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DRIVING DEMAND: RETAIL The Midwest Cattleman · April 22, 2021 · P29

By Abbie Burnett

Two million, four hundred Just for one item, for one be so easy. Dollar income That “partner” mindset
and thirty-two thousand. week. will be sizeable, but sales is one key in determining
That’s how many cattle it This past October, Weis volume will be way down. whether to license a retailer,
took to supply the 608 mil- Markets’ director of meat That’s why O’Diam says the O’Diam says.
lion pounds (lb.) of Certified ran a “buy-one, get-two-free” same features tend to run The best fit in any trade
Angus Beef® (CAB®) cuts ground beef sale for three the same weeks every year. area is “the retailer that
sold by 3,000 retail partners days that generated two “That circular is going to wants to truly embrace the
in fiscal 2020. weeks’ worth of business. drive upwards of 70% of the brand, to put a holistic pro-
As the heavyweight “It’s all an investment,” says retailer’s overall volume,” gram together where it’s
champ in brand volume, re- Doug Becker at the 196- he says. “We work tooth and an end meat, middle meat,
tail accounts for 55% of total store Mid-Atlantic chain nail to make certain we are grind—and feature the
pounds sold. Brand sales based in Sunbury, Pa. getting Certified Angus Beef brand on a regular basis so
have surpassed the supply “We don’t run ads for a in the circular.” when a customer comes in,
of USDA Select beef be- one-and-done, never have,” If commodity beef is in the they see Certified Angus
cause CAB retail licensees Becker says. “I feel very con- circular, an EAM might sug- Beef front and center.”
are partners in the mission, fident that if they try the gest showing the small price Becker aims to have a fea-
says David O’Diam, CAB beef, they’re going to come increase it would take for a ture for everyone.
vice president of retail. back just because of the step up to CAB, to attract “We make sure we have
“We provide opportuni- quality.” quality-minded customers the high-end steaks to take
ty and resources that move Running a $2.99/lb. sale and gain exposure. care of our upper-end cus-
pounds and get shoppers to on CAB brisket may seem “In order to own that tomers. But then we put
the meat case. Simply car- to “cost him a fortune,” he front-page feature, we have in ground beef so it rounds
rying USDA Choice and Se- notes. That kind of promo- to be the beef of choice out the whole purchasing
lect doesn’t give you access tion is called a “loss leader,” in that retailer’s mind,” experience and covers all
marketing support,” O’Diam but he knows once custom- O’Diam says. the customer base finan-
says. ers come in, they will buy HOLISTIC MINDSET cially,” he says. “And believe
VOLUME MOVER from the rest of the meat EAMs keep a pulse on me, once they try Certified
The retail strategy starts case. the market, letting retail- Angus Beef, you hook them.”
with differentiation in the However, meat buying ers know when they spot a Value added products
meat department. No suc- and selling can’t just hap- deal. That takes advantage (VAP) are part of the pack-
cessful grocery store is with- pen on a whim. of opportunities as they age and one of the biggest
Supply must be assured.
demand drivers behind ad
out one. The package and arise, O’Diam says. An ac-
canned goods in the middle Cattle have to be bought count manager might see a placement.
“Customers continue to
and processed. There’s pack-
aisles represent little reve- dip in the price of shoulder try to find new ways to cook
nue potential. It’s the perim- aging and inventory man- clods and call a retailer with at home,” O’Diam explains.
agement and all the steps in
eter of the store—supplying ideas: “Hey, I know you’re
the center of the plate—that between. probably looking at chuck “Today we’ve got more cus-
A retailer who books
tomers at retail than ever
generates retail profits. Get- 10,000 cases of ribeyes for this week; what do you think
ting customers to buy meat Christmas, reserves the ribs about moving that to clods? before, spending more dol-
lars than ever before.”
at a store practically guar- of 25,000 qualifying cattle. We could do maybe some in-
They want to experience
antees the rest of their gro- Memorial Day and Fourth store featuring.” cultures through food. For
cery shopping at the same of July holidays each move That’s one example of example, Korean BBQ short
location. more than 2 million lb. of why retail leads CAB sales. ribs are a challenge for most
The meat director is re- That division has the holis- home cooks, but Golden
sponsible for a tremendous ground beef in a long week- tic advantage of considering West Foods produces a heat-
end.
amount of profitability of virtually every beef cut sold and-serve entrée. Bertolino
CAB has a team of ex-
that store, O’Diam says. “If ecutive account managers in the U.S. Foods can provide a popular
meat’s losing, they’re los- “We don’t want to be shaved steak, and Devanco
ing.” (EAMs), who work within just a middle-meat brand,” Foods makes Schmacon –
assigned regions to spot op-
Everyone sells soup, but O’Diam says. “That would beef bacon.
not everyone sells CAB. And portunities and provide cre- make it challenging not only For fiscal 2020, VAP at re-
ative ideas.
if retail is the ace of brand for our packer side, but also
sales, then their ad features “Retailers tend to go with for producers to get incen- tail sold 12.7 million lb., up
are “king, queen, and prob- what they know, repeat- tivized from only a premium 30% for the year.
ably jack in regard to vol- ing year over year,” O’Diam on middle meat. We want CAB
says. “They’re always mea-
ume,” he says. to be able to merchandise
How much volume? suring against the previous those end meats, and that’s
year, so they’re looking at
“You put a high-end, hot- specifically done at retail.”
priced item on that front margin, gross and sales si- Becker says if he has
page—especially for a holi- multaneously.” quality beef and grinds, the
If a retailer ran a hot
day—and we could have re- $1.99/lb. ground beef ad rest of meat sales follow: “It
tailers looking at 70 truck- some week last year and gives my whole department
loads of product,” O’Diam wants to go with rib eyes an upscale image with just
says. this year, comparisons won’t basically one program.”