The summer grilling season was celebrated throughout the Northeast this summer, even though some people like to grill at home throughout the seasons. The beef checkoff, through the Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative (NEBPI) and the Pennsylvania Beef Council, partnered with 18 retailers throughout the northeast to launch the 2011 Stay Home Grill Out promotion. In total, 315 store locations featured recipe booklets, shelf wobblers and meat department posters from May through September. Shoppers participating in the Stay Home Grill Out promotion had the chance to enter to win a grand prize of $500 in free groceries by entering in at StayHomeGrillOut.com. Runner-up prizes included 10-piece kitchen knife sets and The Healthy Beef Cookbook.
Katie Coughlin from Leonardtown, Md., was selected as the grand prize winner. Coughlin is a shopper at Weis Markets based in Sunbury, Pa.
“The ‘Stay Home .Grill Out.’ beef promotion has helped our customer with the understanding of how to cook on the grill through recipes and doneness levels along with giving them new and different cuts of beef they can try the grill,” says John Grimes, Director of Meat Sales and Merchandising for Weis Markets. “Beef is the highest percentage of the meat department business most weeks throughout the course of the year. Helping our customers understand the value of beef as part of their diet is a vital part of growing the beef category. We all need to do a better job of promoting the attributes of beef through educating our customers.”
Coughlin utilizes the Weis Markets website often to take advantage of weekly specials and it was while searching on this website that she heard about the ‘Stay Home. Grill Out’ beef promotion this summer. When asked what her favorite beef cut to grill was, Coughlin responds, “I love grilling filets – they’re my favorite. My kids (two teenage daughters) are big burger fans.” In reference to including beef as part of a healthy, active lifestyle, Coughlin says, “It’s high in iron and very versatile. You can incorporate it in a lot of dishes. My family enjoys it and I know it’s something they’ll actually eat!”
The NEBPI partnered with six new retailers throughout New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania for the 2011 summer grilling promotion this year.
For more information about checkoff-funded activities, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Source: The Beef Checkoff Program