Winners Exude Quality and Uniqueness
Convenience also cited as a strong attribute of winning products
On the following pages, Meat Marketing & Technology honors the winners of its first New Products Contest with profiles of the first-place products and their companies.
All entries-consisting of beef, pork, lamb, veal and wild game -were introduced on or after Aug. 1, 1993. Poultry and seafood products were not eligible.
The products were judged by MM&T editors.
Six categories of products were judged: fresh meat (retail and foodservice); processed meat (retail and foodservice); and prepared foods/entrees made with meat (retail and foodservice). The fresh meat/foodservice category had no winners.
Entries were judged on visual appeal, aroma, flavor, texture/palatability/mouthfeel, and packaging. MM&T utilized a blind taste-test concept in judging all products.
Land & Associates of Glen Ellyn, Ill., conducted the contest.
A special thanks to all companies who entered-and congratulations to the winners.
Fresh Meat-Retail
Prince crowned king
Small companies can successfully compete against the giants-if they produce winning products, such as Prince Meat Co.'s Lord & Lady Filet Mignon and New York Strip Steaks, which took first place in this category.
Prince Meat is a family-owned and operated, gourmet meat mail-order business, with eight full-time and seven part-time employees.
"We can portion any customer's demand," says 40-year meat veteran Irwin "Pete" Pasiewicz, president of the Lockport, Ill., company.
Every cut of meat is hand-selected by Pasiewicz from suppliers he has been using for the past 35 years. The cooler's temperature and humidity are carefully set to help tenderize the cuts.
"We do not cut any meat unless it is at least 21 days old," he says.
Product is then hand- or vacuum-wrapped in individual portions, packed in attractive gift boxes, and flash-frozen to seal in flavor. Product is shipped in insulated polystyrene, recyclable containers packed with dry ice and guaranteed to be frozen upon delivery.
Greeting cards and promotional pieces, such as "Facts About Beef" and "Beef. It's What's For Dinner-Easy Recipes in 30 Minutes," accompany the products.
Pasiewicz began in the meat business in 1954 with Pfaelzer Brothers. He founded Prince Meat Co. in 1972 with several former Pfaelzer employees. Prince was initially involved in portion-control and private labeling until Pasiewicz's son, Glenn, and daughter, Jean, joined the company in the early 1980s. The company then added the gourmet mail-order business (under its own brands) in the fold.
Customers use Prince's programs for sales incentives (a major business focus for Prince), thank-you gifts, anniversary gifts and holiday gifts.
Business has been building, and sales have been in the seven-digit range for the past three years. The company plans to build a new plant in Shorewood, Ill., which should open by April.
Will the mail-order meat business grow?
"I think less than 5 percent of all Americans buy meat via mail," Pasiewicz says. "Look at the untapped market."
Prepared Entrees-Foodservice
Italian-style meat soup 'a meal in itself'
Move over minestrone, there's a new Italian soup on the block.
Standard Foods Inc.'s Italian Style Meat, Pasta and Tomato Soup finished first in this category.
"Italian foods are popular, but really the only Italian soup out on the market is minestrone," says Jeanette D. Hase, Standard Foods' vice president of technical services. "We tried to come up with a meal complement, and a product that could be a meal in itself."
The Louisville, Ky.-based company manufactures a variety of soups and frozen entrees for the foodservice market. Hase says the new Italian-style soup has become one of Standard Food's top-selling soups.
The Italian-style soup contains ground beef, shell pasta, tomatoes and Italian seasonings, such as basil and garlic.
"We're always looking for upscale, specialty-type soups, not the run-of-the mill canned soups," Hase points out. "We try to put more of an upscale twist on our soups."
The soup was produced to "capture the popularity of pasta and surging consumption of red meats," according to a press release. It is provided frozen for "fresh-made" flavor.
Standard Foods markets its product in the Southeast and Midwest. The company takes a different approach to marketing the soup, according to Hase, who claims that many food manufacturers rely on "common-denominator seasonings" for a broad appeal. Standard Foods uses "acceptable seasonings," yet it goes for a more flavorful taste than the bland savor created by using "common-denominator" seasonings, Hase adds.
"We take that approach across the board," she says of Standard Foods' products.
Standard Foods has a broad base of customers for its Italian soup, according to Hase. It sells the soup to upscale restaurants, as well as small, mom-and-pop eateries.
The soup is packed in 5-pound Pure-Pak cartons. Recommended dilution is 32 ounces to 40 ounces of water.
Standard's packaging is not new, but it optimizes the use of minimal cube frozen storage space. The carton is biodegradable.
Processed meat-Retail
Buffalo Summer Sausage proves smaller is better
David slays Goliath again. Woods Smoked Meats Inc.'s Buffalo Summer Sausage placed first in this category.
Woods Smoked Meats is a small processor with 13 employees, located in Bowling Green, Mo., about 70 miles north of St. Louis.
The size of the company makes winning the award that much sweeter to company President Edward Woods.
"Major corporations spend millions of dollars on R&D, on packaging, and on taste tests," he notes. "Then we come in and win the contest. It makes us feel good."
Woods Smoked Meats distributes its Buffalo Summer Sausage nationwide through small distributors and mail-order, as well as in its Bowling Green retail outlet.
The one-year-old product is made of buffalo meat, mixed with beef, salt and seasonings.
Judges thought the buffalo sausage taste was strong, but not overpowering, and that the product would be ideal for sausage connoisseurs.
Woods says the product stands out from its competition because of the leanness and flavor of buffalo meat. The product is shelf stable, so it is ideal for gift baskets, wineries and snacks.
"On the small scale we work with, it has been a very successful product," Woods points out. "The acceptance has been very good; I haven't heard one complaint."
Placing second was Armour Marinated Boneless Pork Loin from Greeley, Colo.-based Monfort Inc.
The nationally-marketed product has a "unique marinating process that allows the flavors to be distributed evenly throughout the loin," according to Monfort. "The loin remains juicy, and it is very lean. The packaging allows for long shelf life."
Placing third was Mild Pork Sausage with Potato from Orinda, Calif.-based Montibella Sausage Co.
The product, marketed in northern California and through out-of-state mail order, uses potato instead of fat for flavoring, according to Montibella. A company brochure states that using potato as an ingredient reduces fat content to under 10 percent.
Honorable mention goes to Madison, Wis.-based Oscar Mayer Corp.'s Louis Rich Carving Board Ham. The nationally marketed product is composed of traditionally carved and thin-carved baked, cooked ham, smoked cooked ham and honey ham, all made from lean pork, according to the company.
The ham, with its natural whole muscle texture and appearance, and its homestyle aroma and taste, is 96 percent fat-free.
The product comes in an easy-open, tamper-evident package with recloseable zipper. Oscar Mayer calls the package a step above traditional deli packaging.
Prepared entrees-Retail
Tangy Teriyaki Filet Mignon tops in category
Irwin "Pete" Pasiewicz is partial to the tangy soy sauce marinade called teriyaki.
The president of Lockport, Ill.-based Prince Meat Co. is trying to get American consumers hooked on the taste with his Teriyaki Filet Mignon, the winner in this category.
"Teriyaki is sweet and has excellent flavor," Pasiewicz says. "I love it, but I'm prejudiced."
Pasiewicz, who has been in the meat business for nearly 40 years, was first introduced to teriyaki-flavored products in the early 1950s, when he was in the army and stationed in Hawaii.
When he was discharged, Pasiewicz went back to Illinois and went to work on devising a teriyaki sauce that would capture the taste he became familiar with while in Hawaii.
Pasiewicz claims it took him about eight years to develop and perfect the sauce for the Teriyaki Filet Mignon. He had his children and grandchildren taste-test the product before marketing it.
"We ran several tests on different soy sauces to find the right ingredients to blend," Pasiewicz says. "Patience is a secret [for success]. The kids and grandkids loved it."
He says that a teriyaki sauce, because of its distinctive flavor, has to be prepared carefully. Pasiewicz admits he knows some consumers who have been turned off by teriyaki.
"Some Americans will roll their eyes over teriyaki," Pasiewicz says. "They got some bad vibes from previous teriyaki tastes they've had.
"It can be a love-hate relationship."
Prince Meats distributes the product domestically and internationally. Pasiewicz says the company has found a niche through mail order because it is an "untapped" market. His customers include most everyone from "Mr. and Mrs. U.S.A." to company personnel who use the product as a sales incentive for employees.
The product, which comes hand-wrapped or vacuum packaged in a stylish black box, is also proper as a thank you or anniversary gift, Pasiewicz claims.
"Our business is heavy during the Christmas holidays," he says. "And we have people who use us constantly throughout the year."
Prince Meat relies heavily on portion control to satisfy its customers, according to Pasiewicz.
"We can portion any size," he says, adding that product is trimmed to one-eighth-inch fat. "We know how to prepare it. We guarantee the product will be frozen upon delivery."
The filet mignons come packaged in insulated polystyrene, recyclable containers that are packed with dry ice.
Bob Evans Sausage Gravy & Biscuits won second place in this category. The product debuted in February and it is currently being offered in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Columbus, Ohio-based Bob Evans planned to expand the product to other territories this fall.
The product has sold well at the retail level, according to Amy Skidmore, brand manager. It is microwaveable in its own bowl for added convenience.
"The product is based on our popular restaurant recipe that has been one of our trademarks for years," Skidmore says. "Our product offers the consumer a convenient way to get one of our favorite recipes at home."
Third place was awarded to Woods Smoked Meats for its Smoked BBQ Pork Chops. Bowling Green, Mo.-based Woods Smoked Meats sells its product locally and through private label mail order.
The pork chops can be microwaved, baked, broiled and grill heated.
"[The pork chops] are foolproof to prepare," points out Edward Woods, president.
Processed meat-Foodservice
Going where no pork has gone before
Jerry Klein was annoyed every time he read a restaurant menu. He saw Prime rib, he saw filet mignon. What he did not see was pork.
So he put his staff at Calumet Diversified Meats Inc. to work on creating a pork product that would rival top-notch beef items on restaurant menus.
The result: Prime Rack of Pork Loin, a product that is available in upper middle-class restaurants and through caterers. The pork loin is the winner in this category.
"Pork never gets the attention it deserves," says Klein, president of the Kenosha, Wis.-based company. "There were hardly any pork entrees on fine-dining restaurant menus. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to focus the product where pork is not featured."
After experimenting with different ways of preparing the product, Klein settled on a seasoned pork product without the tenderloin and with surface fat trimmed to less than one-fourth inch. The product contains up to 18 percent solution of water, salt, sodium phosphate and lemon juice concentrate.
Klein says the pork loin has met with considerable success since its introduction in October 1993. He recalled trying to convince the chef at a Chicago-area restaurant to put the pork loin on his menu. The chef initially hesitated, but later decided to try it.
"[The chef] fell in love with the pork loin," Klein notes. "It is now one of his signature items.
"Once people see and taste [the pork loin], it is all over with," he adds. "They fall in love with it. It is moist and the appearance is phenomenal. People forget it's pork.
"Anytime we give a distributor the pork loin to sell, we get the same question: 'Where do I go with it?' We always tell them: 'Fine dining restaurants.' "
That way, Klein will not be annoyed again.
A Review of Entries: MM&T received more than 40 entries in its new products contest. Many entries-both in the retail and foodservice categories-were convenient to prepare and serve. Many value-added foodservice entrees were complete: all ingredients were included-which was not the case of such products 10 years ago.
On the down side, some entries appeared to be over-packaged. Others required more complete preparation instructions. And some products had preparation instructions affixed to hard-to-read places. Resealable packaging would have also enhanced many entries.