Training for Chefs, Restaurant Staff Help Fuel Record Exports to Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is one of the fastest-growing markets for U.S. beef and pork, with exports of both products setting new records in 2015. Julieta Hernandez, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) foodservice manager for Mexico and the Dominican Republic, explains how training programs for chefs and other restaurant staff have helped create new opportunities in this promising market. These efforts include hosting visiting chef teams at the Culinary Institute of America in San Antonio, as well as in-market training sessions and cooking demonstrations.

In addition to the gains made with resorts and high-end restaurants, Hernandez adds that USMEF is also making inroads with restaurants that serve the local population. Exports of U.S. beef to the Dominican Republic reached $59 million last year, up 6 percent compared to 2014. Pork exports totaled $53 million, up 13 percent.

TRANSCRIPT:

Joe Schuele: One of the fastest growing markets for U.S. beef and pork is the Dominican Republic, where exports of both products set new records last year. Julieta Hernandez is foodservice manager for the U.S. Meat Export Federation in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. She has more details on the reasons behind the success in this USMEF report.

Julieta Hernandez: The DR market is a very interesting market – it has been growing a lot. Restaurants right now have really understood the importance of having high-quality products, and their choices are increasing every year. And chefs have been doing a lot of training with us the past several past years. We have had trade teams at the CIA training course in San Antonio, Texas. We also go there and train them and their kitchen staff on how to manage the product. Also, we have cooking demonstrations with our corporate chef, and they really get to know the product and they know how to cook it properly and how to merchandise it in their restaurants.

Joe Schuele: While much of this work is focused on resorts, Hernandez also works with restaurants that serve the Dominican Republic’s local population.

Julieta Hernandez: We not only work with hotels or high-end restaurants, we also work with restaurants that have typical Dominican cuisine using U.S. products. It’s a little more difficult to get to them because they are very used to their local meats – it’s tough, it’s flavorless, it has no marbling, it’s grass-fed. Still, they are a little bit more resistant to having this U.S. product on their menus, but we are getting there and I think they have been well-accepting – not only of the training, but the several options we give them for their menus.

Joe Schuele: For more on this and other trade issues, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Joe Schuele.