Grilling Promotion at Meat Boutiques Offers Mexican Market New Look at U.S. Pork

Customers at Ramos Meat Boutiques in Monterrey, Mexico, sampled U.S. pork items grilled by USMEF chefs

To help build further momentum for retail sales of U.S. pork in Mexico, USMEF organized a promotion with Monterrey-based Ramos Meat Boutiques. In addition to offering educational information about grilling U.S. pork and providing “ready to eat” samples, USMEF chefs grilled U.S. pork products purchased by customers. Funding support for the promotion was provided by the USDA Market Access Program (MAP) and the Pork Checkoff.

Specially produced USMEF cooking demonstration videos featuring grilled U.S. pork rib recipes were projected on large-screen televisions at the promotions at the Ramos stores. Four recipes were shown: barbecued pork ribs, marinated pork ribs with beer, marinated pork ribs with tequila and pork ribs with chili sauce and pineapple.

The strategy behind the promotion was to introduce grilling techniques to consumers who are changing both their shopping and food preparation habits.

“Customers from the medium and upper socioeconomic levels in Monterrey are shifting away from buying meat products at wet markets and supermarkets to purchasing them at meat boutiques,” said Javier Garcia, USMEF retail manager in Monterrey. “Another trend we are seeing is that consumers are beginning to consider – and even prefer – ‘ready to eat’ food products. Many are learning to grill meat so that they can try new recipes and new ways to prepare and serve meals.”

According to Garcia, the participating Ramos stores reported a 32 percent increase in U.S. pork sales during the grilling promotion.