Steve Giroux, vice president of sales and marketing for American Foods Group
brands division, says the beef checkoff is working together with their company
to help grow consumer awareness about frozen beef offerings and in turn,
increase beef sales. Right now, square footage in the freezer case is about 68
percent chicken and 32 percent beef, which means there is a lot of upside
potential for beef.
Theres a new frontier for beef its in the freezer case to expand beef
sales. Weve come up with some innovative products that we feel will fit those
needs and actually expand sales. Its not taking away from the fresh case, its
actually expanding beef sales into the freezer case. So we feel that right now,
there are some stew meat opportunities off the chuck roll, and the cube steaks
off the round, and were also working with the new Denver steak that comes off
the chuck eye roll as well so that we can build that business there. (27
seconds)
Each year, the beef checkoff partners with retailers and foodservice restaurants
to expand promotional and marketing opportunities for beef. Giroux takes us
through the process he believes is necessary to reach consumers.
Its going to be an education process and thats where we really need to do
some PR to get them out there, to understand it. But the biggest thing is to
also do demos because once we get it in their mouth, its a great eating
experience and thats where we need to expand that. And we also need to, in not
only retail but foodservice, get it on some menus, and let people try it and get
the promotion going that way, too. (20 seconds)
So whats the ultimate possibility for increasing beef sales through the freezer
case? Giroux cant put a specific number to the prediction, but says the outlook
looks favorable.
Industry-wide, I think it could be when you look at what chicken does,
hundreds of millions of pounds out of the freezer what we can do is if we can
get just a piece of that and grow that business in a nice, manageable number
every year, there could be very large numbers down the road for the beef
industry. (17 seconds)
For information on other efforts being funded with your beef checkoff
investment, visit www.beefinnovationsgroup.com or
www.MyBeefCheckoff.com.
Source: The
Beef Checkoff
