Reaching Northeast Channel Influencers
Conferences highlight new ground-beef recipes and value-added shoulder clod and chuck cuts.
The National Beef Checkoff Program sponsored two new channel-influencer conferences this spring, reaching more than 70 channel influencers from the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions through beef cooking and cutting demonstrations. The North American Camp Foodservice Director Conference was hosted at Camp Chingachgook in Lake George, N.Y., March 27-29 and the Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors was hosted at the Penn Stater Conference Center in State College, Pa., May 11-12.
The checkoff’s Executive Chef Dave Zino attended the Camp Foodservice Director Conference and conducted a 60-minute educational session titled, “Heating up the Camp Fire with Beef,” where he demonstrated three youth-friendly ground-beef recipes featured on the Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner website. “Zippy Beef Alphabet Soup,” “Santa Fe Corn Chili” and “Personal Beef Pizzas” were on the menu for Zino’s beef demonstration. Additionally, the checkoff-funded school foodservice recipes were a cornerstone at the beef booth where attendees were invited to assemble their own recipe booklets, including the school foodservice beef recipes.
While ground beef was king of the menu at the camp foodservice conference, underutilized and value-added cuts from the beef shoulder clod and chuck roll were the stars of the show at the Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors Conference. Kari Underly, the principal at Range Inc., and third-generation butcher and author of the James Beard nominated book, The Art of Beef Cutting, conducted a 90-minute educational session exploring the breakdown and utilization of the new value-added beef cuts. Thirty-six percent of session attendees stated the value-added beef cuts demonstrated from the chuck were brand new to them, and 78% rated the beef checkoff-funded educational materials they received at the conference a five out of five.
Christie Brown, director of marketing with the Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative, a contractor to the National Beef Checkoff Program, reflected after the two conferences, “Whether we’re highlighting fresh and unique ground-beef recipes to offer new menu solutions for camp foodservice directors or helping meat processors navigate the alternative ways to break down the beef chuck to merchandise the value-added cuts, it’s always exciting to extend what the beef checkoff has already invested in with the new channel influencers here in the Northeast region.”
For more information about the beef checkoff’s presence in the Northeast region, check out the NortheastLovesBeef Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages. For more information, visit NEBPI.org or MyBeefCheckoff.com.
Editor’s Note: This article is provided by the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which is funded by the Beef Checkoff.