Get a Healthy Start to the New Year with Beef 
As the excitement of the holiday season reduces from a boil to a simmer, your customers will have emptied their refrigerators of all the leftovers, and they’ll be looking at the New Year as an opportunity to focus on healthy lifestyle choices. For most, a healthier lifestyle involves a plan to shed some extra pounds through a combination of a new exercise routine and “eating right.” In other words, the New Year is the perfect time to remind your customers how lean beef fits into a balanced, healthy diet with nutrition benefits that are hard to beat.
Simple Merchandising Tips for Lean Cuts
Five of the top ten beef cuts sold in the U.S. during the first quarter of the year are “lean” according to the USDA definition. Beef is designated as “lean” when it contains less than 10 grams of total fat, 95 mg of cholesterol and 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat.
Make it easy for your customers to reach their goals of healthier diets by stocking your meat case with lean favorites. Take a look at the top-selling lean cuts nationally and regionally to see which other lean cuts you should have on hand during the upcoming months.
The early part of the year brings several excuses to let loose at various parties. Remind your customers that lean beef is the perfect ingredient in many popular recipes for college bowl game parties and Big Game celebrations. Specify lean cuts on recipe cards - suggest 95%+ lean ground beef in party favorites like Grande Beef Empanadas or Flank Steak for Flank Steak Fajitas.
Another easy way to communicate to your customers about lean beef is with the Lean Cuts Wallet Guide, a handy wallet card listing all 29 lean beef cuts and their preferred cooking methods. Your customers will appreciate this convenient guide when planning meals and shopping for those meals at your meat case.
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Top-Selling Lean Cuts (Total U.S.)
- Top Round Steak Boneless
- Bottom Round Roast Boneless
- Top Sirloin Steak Boneless
- Top Loin Steak Boneless
- Top Loin Steak Bone-In
Source: FreshLook Marketing 1st Quarter 2007 pounds sold, January 1 - April 1, 2007. |
Staying Lean with Beef is Easy
Remind customers that preparing healthy beef meals can be quick and easy with simple, delicious recipes like Asian Beef Salad. Provide your customers with a recipe card – then merchandise with soy sauce and sesame oil, and dinner’s almost ready! Find lots of quick and easy recipes using lean beef cuts in the Beef & Veal Ad Planner. Remember to refer to the 29 Ways to Love Lean Beef Associate Handout for a list of all 29 lean beef cuts along with preferred cooking methods.
Run the Extra Mile for Your Customers
Share in the spirit of the New Year and take a step to change your meat case for the better. Implement an On-Pack Nutrition Labeling program, and provide your customers with the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions at the meat case.
When you have an on-pack program in place, you can use nutrition messages in your in-store beef merchandising, sharing the health benefits of beef with your customers. Learn other reasons why implementing an On-Pack Nutrition Labeling program is good for business, and start spreading the word to your customers about how beef can be part of a balanced, healthy diet.
Wouldn’t you like to use signage in your meat department telling your customers they can stay true to New Year’s resolutions with beef? You can once you have nutrition facts panels on the packages. Signage might include one or more of these messages:
• A serving of lean beef has less than 200 calories – great news for weight-watchers!
• Beef is an excellent source of protein for building strong muscles. A 3 oz. serving of cooked lean beef provides about half the protein your body needs in a day.
• Beef is the number one food source for Zinc, an essential nutrient that helps boost the body’s immune system – a key factor during winter “cold and flu” season.