At the end of August, the Tyson Foods Mexico sales team executed one of its Meat Sommelier trainings, featuring Chef Christophe Setin.
What is the Meat Sommelier training program?
The objective of the program is to help chefs and servers at restaurants carrying Tyson Foods’ fresh meats products understand the meat quality, beef and pork cuts and various utilizations, so they can appropriately communicate and suggest a cut of meat and degree of doneness to customers.
During the two-day training, participants got hands-on experience, and watched live demonstrations from Chef Setin on products featured in Tyson Foods’ fresh meats premium programs, with specific presentations on Chairman’s Reserve® Meats and Star Ranch Angus® beef.
“The biggest impact, in my opinion, was the combination of the practical demonstrations, which I conducted, followed by the in-depth analysis conducted by the team,” says Setin. “The Mexico sales team has a well-rounded, well thought out method, which educates the customer in a very approachable and easy to understand way.”
These trainings are relatively new, but the sales team has seen tremendous growth and success since starting about a year ago.
“These trainings are important to me and my team because not only is it an opportunity to increase our premium program sales, it is a chance to be recognized as ‘The Beef & Pork Experts’ and creates trust, credibility and recognition with our customers,” says managing director at Tyson Foods, Juan Antonio Hernandez.
In order to qualify, candidates must be willing to adopt one or more of the premium programs into their restaurant. Two different foodservice operators were able to take advantage of this past training – Land & Sea and Gastrosophia. These trainings were similar but had catered elements customized to meet each customer’s needs.
“Since we have started conducting these trainings, we have not only seen an increase of sales but also promotion for our premium programs,” says Hernandez. “These trainings have given us the opportunity to put recognition plaques inside restaurants and have resulted in customers adding the Chairman’s Reserve Meats logo on their menu – helping to establish brand loyalty and recognition by the end consumer.”
The most recent training included a demonstration and preparation of a ribeye, pork rack and Boston butt. Of course, a delicious tasting followed as well as deep dives into the Chairman’s Reserve Meats and Star Ranch Angus beef programs.
“My favorite part about the trainings is that the chefs show true interest and admiration of the content, says Jorge Gonzalez, sales manager at Tyson Foods. “They show eagerness to learn things about meat that are not usually taught in culinary schools, and often mention their gratitude at the end of the course.”
“My favorite part of the training was the interaction with the cooks and front of the house staff,” says Setin. “Everyone was so helpful and interested in what I was doing and what I had to say.”
Additional statements from Meat Sommelier Training Participants:
“I wasn’t aware of the marbling in the Chairman’s Reserve pork brand”
“This material (Meat Sommelier training) that you have gathered is solid gold”
“We have no questions because everything was clearly explained and in easy-to-understand terms”
“This material will help us to better explain to customers about the advantages of the meat we offer”
“We feel very proud of the recognition plaques you gave us for Tyson Foods and Chairman’s ReserveMeats”
