US Foods® Dallas hosted its first Certified Hereford Beef meat lab at Tarleton State University (TSU) in Stephenville, Texas. Participants were given an in-depth look into where specific cuts come from on the beef carcass and how to merchandise the cuts to restauranteurs. The carcass was harvested by a very talented team at TSU. Lea Ann Kinman, Ph.D., assistant animal science and veterinary technology professor, and her students were very thorough in their explanations as well as very precise in their fabrication.

US Foods® Center-of-the-Plate specialists, George Garland, Michael Ploppert and Mary Hunt, were on hand to correlate the cuts and animal science terminology in a way that was applicable in the selling process. To round out the comprehensive educational platform, the attendees received detailed training on the Certified Hereford Beef brand and the tools available to market and to promote the brand to customers in their distribution area.

“It was an honor to be part of the first CHB meat lab, which was also US Foods® Dallas’ first meat lab, and my alumni college’s first beef 101 for an outside company as well,” Garland says. “I am extremely proud of how this turned out and extremally excited about the direction of CHB in Dallas.”

Local Hereford cattle producer and guest speaker Jon Averhoff, Texas Stardance Cattle LLC, provided attendees the opportunity to guess the individual weight of a bull, cow, yearling heifer and heifer calf on display. This live interaction plus the ability to discuss every stage of the life cycle gave sellers a firsthand look at beef production. Averhoff provided insight into the lifestyle of a cattle rancher by sharing his family’s story and gave participants insight into the time, care and science that go into producing high-quality cattle. Averhoff expressed the passion and dedication Hereford ranchers have for this industry to help connect participants to the brand and to sell beef with a purpose.

This type of educational platform elevates the knowledge and understanding from various sectors in the industry and really helps the participants to better understand how the animal can be best utilized to their customers in terms of the right products and, just as important, how genetics factor into flavor and consistency that can help the end user and his or her bottom line.

“The feedback was pretty amazing, and we are already seeing benefit from everyone’s efforts,” says Ed Stelnicki, US Foods® Dallas category operations manager. “We cannot wait to do another one!”