Kathy Keeler was around for the Beef Information Centre’s formative years.
She witnessed the organization surge from its beginnings as an agency designed to provide recipes and health tips to an international beef promotional agency.
Keeler’s job with the centre spanned most of her working life, and as she evolved and grew, so too did the organization.
“The job evolved and presented new challenges as I needed them and accommodated my needs for family. It has been an excellent fit,” she said.
After 25 years with the centre, Keeler is leaving to make more time for her family, golf and floral design.
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However, she has promised to stay on part time for six months to help the organization redesign itself.
Originally from Barrie, Ont., Keeler joined the organization in 1981. She became its chief executive officer in August 2000.
The BIC began as a producer-funded organization in 1973. It provided beef recipes, health tips and consumer education. At one time it had seven offices across Canada. Today, 28 staff members focus on food service, retail promotion, food safety and product development from offices in Calgary and Mississauga, Ont.
The centre’s main challenge has been countering health concerns about beef. Consumer research shows that people understand beef to be a lean product but are worried about the effects of fat content on weight control, cholesterol levels and heart disease.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a time in the foreseeable future when Beef Information Centre won’t be wrestling with these health and nutrition challenges,” Keeler said.
BIC works with health professionals to improve beef’s nutritional image. It also has a representative on a federal committee that is exploring legislation to regulate trans-fat content in food.
Any proposed new regulations could seriously affect where beef fits in the new food guide or consumer eating plans, Keeler said.
During the 1990s, boosting beef’s public image meant plenty of television and national magazine advertising. But before too long that strategy became too expensive.
“Producers were feeling they were putting all this money into it but they still were not getting the return that they wanted when they were selling their animals,” Keeler said.
As well, during this time, recipes and cooking tips became less important on the public agenda, while food safety concerns like E. coli contamination, nutrition and health concerns took over.
The BIC adapted.
The centre began to market beef cuts in stores under names to describe how each cut should be cooked – a strategy that has since been adopted in other countries.
“That was probably one of the most successful programs we have ever done,” Keeler said.
The organization is also carrying on more work behind the scenes. It has hired chefs to work with professional cooks, a microbiologist to deal with food safety and retail specialists to work with beef buyers in the food industry.
During Keeler tenure as chief executive, BIC assumed promotional activities in the United States by merging with Beef Marketing Services International. It targets its campaigns at restaurants, hotels and other food service buyers, as well as retail buyers.
With the U.S. Congress considering mandatory country-of-origin labelling, the centre wants to ensure that Canada is well positioned in the food service sector because it is exempt from the labelling law.
The U.S. promotional program came at an auspicious time.
The strategy was approved in March 2003 although Keeler admits no one was quite ready for the impact of May 20, 2003, when a Canadian cow was diagnosed with BSE. The organization was paralyzed for about a week because no one knew how consumers would react or when trade might resume after the U.S. and most other countries banned Canadian beef and cattle imports.
“Until we knew what the consumer response was, we didn’t know whether we had to go out and talk to consumers about alleviating their fears about whether there was a human health concern or, do they see it as an economic issue.”
The major issue was a beef surplus in Canada that suddenly could not be exported. At the same time, food service and retailers were afraid to promote Canadian beef fearing supply shortages and consumer backlash.
But Canadians showed they would buy Canadian beef if it was available. No other country with a positive BSE case had ever experienced that type of support.
“That didn’t just happen magically. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes work with BIC people who had established relationships and contacts with the trades,” Keeler said.
“It was inspiring to see how Canadians really did rally and recognized that what was happening was not going to impact them.”
