Monfort Beef Building Brand Identity for Meat at Foodservice

After 64 years, Monfort Beef is bucking the trend. A meat supplier to restaurants like Fuddruckers, Red Lobster and TGI Fridays, the Greeley, Colo.-based Monfort is aiming to do what no other meat wholesaler has done: build a following among diners."We want to establish a brand identity because in meat, brand identities don't exist," explains Joseph Meilinger, vice president of beef marketing at Monfort. "If we could somehow tell consumers that the meat they were buying at different restaurants was Monfort meat, recognition and demand for the name would carry over into consumer sales."This is Monfort's first point-of-purchase effort directed toward any class of trade. "We think we can establish the brand easier at foodservice than we can at retail," says Meilinger. "And once the brand is established in restaurants, it should automatically transfer to supermarkets because the consumer is the same."The question was, what one piece of P-O-P had the power to enlighten consumers? Taking its lead from another good 'ole boy favorite -- the beer industry -- the steak supplier came up with the idea of a neon sign. "We wanted a neon sign because we felt that neon signs have a lot of impact," says Meilinger. "The beer companies are famous for them. They seem to be something that people notice and remember."Plus, he says, neon has always been popular in lounges and restaurants and therefore wouldn't be completely alien to Monfort's foodservice clients.The sign measures 30 inches wide by 20 inches high. "We tried to keep it an average beer sign size," explains Meilinger. "We used them as our guide only because the beer companies have been doing it for so long, that they probably know best."Polyurethane foam, molded and stained to simulate old, weathered barn wood, was chosen for UL safety requirement reasons. A yellow neon tube forms a lariat shape on the left side of the sign; the Monfort logo fills out the right side."We wanted to portray the Western high-plains image, which is associated with the beef and cattle industry," says Meilinger. "The old barn wood was a natural background to carry that motif through, and the lariat is a symbol of the old West that also works well in neon."The signs are supplied free to restaurants that contract to buy a certain tonnage of beef from Monfort as long as the signs are in use.The signs have been well received, Meilinger reports. "I hope to do more next year," he says.A limited budget forced Monfort to price shop. "We were concerned about holding the cost to a point where we could afford to put out 500 signs," he says. "We weren't afraid of spending a little money, but you can get carried away on those neon signs." With the help of broker Steve Oldani of Adams-McClure Inc., Monfort was able to keep the cost to just over $200 per sign.

Monfort Beef Building Brand Identity for Meat at Foodservice

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