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Like many retailers, Hy-Vee has seen a significant uptick in meat sales beginning last twelvemonth. Now, with consumer habits evolving as the pandemic nonetheless threatens, the retailer located in the centre of Midwestern beef country is looking to lock in shopper loyalty.

Key to achieving this goal, Hy-Vee's Vice President of Meat and Seafood Jason Pride believes, is making those cuts of craven, beefiness and pork even more relevant meal options for shoppers. Shop meat departments are going almost this in numerous ways. They're running cooking demos that show customers how to grill a steak or a chicken kabob, and running ads that highlight premium cuts of beef. They're also adding more sides and perishables that help round out dinner.

"We used to be the center of the plate, just now nosotros feel like we're offering the whole plate," Pride said.

Running destination meat departments can exist expensive, however. And with a scarcity of labor across the country, matching staffing levels with customer service ambitions tin be hard. Pride said Hy-Vee is trying hard to sell prospective task candidates on not just benefits, but a career path as well.

As consumers return to steakhouses and other restaurants, Hy-Vee is looking to its meat department as a way to continue channeling those at-home cooking and grilling skills customers gained during the pandemic into store sales.

Courtesy of Hy-Vee

 All-time-sellers

Pride said premium selections similar Wagyu beef and Hy-Vee Choice beef became pop early on in the pandemic and are yet resonating with shoppers.

"They're more than willing to try new and dissimilar items, perchance splurge a little chip on some premium cuts," he noted.

Customers are also looking for new options to use on their grills and in their smokers, prompting Hy-Vee to aggrandize its choice of value-added meats similar pre-seasoned pork.

 What's trending?

Meat department shoppers are more adventurous these days — but they're also more health-conscious, said Pride. He's noticing an uptick in lean proteins similar Hy-Vee'due south True brand chicken likewise equally kebabs that characteristic chicken and pork along with fresh vegetables.

Co-ordinate to the Food Industry Clan'southward almost recent Power of Meat report, 72% of consumers say they look for meat they consider better for themselves and for their families, compared to 66% who said the aforementioned in 2019.

Building out the plate

Hy-Vee'due south meat departments have added more grill accompaniments and sides to their service counters in gild to provide more of a meal destination for shoppers. That includes selections similar twice-baked potatoes and bacon-wrapped asparagus that are grill-friendly, said Pride.

Stores have also added perishables and value-added selections to the self-service section of the department, which sits correct across from the total-service area.

"We're trying to do have every option bachelor, whether you want the total service and you want the expertise, or if yous just want to get in quick catch and go and only get on your way," Pride said.

Courtesy of Hy-Vee

Sampling and demos return

Retailers are starting to add together sampling back to their stores, and Hy-Vee is no exception. Information technology'southward besides trying to take the service upward a notch with cooking demos put on by the company's chefs, many of whom are using meat in their recipes.

Numerous Hy-Vee stores have "chef stations," Pride said, where these demos unfold. Even stores that don't take the stations are rolling out portable grilling setups and showing shoppers how to melt a ribeye or sear an ahi tuna steak.

Ane commonly demoed meat at Hy-Vee is a sirloin strip filet, which Pride said is a loftier-quality product that many people don't know how to cook. A company chef volition prepare the cut with local seasoning, noting the length of time and temperature needed to melt the steak, then add compound steak butter and a potato peel side.

"I recall the biggest opportunity for growth for united states of america is to show them how easy sure things are to prepare," Pride said.

Promoting premium cuts

With shoppers more willing to splurge, Hy-Vee has been playing up its selection of premium "reserve" beef. This includes its line of Angus beefiness too as its Choice Reserve beef, which according to the company reflect specifications that just six% of cattle tin run across.

The choicest selection in Hy-Vee'due south beef line is the Prime Reserve characterization — a steakhouse-quality designation that just 8% of beef receives, co-ordinate to the company.

"We saw that customers really wanted to be able to make those restaurant-quality steaks at habitation," said Pride.

Retrieved from Hy-Vee.

Beefing up marketing efforts

As shoppers turned abroad from restaurants during the pandemic, Hy-Vee turned upwardly the book on its meat marketing. Last year, the grocer launched a entrada that played upwards the quality of its beef, noting in detail its standards for sourcing and trimming, like the fact that its Choice Reserve beef is trimmed to no more than a quarter inch of fat.

Hy-Vee'southward "Best Beef" entrada played out across social media, in-store and Goggle box advertisements. It besides included a cooking competition that culminated in a final cook off earlier this month at the Iowa State Fair.

Attracting and retaining workers

Pride wouldn't say whether or non he's faced challenges in recruiting workers, every bit many retailers accept recently. He instead pointed to Hy-Vee's benefits package, which includes a 10% discount for workers and their immediate family unit, holiday bonus pay and a tuition reimbursement program through Nebraska'due south Bellevue University.

Pride also said section managers are trying to win over applicants and retain electric current employees past highlighting the department's recent success, and past playing up advancement opportunities within the visitor. Hy-Vee currently offers a yearlong apprenticeship that trains workers to become meat managers.

"We're trying to hire for attitude and train for skill," Pride said. "There'south plenty of opportunity to move up and we do a lot of promoting within. "

The country of meat sales in the U.S.

  • Meat department sales from Jan through July of this yr totaled $46.2 billion, co-ordinate to IRI data. That's a iv.5% decline over the same difficult-to-match menstruum in 2020, merely up 17% over the same span in 2019.
  • Price inflation has hit the meat category hard this year. According to IRI information, meat's toll per volume during the first seven months of 2021 increased nearly 4% compared with the aforementioned period final year, and most 12% over the same period in 2019. The average price per pound in July was $4.26, up 5% over the same calendar month in 2020.
  • According to FMI'due south Power of Meat report issued in March, 43% of shoppers said they bought more than meat and poultry during the pandemic. 4 in 10 said they changed their meat-ownership habits, driven past a search for improve values and repast options too as a drive to consolidate trips.