USMEF-Mexico Seminars Designed for Chefs, Importers, Processors
USMEF-Mexico Seminars Designed for Chefs, Importers, Processors
Just because Mexico is the top export market for U.S. beef and is a solid No. 2 market for U.S. pork doesn’t mean that USMEF takes those markets for granted.
The numbers and trends remain positive: U.S. beef exports to Mexico rose 4 percent through the third week of June to 243.4 million pounds thus far in 2008, while U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports through April were up 10 percent to 228.5 million pounds.
But Chad Russell, USMEF regional director for Mexico and the Dominican Republic, knows that the way to keep the needle pointed in the right direction is to continue to influence the decision makers in the purchasing process.
Participants at a recent USMEF seminar in Monterrey
Russell’s team has developed a comprehensive menu of training programs that is designed to raise the visibility of U.S. pork and beef products; educate retailers, food service personnel and importers on the value of the U.S. products; and introduce key personnel to new value cuts that offer high quality products at affordable prices.
Last month’s seminars designed by the USMEF-Mexico team included:
- Food & Beverage Representatives: An attentive audience of more than 50 food and beverage representatives was given a presentation on U.S. beef and U.S. pork attributes and characteristics, new value cuts and food safety considerations in Los Cabos, Baja California, on June 11. The program focused on the business opportunity presented through the use of affordable cuts as menu alternatives.
- Chefs & Sous Chefs: USMEF collaborated with Nestlé June 26 in a seminar for 50 chefs, sous chefs and students at the Centro Culinario Ambrosia. USMEF HRI Manager Julieta Hernandez explained U.S. beef and U.S. pork key attributes and new value cuts and how they can be used to benefit restaurants facing increasing prices for red meat. A cooking session followed that allowed the audience to experience the flavor, tenderness and juiciness of U.S. products.
- Meat Importers, Processors & Distributors: Seminars specifically designed to help meat importers, processors and distributors strengthen their abilities to sell U.S. products by increasing their technical and trade knowledge were held at the Tec de Monterrey in Nuevo León. Topics covered included:
o Merchandising strategies
o The structural composition of meat
o How to make sausages, hams and marinated fajitas
o New U.S. beef and pork cuts suggested by the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the National Pork Board
“Seminars designed to impart applicable, practical knowledge that newly trained sales personnel want, need, value and enjoy give USMEF and its members considerable leverage in the marketplace,” said Russell. “Equipped with fresh information about U.S. pork and beef and all its applications and attributes, as well as useful new sales techniques, they leave the seminar inspired and ready to contact their customers throughout Mexico.”
Russell also noted that collaborative seminars with other cooperators, such as the session conducted with Nestlé, are an excellent way to share costs and increase the number of participants.
In the year ahead, the USMEF-Mexico team has planned seminars for butcher certification, consumer nutrition education, the technical aspects of market access for border personnel and U.S. beef and pork information for wait staff.
USMEF-Mexico Seminars Designed for Chefs, Importers, Processors
Just because Mexico is the top export market for U.S. beef and is a solid No. 2 market for U.S. pork doesn’t mean that USMEF takes those markets for granted.
The numbers and trends remain positive: U.S. beef exports to Mexico rose 4 percent through the third week of June to 243.4 million pounds thus far in 2008, while U.S. pork and pork variety meat exports through April were up 10 percent to 228.5 million pounds.
But Chad Russell, USMEF regional director for Mexico and the Dominican Republic, knows that the way to keep the needle pointed in the right direction is to continue to influence the decision makers in the purchasing process.
Participants at a recent USMEF seminar in Monterrey
Russell’s team has developed a comprehensive menu of training programs that is designed to raise the visibility of U.S. pork and beef products; educate retailers, food service personnel and importers on the value of the U.S. products; and introduce key personnel to new value cuts that offer high quality products at affordable prices.
Last month’s seminars designed by the USMEF-Mexico team included:
- Food & Beverage Representatives: An attentive audience of more than 50 food and beverage representatives was given a presentation on U.S. beef and U.S. pork attributes and characteristics, new value cuts and food safety considerations in Los Cabos, Baja California, on June 11. The program focused on the business opportunity presented through the use of affordable cuts as menu alternatives.
- Chefs & Sous Chefs: USMEF collaborated with Nestlé June 26 in a seminar for 50 chefs, sous chefs and students at the Centro Culinario Ambrosia. USMEF HRI Manager Julieta Hernandez explained U.S. beef and U.S. pork key attributes and new value cuts and how they can be used to benefit restaurants facing increasing prices for red meat. A cooking session followed that allowed the audience to experience the flavor, tenderness and juiciness of U.S. products.
- Meat Importers, Processors & Distributors: Seminars specifically designed to help meat importers, processors and distributors strengthen their abilities to sell U.S. products by increasing their technical and trade knowledge were held at the Tec de Monterrey in Nuevo León. Topics covered included:
o Merchandising strategies
o The structural composition of meat
o How to make sausages, hams and marinated fajitas
o New U.S. beef and pork cuts suggested by the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the National Pork Board
“Seminars designed to impart applicable, practical knowledge that newly trained sales personnel want, need, value and enjoy give USMEF and its members considerable leverage in the marketplace,” said Russell. “Equipped with fresh information about U.S. pork and beef and all its applications and attributes, as well as useful new sales techniques, they leave the seminar inspired and ready to contact their customers throughout Mexico.”
Russell also noted that collaborative seminars with other cooperators, such as the session conducted with Nestlé, are an excellent way to share costs and increase the number of participants.
In the year ahead, the USMEF-Mexico team has planned seminars for butcher certification, consumer nutrition education, the technical aspects of market access for border personnel and U.S. beef and pork information for wait staff.