And the Winner is…
First Annual Retail Beef Backer Award Recipients
The Retail Beef Backer® Awards contest is one way beef producers are showing their appreciation for the work retailers do to increase beef demand. Harris Teeter, Johnnie's Foodmaster Supermarkets and The Kroger Company were named as winners of the first annual national Retail Beef Backer Awards for their commitment to outstanding beef marketing and merchandising programs. Presentations were made at the 2008 Cattle Industry Annual Convention & Trade Show in Reno, NV, on February 8.
Retail Beef Backer Award winners were selected based on their excellent merchandising of beef at the meat case. A third-party judging panel also considered retailers’ tie-ins with beef checkoff-funded programs such as Easy Fresh Cooking®, Beef Training Camp, Summer Grilling promotions, the Beef Value Cuts program and on-pack nutrition labeling. Applicants were also judged on retailer-originated beef promotions that focus on increasing beef demand among their customers.
The 2007 Beef Backer Award Winners and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schaffer
Johnnie's Foodmaster Supermarkets, winner of the Independent category, is headquartered in Chelsea, MA, and has 10 stores across the state. Johnnie's Foodmaster works closely with the Beef Checkoff Program on many of their promotions, including multiple Summer Grilling promotions, a Beef Bowl promotion surrounding the Big Game, and a holiday roast promotion featuring disposable pop-up timers that was so successful the timers became a permanent addition to their fresh meat department.
Harris Teeter, winner of the Retail Beef Backer Award in the Chain category, has 166 stores stretching from Virginia to Florida. Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Harris Teeter combined Easy Fresh Cooking Labels with on-pack nutrition labeling in their stores, effectively marketing the benefits and ease of cooking with beef. They also teamed up with the Carolina Panthers® and Washington Redskins®, two NFL® teams within their region, for a tailgating promotion that used materials developed in conjunction with the beef checkoff. Harris Teeter also initiated a Meat Expert Training Program to drive sales at the full service meat counter. The program involves in-depth training of associates to increase their knowledge of beef and meat merchandising.
Finally, The Kroger Company was awarded top honors in the Innovator category for being the first national retailer to introduce the vacuum-packed Beef Shoulder Top Blade Steak (Flat Iron) to their fresh meat case across all 2400 stores. Their initiative was rewarded with increased sales across their entire chuck category. Kroger welcomed the Flat Iron and Beef Shoulder Center Steak (Ranch Steak) with an impressive investment in its introduction, including thousands of in-store demonstrations and advertisements to encourage trial and repeat purchases. Kroger also added other cuts from the Beef Value Cuts program, including Beef Shoulder (Petite Tender) Roast, Beef Round (Sirloin) Tip Center and Beef Round (Sirloin) Tip Side. To read an in-depth account of Kroger's success, click here.
Congratulations to all the winners of the First Annual Retail Beef Backer Awards! Look for individual profiles of each winning retailer in coming editions of the Retail Beef Blast.
To nominate a retailer for the 2008 Retail Beef Backer Awards, to be announced at the 2009 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and Trade Show in Phoenix, AZ, click here.