USMEF Conducts “Train the Trainers” Seminar in Peru

Seminar participants (from left to right) were Luisa Gutiérrez, Supemsa; Mario Vargas, Inpelsa; Raul Cardenas, Oregon Foods; Milagros Yep, Inpelsa, Yen Tejada and Paola Suarez, Oregon Foods; Ricardo Woolcot, Negocios Jordi; Gino Lertora, professional trainer; Enrique Garcia, Inpelsa

Over the past four years, U.S. beef/beef variety exports to Peru have tripled in value. To continue building on this remarkable trend, USMEF-South America recently held a “Train the Trainers” seminar to provide guidance for food industry professionals responsible for communicating about U.S. beef with their customers in Peru. Funding for the seminar was provided by the Beef Checkoff Program and the USDA Market Access Program (MAP).

Over three days, employees of four companies currently importing and distributing U.S. beef to foodservice clients in Peru gathered to learn more details about U.S. beef and to hone their speaking and presentation skills. The main objective of the training session was to help participants improve their ability to discuss U.S. beef with new clients and offer guidelines on how to conduct training sessions for restaurants, hotels and other clients in the area. Another important goal was to provide participants with an opportunity to network and interact with each other, as USMEF feels these relationships have contributed to the growth of U.S. beef exports to Peru and wants to continue to foster this type of engagement.

The training seminar was the first of its kind for the participants, so each person had an opportunity to develop and deliver a presentation on U.S. beef, with a professional speaking trainer on hand to provide assistance and evaluate their speaking styles. Then participants were broken into smaller groups in which each person gave a short presentation about his or her company.

“This unique event gave us an opportunity to not only share our message about high-quality, great-tasting U.S. beef, but also to better connect with the people who are promoting our product in Peru,” said Jessica Julca, USMEF South America representative.

USMEF plans to hold similar training sessions in Colombia and Chile in the near future.