South Dakota Grocer Wins Beef Promotion Contest

PIERRE (November 29, 2004)—A South Dakota grocery retailer was among six winners in a recent three-state beef promotion contest.

The contest, sponsored by the South Dakota Beef Industry Council, Minnesota Beef Council and North Dakota Beef Commission, was a creative effort to increase beef sales and strengthen beef demand in SUPERVALU, Inc.-affiliated stores. Funded with beef checkoff dollars and by SUPERVALU, the contest was open to stores served by the company’s distribution centers in Minneapolis , Fargo and Bismarck .

The South Dakota winning store was Dan’s Supermarket in Rapid City . Other winning stores were located in Mahnomen and Twin Valley , Minn. , Bismarck and Beulah, N.D. and a Chippewa Falls , Wis. , store that is served by the SUPERVALU distribution center in Minneapolis .

The stores created displays that would promote extra beef sales using their creativity, including signage, balloons, streamers and point of sales materials provided by the beef organizations, explains Pat Adrian, executive vice president of the South Dakota Beef Industry Council.

“Based on the amount of requests we had for promotional material, we really felt this was a successful joint effort to increase beef sales,” Adrian says. “We literally sent out thousands of pieces of material that would help get the message out to the consumer that beef is nutritious, easy to prepare and delicious. We were very pleased with the results.”

As part of the contest, stores reported back with descriptions of both their promotion activities and success. Entries were then judged by a representative from SUPERVALU and the Minnesota Beef Council.

The promotional effort was funded with dollars collected by each state beef organizations through the $1-per-head checkoff on cattle sold in each state. State groups can retain up to 50 cents of that $1 to be utilized on in-state programs. The remaining funds are sent to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board to be used to co-op on national promotion, research or educational projects.