Agricultural News
Foodservice Distributor Develops Branded Programs to Create Value for Restaurants and Producers
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 12:28:23 CDT
Dr. Brad Morgan has taken his knowledge and passion for the meat industry to work for the foodservice distributor Performance Food Group. At the beginning of 2015, Morgan joined their corporate leadership team as the senior director of protein to work with endusers of beef and pork. At the Southern Plains Beef Symposium in Ardmore, Morgan said one of his roles with Performance Food Group was to develop branded meat products that can be marketed nationally to more than 150,000 independent and national-chain restaurants, quick-service eateries, pizzerias, theaters, schools, hotels, health care facilities and other institutions. Morgan said the food service industry continues to be very competitive, but also rewarding as a lot of their customers are family-owned restaurants consisting of five restaurants or less.
Dr. Morgan said Performance Food Group aims to take any food product beyond being a commodity. In working with the food service industry, he said they have set out to give restaurant owners what they want, whether that's a lighter carcass, a smaller ribeye or an ideal amount of fat or marbling. He said they are listening to their customers and creating products that their customers desire for their restaurants.
Performance Food Group is also aligning the beef industry through their program called "Path Proven". Morgan said this aligns the cow-calf sector to the feedyard to the processor, distribution and end user. This is a traceability program, where a DNA sample is collected from each anima and it allows them to trace back each animal in the program.
"We're going to trace the path of where this animal came from, until it ends up on our plate in your restaurant today," Morgan said.
Dr. Morgan began his career as a professor in meat science at several land grant schools, including Oklahoma State University. He most recently worked as director of beef operations for Zoetis before joining Performance Food Group.
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays caught up with Dr. Morgan in Ardmore at the Southern Plains Beef Symposium. Click or tap on the LISTEN BAR below to listen to today's Beef Buzz.
To listen to the full interview with Dr. Morgan, click or tap here.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
