Eighth Annual USMEF South Korean Butcher Contest Attracts Major Media | Fifty...
Eighth Annual USMEF South Korean
Butcher Contest Attracts Major Media
Fifty-six South Korean butcher shops that sell U.S. chilled meats entered the 2002 USMEF Eighth Annual Korean Butcher Contest. Ten outlets, representing leading retailers such as Lotte Magnet, L.G., Samsung Tesco and E-Mart made it to the finals which were held at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Seoul on April 30th. The Hwajung outlet of Lotte Magnet won this year’s grand prize.
This year's contest was a nationwide contest and it garnered the Korean media coverage appropriate to such a large-scale event. A cable news network (YTN) covered the contest on May 7 as an aggressive marketing model for Korean retailers. USMEF-Korea Director Brad Park told viewers what an important market Korea is for the U.S. The MBC network made a documentary about the contest and aired it on May 15, 2002. The Food Channel, a cable cooking network, also covered the event in an 8-minute segment on May 8.
Winning the contest is regarded as a great honor by retailers. Every store taking part expressed appreciation to USMEF for the contest’s portrayal of butchers as 'specialists' since 'butchers' are fighting the traditional low-status perception of their job.
Although nominally called a “Butchers Contest” the event actually explores various ways to successfully merchandise U.S. meats. The merchandising concept of this year’s contest was “delicious meat making.” The concept is designed to bring U.S. chilled meats closer to consumers in terms of suggested cooking methods for easy and simple meat dishes. The company that most effectively demonstrates its own successful promotion and cutting methods wins the contest. A final cutting contest is held to evaluate the cutting skills of the finalists. Products used in the final cutting contest included U.S. boneless shortribs, chuckeye roll, pork belly, collar butt and another individual cut selected by the representative.
For more information, refer to the USMEF news release on the butcher contest on the USMEF website at (URL).