Nice to Meat Ya: Liz Wunderlich

If you’re trying to “sell a Mercedes in a Ford Pinto country,” you’d better come prepared.

That’s advice from Liz Wunderlich, Caribbean representative for U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). And she knows. After working in that market for 22 years, this trained meat scientist knows her job is all about educating and information-sharing with the goal of increasing meat demand.

“We’re a premium provider and we’re priced at a premium,” she says. “There are always going to be countries that are going to be cheaper than us.”

So that’s why we don’t sell on price, but rather on value. (Sound familiar?)

“We talk about why we’re unique, with beef that’s grain-fed, high-quality,” Liz says.

The sun and sand, boats and beaches—yes, Liz spends about half of each month traveling to island nations, but her days are packed with work.

“We’re a lot like what a local purveyor would be in the U.S.,” she says. “We share the latest and greatest with our accounts.”

That might be attending food shows, doing one-on-one consultations, connecting buyers and sellers or doing educational seminars. No matter what role, Liz draws on her University of Florida livestock and meat judging experience.

“That was probably the best training I ever got in organizing my thoughts and being able to stand in front of a group,” she says.

On many of the islands, imported beef is always frozen. As they work to change that model, information is paramount.

“It’s literally switching from a bandsaw to a knife,” Liz notes.

She can tell many stories from the road, but a particular brisket demonstration in Barbados illustrates the cultural differences well. The chef assured her the frozen meat was in the chiller, but upon her 9 p.m. arrival she decided to check.

“Someone had seen it in the chiller and moved it to the freezer. To them all beef goes in the freezer,” Liz says. She replaced it—crisis averted. But for added insurance, she checked once more before going to bed at midnight. Finding the box of briskets in the freezer again, she moved them and added a note: “Do not move.”

But when she woke up at 2 a.m. her instincts told her to head to the freezer….where she once again found her briskets. Springing into problem-solving mode, Liz lugged the 50 lb. box to her room, put them in a cold water bath and the morning cooking and tasting demo was saved.

The even happier ending? That hotel now features high-quality, U.S. beef (including brisket) at its weekly barbecue.

Cattlemen here depend on a lot of success stories like that there, and frankly without USMEF staff like Liz working in markets from Japan and Russia to Dubai and Brazil, that wouldn’t happen.

“We know what the word on the street is, because we’re on the street,” she says, knowing that the stakes are high when vying for world market share. “If we’re not in there fighting, we will lose to those who fight harder.”

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

PS-Take a look at all the beef people we’ve gotten to know this month by following these link:

• Day 1: Ashley Pado
• Day 2: Scott Redden
• Day 3: Jesse Stucky
• Day 4: Bridget Wasser
• Day 5: Amanda Barstow
• Day 6: Josh Moore
• Day 7: Ruth Ammon
• Day 8: Bill Tackett
• Day 9: Dan Chase
• Day 10: Danielle Foster
• Day 11: Eric Mihaly
• Day 12: Jennifer Kiko
• Day 13: Mark Morgan
• Day 14: Meg and Matt Groves
• Day 15: Rod Kamph
• Day 16: Jonnie Schreffler
• Day 17: Brent Eichar
• Day 18: Alberto Diaz
• Day 19: Larry Kuehn
• Day 20: Bob Boliantz
• Day 21: David Livingston
• Day 22: Danny Harris
• Day 23: Tony Biggs
• Day 24: George Falb

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