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Industry Bestows Best of Beef Awards

Best of Beef breakfast honors those who have excelled in efforts ranging from retail innovation to stocker cattle management.

by Kindra Gordon for Angus Journal

 

TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 8, 2013) — Several members of the beef industry were honored during an awards breakfast Friday, Feb. 8, at the 2013 Cattle Industry Convention in Tampa, Fla. The “Best of Beef” event was emceed by farm broadcaster Russell Nemetz with the Northern Ag Network.

 

Among the awards given were the National Beef Backer Awards,the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) awards, BEEF magazine's Trailblazer and National Stocker Award, the Excellence in Communications awards, and the Max Deets Leadership Award.

Beef Backers

The beef checkoff-funded National Beef Backer Awards honor foodservice and retailers who have played a pivotal role in bringing beef to the American public. This year's retail honorees included:

• Independent Retailer — Broulim’s Fresh Foods. This three-time Beef Backer winner has a long-standing history of successfully leveraging checkoff-funded initiatives throughout its nine Eastern Idaho stores.
  
  
• Mid-size Retailer — Redner’s Warehouse Markets. This Northeast employee-owned chain of 42 stores knows how to keep beef front and center with shoppers. Its “Pick 5” campaign highlights six beef cuts per week and is the stores’ highest driver of beef sales.
  
  
• Large Chain Retailer — Harris Teeter. A five-time winner in this category, North Carolina-based Harris Teeter makes beef the core of its business and 211 stores — beef makes up more than half of all fresh meat sold. Harris Teeter puts a priority on serving its customers’ needs in innovative ways, recently launching a new beef-only mobile website to bring cooking instructions, recipes and proper cutting methods by cut to shoppers’ fingertips.
  
  
• Innovator of the Year — Tops Friendly Markets. With stores across New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, Tops Friendly Markets has 155 stores and a rich history of promoting beef to consumers in partnership with the New York Beef Industry Council. A Hispanic Marketing toolkit grew metro market beef sales, and its FreshCreations ready-to-cook program let shoppers add marinades, spices or rubs to their beef purchase.

Three National Foodservice Beef Backer Award winners were recognized for their efforts in menuing and marketing beef. The honorees included:

• Independent Operator — Webster’s Prime. A premium steakhouse in Kalamazoo, Mich., Webster’s Prime menus a range of beef types (such as Wagyu, Angus, Prime and dry-aged beef) in different ways, allowing guests to try a different cut or type of beef at every visit.
  
  
• Chain Operator — Hoss’s Family Steak and Sea House. With 35 locations across Pennsylvania and West Virginia, Hoss’s Family Steak and Sea House strives to stay at the forefront of the beef community and find ways to creatively promote beef, including building its own state-of-the-art beef-processing facility and cutting beef to order specifically for each location.
  
  
• Innovator of the Year — Peacock Alley American Grill and Bar. This Bismarck, N.D.-based operator is known for offering impressive and unique beef dishes you just won’t find anywhere else. They unveil at least five new beef dishes every month and sell beef across all day parts. In the two years since creating a new beef-focused menu, Peacock Alley’s sales have increased by 102%.

Additional Honors

Also honored during the Best of Beef Breakfast were:

• Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Award winners — The Kempfer family of Deer Park, Fla., earned the honor for their beef operation Kempfer Cattle Co., a 2,500 commercial cow operation. Woody Larson of Okeechobee, Fla., earned the honor for his dairy operation, which includes three dairy farms and 4,600 cows. Larry Schnell representing Stockmen’s Livestock Exchange in Dickinson, N.D., earned the 2013 BQA Marketer of the Year Award, and John Maas with the University of California-Davis earned the BQA Educator of the Year Award. The awards are sponsored by Safeway, Cargill and Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc.
  
  
• Excellence in Communications — Lauren Chase of the Montana Stockgrowers Association was honored with the Excellence in Affiliate Communications and Public Relations Award; the Excellence in Breed Communications and Public Relations Award was presented to the International Brangus Breeders Association. J. Evan Slack of the Evan Slack Network received the Excellence in Agriculture Journalism Award.
  
  
• BEEF Magazine’s Trailblazer and National Stocker Awards – Bill Broadie, founder of the All American Beef Battalion (steaksfortroops.com), received a standing ovation as he was presented BEEF’s Trailblazer Award. Broadie, a veteran himself, is dedicated to thanking the nation’s military by providing a steak dinner to every U.S. soldier. Bob Price and his family’s Gracie Creek Ranch at Burwell, Neb. were presented BEEF magazine’s National Stocker Award for their excellence in stocker cattle management.
  
  
• Max Deets Leadership Award – Andrew Conley, Lake Park, Ga., was presented with this prestigious award named for 1997 NCBA president Max Deets. The recipient of this award is the Young Cattlemen’s Conference (YCC) chairman, and was selected by his YCC peers for outstanding leadership. Conley is currently general manager of Blackwater Cattle Co. where he oversees 1,200 head of commercial and registered Brangus cattle.