairman of the beef industry's Retail Committee. "That's a choice the beef industry can't afford. So we found out how to fix it -- by making the meat case more convenient and easier for the consumer to understand."
Since the beef industry launched "Beef Made Easy" to retailers nationwide in April 1999, 23 of the nation's 34 leading supermarket chains have begun testing or rolling out the concept in their stores with positive results. Several smaller chains are also testing the concept.
One Midwestern retailer reported a 4.1 percent increase in total beef volume after the first month of implementation, compared to the same month the year before. An Eastern retailer saw a 7.9 percent increase in beef tonnage sold in three weeks.
In another pilot study, the beef industry helped a major retailer in the Northwest reorganize its entire fresh meat case (including beef, poultry, pork and seafood) by cooking method. Total fresh meat sales for this retailer increased 28.5 percent four months after adoption, and beef sales rose 25.9 percent during the same period.
Companies such as The Kroger Co. and many Kroger-owned chains; Safeway, Inc.; Pathmark; Wakefern Food Corp; and A&P have rolled out the concept in all their stores. Additional companies, including Giant, Publix, Supervalu, Associated Foods and Fleming, are testing the model.
"Many state beef councils also are working with local supermarkets and wholesalers to implement the program," says Teeter. The beef industry initially introduced the program in the fall of 1998, based on more than four years of consumer purchase research.
"The idea was to help retailers achieve more consumer-friendly meat cases," says Teeter. "Checkoff dollars went towards research that helped identify consumer needs. Funds also went towards developing on-pack cooking instruction labels, colorful posters and easily identifiable rail strips to reset the case.
"Feedback from meat managers and consumers told us back then that the program helps ease consumer purchase decisions," Teeter continues. "Meat managers also said the color-coded merchandising materials were important for defining the new layout for consumers and meat department staff," said Teeter.
To help consumers find the products they want, today's "Beef Made Easy" program helps grocery stores organize the beef section into the following cooking method categories: Oven Roasts, Pot Roasts, Premium Oven Roasts, Beef for Stewing, Beef for Stir-Frying, Steaks for Braising, Steaks for Grilling/Broiling, Steaks for Marinating, Steaks for Sautéing, Ground Beef, and Beef in Minutes - for microwaveable entrées and other value-added items, such as beef kabobs and pre-cut, pre-marinated products.
Color-coded merchandising tools, including rail strips and signs, direct shoppers to the types of beef dishes they want. They also help supermarket staff maintain the new layout over a long period of time. On-pack cooking instruction labels include simple cooking instructions and timetables so consumers know exactly how to prepare any beef cut in the fresh meat case.
A consumer education brochure includes detailed cooking instructions, answers customer questions about the new beef layout and can be used by meat managers as a one-on-one selling tool.
"'Beef Made Easy' helps shoppers make faster purchase decisions and increase their confidence about cooking beef at home," says Teeter. "The bottom line is that we want to get consumers back into the beef section of the meat case, increase beef sales and put dollars back into producers' pockets."