Program Helps Further Link Restaurant Operators with Beef Value Cuts

More than 600 restaurant operators were given an international taste of beef during an imaginary “cruise” at the Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators (MUFSO) Annual Conference in Florida Sept 30.  The checkoff-funded “Beef. A Culinary Cruise” event helped provide a showcase for beef value cuts, which were developed through the checkoff to help increase demand for beef chuck and round.

The Sept. 30 reception at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, Fla., was managed on behalf of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).  It featured eight different recipes that used four beef value cuts: the Flat Iron Steak (top blade, from the chuck/shoulder), the shoulder tender (from the chuck shoulder clod), the Ranch Cut Steak (also from the chuck shoulder clod) and the Sirloin Tip Center (from the beef round/knuckle).  Food stations at the reception were staffed by corporate executive chefs of beef suppliers who are producing the value steaks.

According to Sid Sumner, a beef producer from Bartow, Fla., and vice chairman of the Joint Foodservice Committee, the reception was a “very beneficial event for the beef industry.”

“This was a tremendous opportunity for us to link high-volume restaurant chains with beef suppliers who can provide the cuts to them,” according to Sumner.  “It helped ‘close the loop’ and assure that the higher value cuts from the chuck and round that can be menued as steak were presented to foodservice operators in a variety of ways.”

Beef value cuts are new, single muscle cuts from the undervalued chuck and round.  Identified through checkoff-funded research, they offer easy preparation, greater consistency and more lean beef product options for consumers, and consequently more profit potential for the beef industry.

Sumner said the reception featured “some very well prepared recipes by outstanding chefs.”  This was the second year beef value cuts have been featured by the beef industry at the MUFSO event, and the sixth consecutive year that the checkoff has sponsored the Monday Night Reception during MUFSO.  As a result of industry participation, Sumner said, restaurant operators are beginning to ask the “pertinent questions about how these new steak cuts can benefit their operations” and increase beef sales.

The reception is an opportunity that flows from advertising conducted by the beef checkoff in Nation’s Restaurant News.  The “BEEFlexible” advertising campaign promotes the versatility of new beef value cut steaks to restaurants.

Holding the reception was a chance to “add smell and taste to our advertising message to hundreds of ultimate menu decision makers,” said Sumner, who attended the event.  As a result of the event, he said, restaurant chain executives were able to experience the menu variety and profitability that beef value cuts can provide.  They could also see how value steaks performed in various recipes.

One chef that Sumner visited with during the event had participated in another checkoff-sponsored event that featured value cuts, and had recently added a beef value steak to his permanent menu. 

An additional benefit of holding the reception, Sumner said, was that suppliers were able to experience the foodservice operators’ enthusiasm and interest in the products.   Suppliers are becoming increasingly able to produce the new, more valuable cuts and are making them available, he said.

The “cruise” theme provided a variety of flavor possibilities for eight different “ports-o’-call.” Food stations at the reception featured beef dishes that evoked images of Italy, Spain, China, the Carribbean, Southeast Asia, Mexico, France and the United States.  Chefs from the following companies participated in the event: Southern Foods, Buckhead Beef, IBP (Part of the Tyson Foods Family), ConAgra, Meyer Foods, Ed Miniat, Emmpak (Excel), and Stampede Meats.

MUFSO attendees were encouraged to attend the event via a direct mail invitation and full-page advertisements in two issues of Nation’s Restaurant News.

“The quality of decision makers who attended this event was impressive,” said Sumner.  “There’s no doubt the connections we made at the MUFSO Convention increased value perception of beef by foodservice operators and their suppliers.  It was an important use of both checkoff-funded research and marketing efforts on behalf of cattle producers.”