USMEF Educates Wait Staff, Chefs in Mexico About U.S. Beef and Pork

USMEF Educates Wait Staff, Chefs in Mexico About U.S. Beef and Pork

Nobody is in a better position to highlight specific menu items for restaurant patrons than waiters and waitresses. That’s why USMEF placed such a strong emphasis on educating wait staff in three recent seminars in Mexico City, focusing on the attributes of U.S. beef and pork.

USMEF HRI Manager Julieta Hernandez conducted the seminars at three prominent Mexico City locations: the Marriott Ixtapan de la Sal Hotel in the Estado de Mexico, the Loma Linda Restaurant, and  the Golf Club Bosques. The objective was to train wait staff and chefs to convey the positive attributes of U.S. beef and pork to their customers and to help them develop service techniques that will increase restaurant sales.

Educating wait staff and chefs is a key USMEF strategy

“For many customers, their waiter or waitress is a trusted voice that they rely on to make entrée selections,” said Chad Russell, USMEF regional director for Mexico and the Dominican Republic. “Reaching out to wait staff and providing them with information about the quality of U.S. beef and pork is a new marketing initiative in Mexico. This is consistent with USMEF’s strategic goal of reaching more consumers face-to-face – right at the point of sale - with information that will drive the purchase of our products”.

The seminars – each with an audience of about 40 wait staff and chefs – are also a key component of USMEF’s general strategy of expanding market share by creating working relationships with restaurants. Each of the restaurants included in the seminars hosts about 150 customers per day. 

Mexico is currently the largest foreign market for U.S. beef and beef variety meats, importing 199,890 metric tons (about 440 million pounds) worth $678 million over the first half of 2008. Mexico is also the third-largest foreign market for U.S. pork and pork variety meats, with imports of 163,307 metric tons (about 360 million pounds) valued at $270 million over the same six-month period.

USMEF Educates Wait Staff, Chefs in Mexico About U.S. Beef and Pork

Nobody is in a better position to highlight specific menu items for restaurant patrons than waiters and waitresses. That’s why USMEF placed such a strong emphasis on educating wait staff in three recent seminars in Mexico City, focusing on the attributes of U.S. beef and pork.

USMEF HRI Manager Julieta Hernandez conducted the seminars at three prominent Mexico City locations: the Marriott Ixtapan de la Sal Hotel in the Estado de Mexico, the Loma Linda Restaurant, and  the Golf Club Bosques. The objective was to train wait staff and chefs to convey the positive attributes of U.S. beef and pork to their customers and to help them develop service techniques that will increase restaurant sales.

Educating wait staff and chefs is a key USMEF strategy

“For many customers, their waiter or waitress is a trusted voice that they rely on to make entrée selections,” said Chad Russell, USMEF regional director for Mexico and the Dominican Republic. “Reaching out to wait staff and providing them with information about the quality of U.S. beef and pork is a new marketing initiative in Mexico. This is consistent with USMEF’s strategic goal of reaching more consumers face-to-face – right at the point of sale - with information that will drive the purchase of our products”.

The seminars – each with an audience of about 40 wait staff and chefs – are also a key component of USMEF’s general strategy of expanding market share by creating working relationships with restaurants. Each of the restaurants included in the seminars hosts about 150 customers per day. 

Mexico is currently the largest foreign market for U.S. beef and beef variety meats, importing 199,890 metric tons (about 440 million pounds) worth $678 million over the first half of 2008. Mexico is also the third-largest foreign market for U.S. pork and pork variety meats, with imports of 163,307 metric tons (about 360 million pounds) valued at $270 million over the same six-month period.