Meat and Potatoes Promo Boosts Sales

ROSEANNE HARPER

WICHITA, Kan. — Cargill ground beef and Ore-Ida potato products have partnered to offer retailers new impetus to get their customers thinking “comfort food” during these last cold weeks of winter.

Retailers said they're using eye-catching posters at their meat cases. The posters, recipe pads and other POS materials are provided by the partnered manufacturers.

The large, colorful POS materials show sloppy joes with fries, shepherd's pie with piled-high mashed potatoes and bowls of beef and mushroom stew with tater tots on the side.

Cargill officials estimate the POS materials are being used at more than 1,800 grocery locations across the country.

Holiday Quality Foods, Cottonwood, Calif., is one of those retailers making use of the materials at its fresh meat cases.

The 13-unit Holiday Quality Foods' meat director Dan Love commented on the value of such promotions, especially during this lingering recession when customers are taking a hard look at how they're spending their money.

“Keeping an affordable meal solution for our customers in these economic times has kept ground beef sales steady to up, while sales of muscle cuts have been down in volume,” said Love. “You would have to wonder where even ground beef sales would be without the extra promotions.”

The Cargill ground beef-Ore-Ida promotion, titled “Back to Basics,” runs through April 5, and offers shoppers 50 cents off Cargill ground beef with the purchase of two frozen Ore-Ida potato products. A coupon on packages of Cargill ground beef is redeemable for the 50-cent discount.

The manufacturers' program also includes tear-off recipe pads and other informational material to give customers new ideas about how to use the products together.

Statistics from a number of sources, including Food Marketing Institute, show that time-starved customers are still looking for ways to make an easy and quick meal even as they are financially pinched.

FMI spokesmen have said food suppliers and retailers must create solutions to meet these newly combined consumer demands of less time and saving money.

“We're extremely pleased to get ‘Back to Basics’ by pairing our ground beef with Ore-Ida potatoes,” said Elizabeth Gutschenritter, Cargill brand manager. “Sales of both ground beef and frozen potatoes are up, so this collaboration makes sense in that it highlights affordable, easy-to-prepare recipes incorporating both popular products.”