Raised Without Antibiotics

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Foodservice MarketFocus Groups

• Dave McLaren Brad Zumwalt
• 402-472-9817 402-472-0896
• dmclaren1_at_unl.edu bzumwalt2_at_unl.edu
• Food Processing Center University of Nebraska
  Lincoln
• 143 Filley Hall
• Lincoln, NE 68583-0928

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Tracing Pork in Foodservice 2001 Volume 7.02B
lbs.
Source MMT November 2002 Issue
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Foodservice MarketFocus Groups

• Conducted as part of an overall effort to
  determine Foodservice potential for a line of
  premium pork products - Focus Group Locations
• Chicago
• Atlanta
• Los Angeles

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Foodservice MarketFocus Groups

• PNMWG Focus Group Participants were
• People who dine out as an event
• Age 24 or older
• People who earned 50,000
• Focus group participants are not randomly
  selected and therefore the results cannot be
  projected onto the population of frequent
  restaurant diners.

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Focus Groups CommentsPork in General

• When presented with the word pork participants
  thought of chops, tenderloins/loins, and
  sometimes roast.
• When prompted, participants included ribs,
  sausage, bacon, ham, etc.

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Focus Group Comments Pork in General

• Negative Comments
• Trichinosis
• Too much fat (bacon/ham)
• High cholesterol
• Unclean animal
• Too salty (ham)
• Bacon messy to prepare
• Poor quality canned hams
• Second Class meat

• Positive Comments
• Easy and versatile to prepare
• Absorbs seasonings/marinades
• Works as a flavor ingredient
• Takes on smoke flavor
• Unique flavor of its own
• Tender/Juicy when prepared properly
• Ribs are more tender/less fatty than beef ribs
• Inexpensive (lower priced) than beef/seafood

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Focus Group Comments Pork In Restaurants

• Negative Comments
• Bad restaurant experiences outnumber good
• Overcooked/Tough/Dry
• Quality of meat is questionable
• Nothing unique/different from home
• Infrequently listed on menus
• Few restaurants have a reputation for really good
  pork

• Positive Comments
• If pork entrees (chops loins) are good, then
  everything on menu will be good
• Positive Experiences
• Ethnic preparations
• Ribs

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Focus Group CommentsPork in General

• If you go to Chilis, you see beef or chicken
  fajitas, and then theyll say or you can
  substitute pork for it, like it probably
  wouldnt be as good with pork. So, Ill get the
  beef.

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Focus Group Comments Pork In Restaurants

• Some of us grew up fearing trichinosis and now
  you hear about salmonella with chicken people
  still go back to pork and how it needs to be
  well, well, well done, and so the restaurants
  make it well done so that its inedible. You
  cant even eat it because its so bad When I
  make pork at home, its not well, well done.

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Focus Group Comments Pork In Restaurants

• I dont think you go out and say, Im gonna
  have a pork dinner tonight, I think you say,
  Im going to have a BLT or a steak, but I
  (have) never heard anybody say, Lets go have a
  bunch of pork.

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Focus Group Comments Pork In Restaurants

• Preparation
• A couple of places understand that you dont
  have to cook it to a crispy critter
• Reputation
• I think one of the things when I look at a pork
  dish is, Does the place have a reputation? I
  think one might be hesitant to order something
  like (pork chops) unless the reputation precedes
  it.

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Focus Group Ratings
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Focus Group Ratings
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Focus Group Ratings
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Percent of Participants Willing to Pay Extra
n 56 - 59
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Menu DescriptionDoes It Matter

• 1. Zesty Ranch Chicken Sandwich
• 2. Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

The Zesty Ranch Chicken sells twice as much as
the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and
They Are The Same Thing Kurt Hankins, VP of
menu development and innovation for Applebee's
International Inc. Kurt Hankins on the art of
tasting, Kansas City Star, 11/12/02
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Foodservice MarketWords and Phrases

• Words/phrases used on menus and/or on-site
  promotional materials make a difference!
• Some words/phrases generate negative images while
  others generate positive images.

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Focus Group Perceptions Menu Images
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Focus Group Comments Hormones

• I was raised on milk I have to shop at whole
  foods and get milk that doesnt have hormones in
  it because everyone said thats why girls are
  coming into puberty at 8 (getting) hormones
  theyre not supposed to have.
• I couldnt agree more as far as the way the kids
  are developing now..
• I am not exactly sure why there are so many
  hormones in beef and pork and chicken and what it
  is actually doing to us. And that has to be a
  concern. So, I will go out of the way to get it
  that way (hormone free).

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Focus Group CommentsAntibiotics

• Just to think that were eating something thats
  consumed a lot of antibiotics makes me really
  sick.
• Why do they need antibiotics? What kind of
  environment are they in? And if they are so
  disease prone anyway, I am not sure that I want
  that.
• To me it (antibiotic-free) is more valuable as
  far as the price on the menu, but I wouldnt
  really want to see the word antibiotic on a
  menu.

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Focus Group CommentsAntibiotics

• I dont think that Id want to see
  antibiotic-free in (the) description youd
  want something like organic that sounds
  healthy, but doesnt tell you actually what it
  means. You can make certain assumptions, but it
  doesnt have to be something that is distasteful
  (like antibiotics and hormones).

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Focus Group CommentsFeed/Diet

• They are vegetarian animals to begin with, by
  nature, so anything theyre trying to force in
  them thats not natural, is not good. Bottom
  line is if its not going to be the best for
  them, its probably not going to the best for
  us.

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Focus Group CommentsFree Range Vs. Pasture Raised

• I got the impression that the (free range) meat
  was tougher because theyre out there and roaming
  around more, and that (free range) was probably a
  little less desirable than family farm raised
  or pasture raised. It (pasture raised) sounded
  like they were treated better, or something, or
  the diet was better, they would be more tender
  and flavorful.

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Focus Group Comments Family Farm Raised

• The Kraft family?
• Just because family owns the farm doesnt mean it
  is not a huge factory farm.
• Raised on a family farm doesnt necessarily mean
  that it didnt receive antibiotics and hormones.
  
• I really think of that as a meaningless
  marketing term.
• I think of better quality, I think thats its
  not this factory of creating something just to
  sell it, like theyre going to create a lot less
  but with better quality.

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Market Potential

• Easy and versatile to prepare
• Perceived as a good value
• Training restaurants to NOT overcooked
• Promote preparation methods that ensure
  tenderness and juiciness
• Provide restaurants with unique recipes that are
  different than at home

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Market Potential

• Promote ethnic preparations and dishes
• Emphasize points of differentiation
• Increasing assortment of high quality
  value-added products
• Increasing interest in antibiotic-free and
  hormone-free

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• Questions????