Thousands of consumers from the Northeast incorporated some turf with their surf during the 70th Annual Maine Lobster Festival thanks to a partnership between the national beef checkoff and the Montana Beef Council.
Photo: Checkoff staff distributing freshly grilled beef samples and information.
Attendees of the Lobster Festival were invited to participate in a variety of activities at the beef checkoff booth. Participants enjoyed freshly grill strip steak samples thanks to a partnership with Pineland Farms Natural Meats, and were interested to learn that the product was available to them locally. Attendees also engaged with checkoff staff and Millennial 2 Millennial Beef (M2M) Advocates at the booth to learn more about beef’s versatility, nutrition content and recipes.
“The festival was a great event to be a part of. Consumers really enjoyed the opportunity to eat something different, beef, at the festival and were very impressed with the taste,” noted Tarrah Freund, former Pennsylvania Beef Ambassador. “The high-quality beef samples gave us the opportunity to talk about the benefits of beef as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle, as well as to provide attendees with more information. Events like this are vital to the continued exposure of our products and industry to consumers.”
The beef checkoff also had a presence during the festival’s annual Big Parade and both of their their 5K and 10K race events. Checkoff staff walked the parade route and provided spectators with beef jerky samples and a recipe card. Finishers of the race events could sample beef jerky at the finish line.
While visiting the beef booth, consumers had the chance to enter to win a steakhouse gift card by participating in an educational survey. Of those polled, 56 percent were aware that 40 percent of food taken home by Americans goes uneaten; 96.5 percent of survey entrants had a favorable opinion of beef.
Events like the Lobster Festival allow the checkoff to engage directly with consumers, including millennials, to highlight beef’s taste and nutritional benefits as well as cooking techniques. Checkoff-funded research in the Northeast shows that consumers are not confident in their ability to pair the correct cut of beef with the appropriate cooking method. Interacting face-to-face with them helps get their cooking questions answered.
For more information, go to upcoming consumer events in the Northeast and MyBeefCheckoff.com.
Source: Beef Checkoff