Here’s Kelly Dietrich, Dan Conner both Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative, Matthew Peebles, national beef ambassador and Jean O’Toole, NEBPI serving up some beef at this year’s Boston Marathon.
They also did a survey of people who came to the booth. The results to the question “Do you feel beef is part of a healthy diet?” 88 out of 91 people answered Yes. That’s 96.6%!
A volunteer beef brigade learned that many consumers will find and enjoy beef, even in the middle of a wild Nor’easter storm. The Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative (NEBPI), a project of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and several northeast state beef councils, braved what Boston media called “Monsoon Monday” to serve 4,000 barbecue beef samples and promote lean beef during the nation’s most famous foot race, April 16.
The severe weather kept all but 200,000 of the race’s heartiest fans on the sidelines. But that proved to be a blessing in disguise for reaching consumers with samples and information about healthy beef, said Kelly Dietrich, director of public relations for the beef checkoff initiative. Representatives of the Beef Checkoff Program’s National Beef Ambassadors assisted at the beef booth.
“A lot of spectators came back for seconds and thirds, and we were able to spend a lot more time answering questions and talking about beef nutrition with them than we would have had the weather been better,” added Emilie Miller, director of retail and foodservice for the project. The smaller crowd allowed the beef team to survey consumers one-on-one and promote the beef checkoff-funded Healthy Beef Cookbook. Spectators consumed 18 pans of shredded, fully cooked beef in BBQ sauce, compliments of Lloyds Barbeque Co.