Deanne Maples with the Florida Beef Council shares an update on what the Florida Beef Council has been involved in recently.
“The Florida Beef Council participated in the Halpern’s Food Show at the Brevard County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale. For those who are unfamiliar, Halpern’s is a specialty meat company, a very large one, and this show brings together their customers,” said Maples.
“That’s restaurant, retail, and culinary professionals from across Florida, particularly South Florida, as well as customers from the Caribbean, Central, and South America, which was pretty neat. Our chairman Rick Hartman joined me and we stayed very busy all day. This is such an important audience for us because these are the people who are deciding what goes on menus, what ends up in the meat case at your local retail shop, and ultimately what is ending up on the plates of our consumers,” Maples added.
“So we talked a lot about beef cuts, menu ideas, preparation methods, beef nutrition. We shared some of the great food service resources that are available to them through the beef checkoff. And then we also had a chance to talk about Florida cattle producers,” Maples also said.
Maples also mentioned, “I think this is so important. We could connect the cattle that people see grazing when they’re traveling across the state to the beef that they serve every day. And there’s always a lot of really great, genuine questions about that piece in particular.”
“So, you know, South Florida is a huge market. We know that and it’s an international gateway. And so opportunities like this really allow us to build upon relationships we already have to grow new relationships we’d like to have,” Maples said.
“And these are with the people who are influencing a lot of meals and a lot of purchasing decisions, and that’s in Florida and obviously beyond. So that helps us to keep beef top of mind and on the menu,” Maples added.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.