KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Brands are often only as good as those who stand behind them, and Certified Hereford Beef® (CHB) curates powerful partnerships between the brand, its distributors, Hereford producers and consumers. US Foods-Atlanta, CHB Food Service Distributor of the Year, serves as a shining example of this partnership.

“These partnerships are absolutely vital to the life of the brand, its success and its continuation,” says Ty Ragsdale, CHB regional brand manager. “CHB has a small sales team, so it is crucial to have those partners, like US Foods-Atlanta, to be the feet on the ground.”

US Foods Atlanta received the CHB Distributor of the Year award during the American Hereford Association (AHA) Annual Membership Meeting on Oct. 26, in Kansas City, Mo.

US Foods-Atlanta, with the leadership of Jonathan Wells, US Foods vice president of merchandising and marketing, stands out even among a list of dedicated licensed CHB distributors. The team garnered the CHB Food Service Distributor of the Year honor by moving the most volume of CHB during the fiscal year, which is unsurprising to those who have watched their rise. Since U.S. Foods-Atlanta partnered with CHB in 2019, after being introduced to the brand by National Beef’s Terry Thornton, they have grown their sales by 30% each year, according to Ragsdale.

This rapid and consistent growth further serves as a testament to the power behind these brand-distributor partnerships.

“Jonathan and US Foods have been the most cooperative and best ambassadors for the brand in the history of the brand. He has totally embraced it and has worked so well with CHB management and the National Beef team,” Ragsdale says.

“With his culinary background, Jonathan has an incredible understanding of the whole protein category. He is a problem solver for the customers and a master at teaching new salespeople about the beef category. He breaks it down to the basics until his staff is confident in selling these products.” 

Certified Hereford Beef’s sustainable, breed-focused, producer-owned backstory, supported by its consistent, earthy flavor separates it from Atlanta’s Angus-dominated beef market. With a flavorful, consistent product backed by the Hereford breed’s genetics, US Foods-Atlanta arms their sales team and center of the plate (COP) specialist to tell the CHB story and help it stand out in one of the most complex and competitive protein sectors — beef.

In their mission to transform the US Foods team from salespeople into culinary storytellers, offering a quality product, Wells and US Foods–Atlanta staff have a wealth of support from the CHB team. As a professional who cut his teeth promoting a very large beef brand, Wells was frankly surprised when the newer and seemingly more grassroots Certified Hereford Beef offered his team powerful resources to help grow the market share in their region. 

“The CHB team has always been there to help with whatever it is we needed. If we wanted to meet with a rancher and train our team, they showed up with all the bells and whistles. If we needed to run a promotion with our team, they always helped me build something impactful that moved the needle,” Wells says.

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The American Hereford Association, with headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., is one of the largest U.S. beef breed associations. The not-for-profit organization along with its subsidiaries — Certified Hereford Beef (CHB) LLC, Hereford Publications Inc. (HPI) and American Beef Records Association (ABRA) — provides programs and services for its members and their customers, while promoting the Hereford breed and supporting education, youth and research. For more information about the Association, visit Hereford.org.