M A R K E T E R
Y
7
JUNE/JULY
2008
b y J O H N G R E I G
A NEW LANGUAGEFORBEEF
W
HAT DO WINE
and beef have in common?Lots, says Carrie Oliver, and she’s out to prove that beef is beautiful in its diversity, like wine is valued for itsdifferences driven by variety, soil and wine maker.Similarly beef varies by its breed, where it’s grown andthe farmer that raises it.Oliver talks in language rarely heard in beef marketing,using words like art, terroirand varietals.But she is also challenged by years of industry tradition.“All that beautiful variety walks up to the door (of aprocessing plant) and comes out as beef,” she said.It’s what consumers have come to expect.“Even an intense foodie hasn’t really thought about thedifferent styles of beef,” she says.Oliver, a product developer by experience, and a meatlover, has launched Oliver Ranch, a company which han-dles marketing and distribution of beef based on its indi-vidual qualities. The marketing is done over the internet,from www.oliverranch.com.She found herself on this track after losing a job andthinking about what she really liked doing. She was goodat product development after a career with Proctor andGamble in California, and Labatts. She loved to grillmeat, so she set out on the search for a perfect steak.What she found was incredible variety. She purchasedseven strip loins from sources ranging from Pusateri’s - thehigh end Toronto food store, to supermarkets, wrote downwhat she knew about them, and invited her neighboursover for a blind taste test.“We were all surprised by how different they tasted,”she said.That was one of her Eureka moments. They were alsosurprised by the difference of opinion of what peopleliked. So, even though the seven steaks were different,that difference wasn’t a bad thing.In fact, she has found from selling a taster pack withfour very different breeders of beef and growing condi-tions, that people prefer different beef tastes, and they arenot always what consumers have been told to expect.“I’ve found there’s little connection with the things wehave been trained to look for.”That included the shocked responses from a blind beef-
Cattle are driven up the road at one of the ranches from which Oliver Ranch sources its beef
An entrepreneur believes there’s a marketfor the diverse tastes of beef
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM ONTARIO BEEF FARMER
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