Russian Pork Festival Promotes U.S. Pork To Restaurant Chefs And Consumers

As the number of consumers dining out in St Petersburg increases, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) recognized a great opportunity to expand awareness of high-quality U.S. pork and to increase U.S. pork dishes on restaurant menus in Russia.

USMEF, in cooperation with retail supplier Grand Foods, conducted a month-long Pork Festival at restaurants located in three different five-star hotels and six other top restaurants. Educational seminars for restaurant chefs and wait staff and an advertising campaign to inform consumers about the U.S. pork restaurant promotion supported the festival.

USMEF support of the Pork Festival resulted in all restaurants keeping U.S. pork dishes on their menus after the promotion, a sales increase of seven times during the promotion and three times following it compared to pre-promotion levels, and positive opportunities for consumers to experience the tastiness and tenderness of lean U.S. pork cuts.

When patrons ordered U.S. pork dishes at participating restaurants during the promotion period, each received a questionnaire surveying their thoughts about U.S. pork. Completed questionnaires were included in a drawing for prizes and used by USMEF for market research and follow up.

The promotion, funded by pork checkoff and USDA’s Market Access Program (MAP), included introducing chefs to new dishes made with U.S. pork, featuring high-quality cuts of boneless pork chops and loin. Chefs were then able to expand menus by adding new high-quality U.S. pork dishes.

USMEF used seminars to inform restaurant wait staff of the advantages of U.S. pork, including its safety, quality and nutrition value. Wait staff could then effectively inform consumers of the U.S. pork dishes and answer questions during the promotion, which was held in November when Russians actively dine out before the family holiday season.

U.S. pork exports to Russia in the first 11 months of 2004 are up 305 percent in volume at 20,933 metric tons (mt) compared to 5,172 mt in the same period of the previous year. For the month of November, export volume increased almost 10 times at 7,378 mt compared to last year’s 751 mt. These figures exclude variety meats since the promotion featured U.S. pork chops and loin cuts.

Participating restaurants featured U.S. flags, Pork Festival advertisements in menu holders and promotional posters placed at entrances. The hotel restaurants advertised the promotion with cards left in hotel rooms and posters placed in elevators. All advertising materials featured the U.S. pork seal and the USMEF logo.

A week before the promotion, USMEF organized a media event with participation from the U.S. Consul General in St. Petersburg and the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Advertisements describing the promotion ran in the daily newspaper and announcements appeared on electronic billboards in the St. Petersburg city center running every five minutes for seven days, providing a significant information source to attract people to the Pork Festival.

Media correspondents attended a reception that included announcing the promotion and highly-regarded chef Sergey Shikov describing the advantages of U.S. pork and preparing several dishes with U.S. pork.

As a result of the reception, articles appeared in four major magazines and three of the most popular Web sites consumers use to search for restaurants featured advertisements of the promotion.

USMEF also distributed 5,000 invitations in shopping centers, companies, medical centers and sporting facilities to attend a tasting of special dishes prepared with U.S. pork and to encourage people to attend the restaurant promotion.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –

The following photos are available for use with this release:

Photo 1 – Renowned chef Sergey Shikov prepares U.S. pork during a media reception that announced the Pork Festival promotion. Chef Shikov described the advantages of U.S. pork and prepared several dishes with U.S. pork.

Photo 2 – Guests are treated to a tasting of U.S. pork prepared by chef Sergey Shikov at the media reception that opened the USMEF Pork Festival.

Photo 3 – A Pork Festival advertisement placed at the table of the Salt and Pepper Steakhouse, one of the participating restaurants. The advertisement features the U.S. pork seal and the USMEF logo.