CENTENNIAL, COLO. – A summer grilling program, an on-label, nutrient-specific program and the Hispanic Initiative are some of the national retail promotions currently being promoted by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board initiatives.

Encouraging consumers to purchase other popular grilling items like steaks in addition to ground beef, the summer grilling program is "the biggest thing we have going right now," said Don Stewart, C.B.B. member and chair of the checkoff’s joint retail committee. "We have had this partnership for several years and it is funded by Beef Checkoff dollars. This program has been successful. Last summer we had a lot of extra beef and we were able to move it and still get an increase in dollars. This program encourages consumers to buy beef and grill it, which we think is a good presentation for our product."

Because many protein options entice consumers at the store level, one new retail program is designed to make purchasing decisions a little easier for consumers, Mr. Stewart said.

"There is another new program we have that features on-label, specific-nutrient information," Mr. Stewart said. "Each package of beef has the specific nutrients that the consumer knows they can pick up and gain from eating our protein."

America’s Hispanic population, totaling 44.3 million people, is the largest minority group in the U.S. and is growing faster than any other ethnic group. The checkoff is addressing this growing customer base.

"We have another new program we started last year called the Hispanic Initiative," he said. "This market has been growing greatly but many of our retail partners just weren’t sure how to deal with this group. We developed the program, which shows retail stores how to cut the beef for Hispanic consumers. We also gave the consumer the information bilingually. In addition, there are recipes to help our Hispanic consumers."