LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. — The national beef checkoff was a sponsor of two new channel influencer conferences this spring, reaching over 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 held at Camp Chingachgook in Lake George, NY from March 27-29 and the Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors was held at the Penn Stater Conference Center in State College, PA from May 11-12.
The checkoff’s Executive Chef, Dave Zino attended the Camp Foodservice Director Conference and conducted a 60-minute educational session title, “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 recipeswere 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, under-utilized 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. 36 percent of session attendees stated the value-added beef cuts demonstrated from the chuck were brand new to them and 78 percent of session attendees rated the beef checkoff-funded educational materials they received at the conference a 5 out of 5.
Christie Brown, Director of Marketing with the Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative, a contractor to the 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.
–Beef Checkoff Program
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