RED DEER, Alta. (Staff) – There’s a battle being fought at supermarket meat counters.
It is a tough time for the beef trade as it tries to retain customer support against chicken and pork when live cattle prices are dropping and beef doesn’t appear much cheaper in stores.
But Glenn Brand, the Beef Information Centre’s retail merchandising manager, told the Alberta Cattle Commission that they are gaining ground. Meetings with retailers have been positive and more are placing beef on feature this year.
Sixty percent of beef is sold on sale. The average retail price is $3.50 per kilogram ($1.59 per pound) but specials lower the average to $2.62 per kg ($1.19 per lb.).
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However, there are setbacks. One retail outlet asked for $58,000 to put beef on the front page of its grocery flyer. BIC won’t directly subsidize retailers to list beef or place it on their shelves.
“What we’ve been offering is the advertising and promotional support to develop consumer demand for the product to pull it through the system, rather than directly subsidize the retailer to feature it,” said Brand.
To keep beef in the forefront, BIC has a number of strategies.
Consumers need help identifying beef cuts and understanding how to cook it to best advantage.
Brand suggests changing the names of beef cuts. Now, they are based on body areas like hip or flank and don’t reflect actual eating quality. Most consumers don’t understand what those terms mean.
BIC-sponsored studies found 67 percent of those polled said they would buy more beef if they knew how to cook it. Since then, simple recipes and a cookbook distributed through Canadian Living magazine have been released.
To further track consumer desires, the promotional agency has signed up a consumer tracking group and received its first results.
Beef makes up 6.7 percent of a store’s total sales and more than a third of total meat sales when compared against all other meats.
Soft drinks are next at 3.2 percent of total sales; milk is 2.7 percent; cigarettes are 1.9 percent; cereal is 1.4 percent and bread is 1.3 percent.
Consumers in the Maritimes and Quebec eat the largest volume of beef, using 65 percent of the country’s beef production. Albertans eat 9.4 percent.
Almost half of beef sales, 46 percent, are ground beef. Roasts account for 20 percent and steaks make up 18 percent of sales.
