Chicago - Wondering what's for dinner? At a time when Americans are busier than ever, the answer continues to be beef. But product technology and ingenuity are putting a fresh face on traditional beef meals - and they're opening up new opportunities for an industry as American as “steak and eggs.”
A new breed of fully cooked, heat-and-serve beef entrees will hit supermarkets at lightening pace in 1999. America's beef industry is leveraging this product innovation trend to solidify beef's place at the table and expand its share of the burgeoning market for convenience meals.
Just what are these new beef products and where can consumers find them? Succulent homestyle pot roasts, beef stew like mom used to make and other delicious beef entrees are taking root in supermarket fresh meat cases all across the country. That's right - they're fresh, and can be prepared in a microwave in about 10 minutes.
“Busy consumers can now create beef meals from a microwave without compromising that one-of-a-kind great taste they expect from beef,” said Chuck Schroeder, chief executive officer, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
The NCBA, the marketing and trade organization for America's one million cattle ranchers and farmers, will put $25 million behind a fully integrated marketing program that includes advertising, public relations, promotions, retail and foodservice partnerships, and co-marketing with leading food manufacturers of heat-and-serve beef products. The new advertising campaign breaks in January 1999 and is designed to build awareness and drive purchase of these innovative dinner options. The advertising campaign also welcomes back some familiar aspects of the industry, including the “Beef. It's What's For Dinner.(r)” advertising tag and a celebrity voice-over - this time from actor Sam Elliott.
While microwaveable beef entrees make up just 4 percent of the more than $17 billion spent on retail beef products each year according to a 1998 study by Information Resources, Inc., consumer trends for ease and convenience indicate tremendous growth potential for these products.
Manufacturers such as Burnett and Son, Flint Hills Foods, RMH Foods, Inc. and No-Name Steaks -- which have earned NCBA's beef “symbol of commitment” for their respective products' quality and taste -- are paving the way for “easy beef.” Other branded beef companies with heat-and-serve beef products include Excel Corporation, Harris Ranch, Lloyd's Barbecue; Mosey's and Emmpak Foods. The NCBA is currently preparing a Prepared Beef Product Directory, which will be available in January, and will provide a complete listing of Prepared Beef Manufacturers.
But product innovation doesn't stop with the companies or the microwave. Rotiss-A-Roast(tm) is a tender and juicy beef alternative to rotisserie chicken that can be purchased at supermarket deli cases and taken home ready-to-serve. It carries a lean label, as it contains only six grams of fat (two grams of saturated fat) per three-ounce serving. Developed by the NCBA and its new product consultants, the rotisserie beef product will rival rotisserie chicken products, which moves 500 million chickens per year, according to the National Chicken Council.
Representing 42 percent of total meat purchases in the U.S., beef continues its 20-year reign as the No. 1 selling protein. Yet changing times have seen a slackening demand for some of the most mouth watering beef dishes, such as pot roast. Consumers are increasingly crunched for time, and a younger generation of consumers have considerably less cooking knowledge for many cuts of beef. These factors have led to decreased sales for the more economical chuck and round cuts, which amount to more than 60 percent of a beef carcass by weight.
The demand for dining convenience and versatility also is fueled by an increase in dual-income and single-parent families, longer work hours and more women in the workforce. Research shows that about 70 percent of Americans decide what they'll eat for dinner after 4:30 p.m. that day. Products like Rotiss-A- Roast and microwaveable beef entrees offer easy, timesaving solutions to mealtime dilemmas.
“Beef producers recognize the importance of meeting consumer demands for old favorites with new-found convenience. By taking cuts from the underutilized chuck and round and turning them into meals that can be prepared in minutes, we are helping the industry prosper and are delivering added value to consumers,” added Schroeder.
As the largest segment of the U.S. economy, the American beef industry comprises 17.5 percent of the gross national product and contributes $153 billion directly and indirectly into the national economy.
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
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