Select beef: Who wants it?

by Miranda Reiman

February 3, 2021

What was exceptional yesterday is average today. That’s true in the cattle business and especially apparent in high-quality beef production.

“Without paying attention to shifts in the market, it can be easy to assume what worked when you started still works now,” says Paul Dykstra, of the Certified Angus Beef ^®(CAB^®) brand. “It’s hard to argue there’s ever been true demand for Select, rather than simply a price point for those indifferent to quality.”

But indifference has left the market.

The Choice-Select spread has been sending the message for decades, says the CAB assistant director of supply management and analysis. A wider spread signals strong demand for marbling, while a narrow spread suggests weaker demand for the same.

It gives cattlemen a roadmap of what the market wants, but price married with quantity provides the complete picture.

During the last decade, Select carcass production fell 50% in relation to Choice and Prime. Through December 2020, the Select proportion was 13.9% of fed-cattle carcasses, down from the 2019 average of 16.9%. The Select grade typically comprised nearly half of fed beef 15 to 30 years ago.

“Supplies have dramatically decreased, and so we might assume scarcity would spur prices higher, given healthy demand,” Dykstra says, “But the numbers tell a different story.”

A two-year snapshot of the spread between Select and No-Roll (ungraded, practically devoid of marbling) shows a narrowing trend, with the exception of the erratic markets this past May (Figure 1). The value difference between No-Roll and Select typically hit its highs at $20 per hundredweight (cwt.) from 2015 to 2018, but those peaks dropped to $12/cwt. after that. The lows in the comparison were also slightly lower in recent years.

Figure 1

Select and No Roll Cutout Price Spread figure

On the flip side, the Choice-Select spread showed a widening trend (Figure 2) even as Choice supplies increased and Select decreased.

“There’s less demand out there for Select beef. Retailers have embraced higher marbling, in part because it’s easier to procure,” he says.

Choice has surpassed 70% of the fed-cattle supply. CAB often makes up 20% of the total, while Prime reached as high as 12% last year.

“Consistent, high volumes of high-quality beef is key to retailers’ ability to feature it week in and week out,” Dykstra says.

In 2020, the percentage of fed cattle reaching premium Choice and Prime came to more than 40%. CAB hit its fifth year above a billion pounds, yet “based on the CAB to Choice cutout, demand is exceptional,” he says. “And that happened while a significant portion of foodservice and international business was sidelined due to COVID-19.

“As demand for quality continues to increase, both domestically and abroad, Select starts to find itself in a bit of a ‘no man’s land.’”

Figure 2

Choice Select spread prices figure

It’s no longer the low-price option when compared to product from other countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Australia, and it lacks the quality and performance compared to domestic Choice and Prime.

“With Select product devalued to this extent and representing a shrinking category, we need to embrace the change,” Dykstra says.

Hitting 100% Choice on loads of cattle isn’t the gold standard it once was, he adds. Low Choice is no longer a premium product, but merely the low-water mark once anchored by the Select grade.

“The market gives us a pretty clear picture of where it’s headed, and all cattlemen have an equal opportunity to respond,” he says.

Putting it in perspective

“You know, a dredge ditch…”

I was explaining the Minnesota farm I grew up on and I was met with blank stares from some of my South Dakota State University classmates.

“…where you drain water off the field,” I continued.

They looked dumbfounded, and I was equally as puzzled. Then one spoke up, asking why in tarnation we’d be draining water off the field. They spent their summers irrigating or praying for rain, as they had well-drained soil, not the native swamp ground we farmed.

The older I get, the more I realize perspective is important.

What would be a drought in Minnesota might be a really good summer in west Texas; what is a lot of noise to one family might be an average day in our house full of kids; what might seem cheap to some would be a lifetime’s savings for another.

Considering perspective is important when looking at data and reading about studies.

“There is data out there that can support anything,” said Andress Kniss, a Wyoming Ph.D. weed scientist I heard at the Ag Media Summit this summer. He was telling a room full of ag communicators to be vigilant for distorted use of numbers, to think critically and certainly not be part of the problem.

In the age of click-bait headlines and shareable infographics, it’s trendy to highlight a monumental cause and effect.

A few years ago there was a lot of buzz about grass-fed beef having at least twice as much of the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids as corn-fed beef. That is true. Heck, it may have 100% or even 150% more. Scientists would call it “statistically significant.”

But that’s when you have to ask yourself, “Compared to what?” Well, the 80 to 90 milligrams (mg) in a 3.5-ounce serving of grass-fed beef may be double or triple the 30 to 40 mg in its conventional counterpart. But compared to salmon’s 1,000 to 2,000 mg, it’s not enough to make a difference in your diet. It’s an irrelevant, moot point.

Consider the “vanishing zero.” We can measure to smaller and smaller concentrations. So if there is five times as much of a substance in water, does that mean it was a difference in 1 vs. 5, or was it really 1 parts per trillion (ppt.) vs. 5 ppt.? That’s 1,000 times less than 1 part per billion (ppb). Comparing parts per trillion to the old standard parts per million? Well, it’s a million times smaller than that.

For a bit of an illustration, a part per billion would be like finding one kernel of corn in a 70 acre field. (Just to show my work, that’s an average 180 bushels/acre, with 80,000 kernels per bushel.) All that is to say it’s small, very small.

I’m not expecting you to get out your calculator or dust off an old college stats notebook every time you read up on the latest technology or new best practices, but think about how a change might really affect your herd. Will this new program increase rebreeding rates a lot or a little? Will it be worth the investment in a year, five years, or still doubtful in 10?

If a salesman says “it doesn’t really hurt marbling,” does that mean it flat-out doesn’t affect it? Or does it mean some new product or plan reduces intramuscular fat “just 20 or 30 points on a 999-point scale?” Do you realize how many of your cattle typically end up 20 points either side of the Choice/Select or even the Choice/Prime line? What sounds like a little can have a big impact.

There is always a cause and effect. Sometimes it just takes a little perspective to recognize it.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

About the author: Miranda Reiman

I love God, my kids, my hubby, rural life, agriculture and working for CAB. I’m officially the director of producer communications, which basically means I get to learn from lots of smart people and pass that information along to lots of other smart people: you. I’m so lucky to work with cattle producers and other folks in this great industry. (Oh, and one more job perk? I get to eat lots of really yummy beef.)

Bigwigs in barbecue

With the Fourth of July quickly approaching, it’s prime time for barbecue. Many pit masters pick beef as their meat of choice — think classic, smokey brisket and tasty beef ribs. Yum!

The Culinary Center recently hosted the annual Brand Ambassador Summit, welcoming chefs from all over the country, including a handful of barbecue specialists who sat on a panel with our resident meat scientist, Diana Clark.

What might have been most compelling about the panel was a comment made by Clark. She spoke about getting started with barbecue, because it is still a community despite regional differences. “You ask a question,” she says, “and people are willing to give you all their secrets because they know you can’t do it as well as them.”

How can cattlemen become such good herdsmen and so well-versed in their programs that they can’t wait to share their management or genetic “secrets?” I think that attitude is already in the mix, but how can the beef community continue to embrace it as a young, up-and-coming generation finds the balance between tradition and innovation?

That’s some barbecue food for thought.

Comments below feature a snippet of other discussions had among chefs during the panel.

The balance between tradition and innovation is something that Black’s Barbecue is challenged by and the Chicago Culinary Kitchen writes its own rules for.

Towards the end of the panel, moderator Chef Michael held a speed round. The consensus on those quick-fire questions was that the most popular sides dishes are beans and mac & cheese, everyone prefers low-and-slow cooking with dry woodsmoke, and whether the fat side should be up or down is smoker dependent.

Finally, the debate on sauce or no sauce was simple.

“It has to taste great both ways,” Barrett Black says. “It’s the customers choice.”

Texas, Chicago, Kansas City, Carolina, Memphis or whatever it is — choose your barbecue, but always choose to aim for your best Angus beef. It’s what the customer really wants, and hopefully you see them become a patron like you might be at the local barbecue joint.

Doing my best by beef,

Sarah

headshot

Sarah Moyer interns at the headquarters office in Wooster, Ohio. The senior in ag communications at Kansas State University aims to improve her writing by sharing stories of high-quality beef producers, as they work to improve their herds.

Put it to the test

“Nicole, I think you have cancer,” the doctor told me.

That stopped me in my tracks, as it would anyone. Unbelievable. I’m young, a picture of health — there’s no way this was happening to me.

But there I was, 25 years old, sitting in a doctor’s office, hearing the data points that suggested otherwise.

We would have to dig deeper, run more tests.

There’s nothing like a crisis to shift perspective. Suddenly, everything that’s actually important snaps into vivid focus. Changes that didn’t seem necessary become crystal clear, urgent.

In agriculture it’s often the same. It takes a calving season wreck to realize a selection mistake, a “drought of the century” to remember how vital are your abundant water sources, a market crash to shed light on the type of cattle that pay the bills in both good times and bad. It takes a disaster to reprioritize the things we always knew were significant, but thought could wait until tomorrow.

Live and learn, right? Unless you don’t survive the lesson, not to be morbid.

In life and business, we can get caught up in the day-to-day whirlwind and miss time for analysis and planning for dramatically better outcomes with less risk. We always intend to, but there just never seems to be enough time.

These decisions are often hard, requiring time for research, investment in knowing and sometimes adjusting the status quo. Change isn’t easy until it’s necessary. But it’s a whole lot better to evaluate and make some hard adjustments now, before adversity is staring you in the face.

The trick is knowing what you’re up against.

You’ve got to run the tests, analyze the results, then make the changes.

The process might uncover a disaster waiting to happen. It could also reveal an opportunity for improved profits, for a better life.

Recently I sat across a rancher’s dinner table looking through carcass data. As we flipped through the pages we talked about what certain things meant, whether this number or that was good or bad.

It was good; really good: 37% Prime good.

There are few things that give us honest feedback like data from well-proven science. It doesn’t think, doesn’t lie, only tells what is, what could be and what isn’t. It can expose weakness and point us in the right direction, if only we take time to test, reflect and then do the hard part—act.

Like the rancher, I got lucky and my final tests came back cancer-free. Tests that I originally thought were a total waste of time and money. Instead, I gained a different perspective, priorities and course of action going forward.

Is there a part of your business that’s overdue for a checkup? Maybe it’s time to put it to the test.

Until next time,

Nicole

Keeping after it

“You’re a great mom!”

When people say that, I hope it’s true.

But sometimes the remark comes as I’ve just luckily (somehow) managed to get through church with relatively quiet, happy children for an entire service.

Sometimes strangers say that when we’re at a restaurant. They’re impressed we have six little people at the table, most eating and carrying on conversations like mini adults.

Still, I try not to get too confident. I know as quickly as all the things can go right, they can turn for the worse. Somebody gets bored. Somebody gets crabby. Somebody gets unruly. (And I’m not just talking about the kids.)

I know motherhood is not defined by slices in time, but rather how each of those add up. It’s about how you’ve interacted with your children all along. It’s about what you’re doing in the moments everybody sees and when nobody is looking at all. Every experience shapes their attitudes and characters.

Even if I’m a “good mom” today, if I don’t work at it, the classification could easily change. Those same kids could become spoiled brats by next year.

This isn’t a parenting blog and maybe I’ve got motherhood on the brain because I just got back from maternity leave, but I’d say there are situations like this in the cattle business, too.

Think about your good cattle today. What do the buyers like about them?

They’re uniform. They gain and grade. They’ve got good attitudes.

You’ve probably focused on making them that way for several years, decades even.

When you have a goal you’re working toward, a lot of the progress is made in the mundane, the everyday. It’s in the breeding decisions and studying the sale books or AI catalogs. It’s in the processing and weaning day logistics and execution.

But it’s a journey. Having “good cattle” isn’t a destination you reach—you have to keep after it.

Interviewing for a story earlier this year, I asked a veteran cattleman, “Do you think we maybe have enough quality in our cattle today that we can start selecting for something else?”

Bill Rishel’s answer was clear and direct.

“If you have a high heritability for a trait, you can take it out just as fast as you can put it in.”

Marbling would be one of those traits. Docility may be another, especially when you figure in the environment moms provide.

It might not change as quickly as a toddler’s attitude during a homily, but unless you keep a disciplined approach, you could turn around one day and find a different herd looking back at you.

Every decision adds up.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

Beef chain in the backyard

“When the snow melts and the boat docks are in, CAB better be on the shelf.”

I’m in the passenger seat of a Ford pickup backed up to a large animal veterinarian’s practice. I’m in a border town of Wyoming and Idaho about to unload a horse off a trailer. I’m with Jim Benedict and it’s an adventure, because that just seems to be his life.

I met Jim about an hour beforehand at the Customer Service counter of Benedict’s Market, near Mountain View, Wyo. We had scheduled an interview to talk cattle and his retail store but his daughter’s horse had cut his leg, requiring attention, and Jim figured we could multitask.

The cool thing about Jim is he’s present, no matter the chaos that lies on the outskirts. When he’s with his cattle, he’s a committed caretaker, a dedicated herdsman. When he’s in his family’s retail store, he recognizes faces and scans the aisles for improvements. When he’s at the horse vet, he studies the treatment and asks almost as many questions as me.

He’s a student, a pursuer of excellence in all things and one of the most unique ranchers I’ve met.

So back to his quote at the top…

I didn’t know what he meant about the first part – in Florida the docks are stationary (hello, sunshine!) – but I was pretty sure about the second: if it was a challenge, Jim seemed like a guy who gets things done.

“People tell us we’re crazy,” he admits of juggling both ends of the beef business, “but we just do our own thing.”

He’s talking about him and his brother, Bruce, both third generations to run the local grocery and retail store where you can buy “a loaf of bread or livestock equipment.” More so, he’s acknowledging the fact that they own and manage hundreds of head of Angus cattle, too. Not to mention farm and have families to boot.

That aim for growth led them to CAB.

“We knew some of the more progressive stores were using CAB and making it happen, that it worked,” Jim says.

All it took was thinking about his cattle and the literature he had read about the world’s largest branded beef program.

“We went down to a food show in April, and Associated Food Stores didn’t know if they could pull it off,” he says. Supply, demand and the impending summer season implied it would be six months at least.

But the boat docks were almost in and that meant summer tourism was around the corner.

“I got home and got on the phone and said, ‘Hey, I need to pull the trigger on this. Let’s get this thing rocking and rolling.’”

Twenty-two days later, CAB was in the meat case.

“We’re blending the producer side of things with the retail side of things,” Jim says. “We know what the end product is. We know what the going-in product is. It was that little spot in the middle that we needed.”

Now he’s got the whole beef chain in his backyard and a special perspective to go with it.

Thanks for allowing me to tell your story,

Laura

PS – Be sure to grab a copy of the Angus Journal for Jim’s full story in a few months.

CATCHING UP ON THOSE QUALITY RECORDS

It doesn’t sound like a busy salebarn café or have the same ambience as a back table at the farm supply, but I’d argue that our weekly supply team conference calls are a CAB version of a coffee klatch.

We aren’t gathered around the same table (but video conferencing helps us feel connected!), we don’t talk about the weather every single time, we don’t even all drink coffee (I type while sipping a Diet Coke), but we do use it as our time to catch up on what’s happening in the beef business.

We talk projects and upcoming events and the markets. We share what we know from the week behind us and what we hope to know after the week ahead.

When I was on maternity leave earlier this year, I missed those conversations. I mean, I had a good reason and I wouldn’t trade Laney for a decade’s worth of calls, of course, but I felt a bit like an outsider.

“Another day, another week, another record. This is fun.” The e-mails came several weeks in a row. In fact, the entire month of February, each week set a new all-time record high for CAB brand acceptance (the percentage of black-hided cattle presented to USDA graders for evaluation that made it into our brand). Choice and Prime percentages were breaking records, too.

But I didn’t get to hear about it on the call.

I wanted to know: Why now? Is this too much of a good thing? And, what’s the real impact of a percentage-point hike like that?

When I got back to full-time work last month, I called up Mark McCully, our vice president of production, to ask.

“The first question when we look at this kind of quality is, ‘Have we reached some point of market saturation?’ If we had,” he says, “that would be showing up in some really narrow Choice-Select spreads, and that’s just not what we’re seeing. We’re seeing that the demand continues to grow and that spread continues to stay strong.”

The first 16 weeks of 2018 averaged 34.9% CAB, compared to 30.3% for 2017. That’s an added 13,188 head branded each week.

“The idea that we’ve matured or hit some sort of a quality ceiling, I understand why people say it, but I don’t believe the economic signals support that,” he continued.

The CAB boxed beef premium averaged $8.76 per hundredweight (cwt.) during the first quarter of 2018. A quick glance shows that compared to $9.19/cwt. for the same period in 2017.

That’s down, you might say. True, but the math tells the more complete story: the certified head count increased by 20.4% (from 1.3 million to 1.6 million, or 300,000 head), but the spread only declined 4.7%, or $0.43.

“There’s a customer base out there today that’s now accessing high-quality products that maybe just never thought they could before,” Mark says.

And when you look at a greater slice of time, the story gets even richer.

Rewind to the first 16 weeks of 2010: 1 million head certified with a 24.1% CAB acceptance rate and the CAB-Choice spread was $6.20/cwt. Comparing 2018 to 2010, we have increased acceptance rate by more than 10 percentage points, increased certified head count by 55.5% AND increased the CAB-Choice spread by 41.3%.

“It’s a little bit unbelievable,” Mark said, as if he was reading my mind.

The only difference between this and a far-fetched coffee shop tale? This one is true and seems to keep repeating itself.

People want quality beef, they pay for it, and cattlemen continue to respond to the signals to produce more.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

What happens in Wooster?

It’s a question we hear often, “So what DO y’all do up there in Wooster?”

Anyone on our team is proud to answer, but it’s not something that’s easily summed up in a few words. In fact, it’s something we all could write, talk, tweet about, photograph and capture on video for years. We have and continue to do so.

The kicker is, nothing beats seeing it for yourself.

We have lots of cattlemen groups visit over the course of a year, but not everyone gets the opportunity to walk through the doors of our Culinary Center, meet the staff who work passionately every day to build demand for high-quality beef (and in turn, registered Angus cattle) and taste the beef innovation.

I’ve always been a “show me, don’t tell me” type of person, so I think the next best thing to being here in person, is for us to show what it is we’re doing up here in the Buckeye State. To do just that, we teamed up with the American Angus Association communications folks to produce an episode of the RFD-TV show, The Angus Report, focused on what’s happening at Certified Angus Beef LLC headquarters.

Aired on March 12th, the show takes you behind the scenes of our brand.

We walk you through the doors of our offices and share our history.

Then tell the story of how we track pounds, sales, cattle and where the brand is used.

We share how our chefs are leading and collaborating with the culinary community.

And last, but not least, bring viewers into the meat lab where we teach about our 10 science-based specifications.

Watch the entire episode over on YouTube or The Angus Report website.

These special segments just scratched the surface of what all the team in Wooster is doing on behalf of Angus cattlemen. There’s a lot more we’d love to show and tell you about, which is why we hope we’ll see you in here during the National Angus Convention, when we’ll be a stop on the National Angus Tour and host an open house.

Visit and experience the brand for yourself — I promise, it’s better in person. And keep those questions coming — we love providing the answers.

Until next time,

Nicole

The beef industry: a survival guide

I’ve often wished for a guidebook – a map to carefully lead me around life’s potholes and avoid the dead ends altogether.

But you and I both know it doesn’t work like that. Faith requires a bit of stepping out, sometimes lunging to get to the good stuff – the reward far greater than the process to get there.

At this year’s Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show, a Cattlemen’s College session titled, “True Stories of Beef Business Survival” piqued my interest.

As a young person hoping to survive in the beef industry, I’ve found there’s no golden ticket there either, but I’ve sure tried to listen a lot.

Here’s what I learned that day:

Have a plan

For both day-to-day and worst-case scenarios. “If you wait until you’re in the middle of the drought, it’s too late,” Joe Leathers, manager of 6666 Ranch, near Guthrie, Texas, said. “If you wait until the fire has completely devastated your country, you’re going to be sitting there in the middle of smoking ashes.”

For the practical-minded, it’s about being on the same page with your family and partners, Lydia Yon said. The matriarch of Yon Family Farms, near Ridge Spring, S.C., said, “People around us were building a new house and we were building a commodity shed. Someone was buying a new car and we were buying a new mixer wagon.” Everything they made, they put right back into the operation and avoided purchases of non-tangible things they couldn’t pass on to their children.

dalebanks perrier seedstock commitment to excellence

See the big picture

Not just what’s outside your door, Lydia said. It’s the little, everyday things that have been their key to survival. Her family applies that to their role as a seedstock producer, paying special attention to the genetics they stack in their Angus herd. “They need to be the right kind of genetics that will provide that end consumer with the delicious eating experience they crave.”

“The decisions you make, I don’t care how small your operation is, affect a lot more people than just you,” Joe added. Be conscious of that.

Learn from others

“Glean from those who have survived in the past; go talk to them,” Joe advised.

“The very smartest day of our lives was the day we graduated with our animal science degrees,” Lydia joked. “Ever since, we’ve learned how dumb we can become.” Listen to those older and wiser.

Relationships are key

Jerry Bohn, owner and recently retired manager of Pratt Feeders, Pratt, Kan., tied it all back to the men and women he’s worked for, alongside and hired. “It’s the people,” he said. “People, relationships, being a part of the community, that’s really what it’s all about and what made my career successful.”

For Lydia, relationships and the awareness that others observe your actions and results drive her toward success. Both led to land offered for lease and an owner’s willingness to finance cattle. “People are watching what you do,” she said. Because of those relationships, “we expanded without a lot of huge investments.”

Think outside your fences

With decades under his hat, Joe encouraged young people to “be an independent thinker. Too many people aren’t,” he said.

People told Lydia and her husband, Kevin, they couldn’t start a farm with 100 acres and basically nothing. “We got experience, got involved and got busy,” she said.

Choose good partnerships

“What can you do to be different?” Jerry asked. He credited partnerships with CAB and U.S. Premium Beef as some of the best Pratt has made. With CAB, “our involvement caused us to do a paradigm shift,” he said. Prior to 2003, Pratt Feeders was selling more commodity cattle. “We began to look at high-quality cattle, producing for high-end markets.” Today, he said, close to 70% of the cattle in their feedyards are destined to sell on a grid.

Those were just some pieces of advice from three people who I admire in this industry.

Get experience, manage for risk, figure out your strengths and outsource your weaknesses, they said. Those and more can take a person from merely surviving to thriving.

It’s about being realistic with every decision you make, Joe said, adding that there will be plenty. As young people, “it’s easy to have rose-colored glasses. Survival has a definite connotation of bruises and a little blood.”

“It’s not always going to be fun and you’re going to have to weather the storm.”

See you out on the water,

Laura

An Olympic throwback

Surprises – who doesn’t love ’em?

I’m thinking flowers, an upward swing in the market, a calf crop from a new bull that turned out even better than anticipated – these are the things that put a little pep in your step.

I’ve been watching the Olympics as of late (because who hasn’t?) and it got me thinking: I bet those expected to win hate surprises. I bet those managing these games hate surprises.

10_03 Jason carrying torch-2 — Jason Clever, a designer at CAB, carries the famous Olympic torch.

There are the out-of-nowhere upsets, persons or teams that started near the bottom and snag the gold. They’re loving it, but not the favored ones displaced. These guys and gals come well prepared, if only they can execute as flawlessly as we flawed humans are capable of doing.

Gets me pumped just thinking about it.

So in the spirit of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games and the fact that we’ve been a bit reminiscent celebrating the brand’s 40^th anniversary year, let me tell you about a little surprise that involves CAB and the world’s foremost sports competition.

10_01 frank eater bu02 — One fan showed American patriotism along with his love of quality beef.

The year – 2002. The Olympics – the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The surprise – a shortage of frankfurters.

Our own Deanna Walenciak was closest to the 2002 games. A marketing team member at the time, who now heads our education efforts, she led the Olympic charge and remembers how the CAB item became the surprise story.

13_03 Olympic Media Event 2000 — Then CAB president Jim Riemann answers questions at the Olympic signing.

“You do all of this marketing and try to plan stories around the games,” Deanna says. “We also put a lot of work into having the correct amount of product. We really wanted to get that right.”

In this particular case, not “sticking the landing” turned out to be an even sweeter victory, one CNN and various news outlets felt compelled to share.

It wasn’t that they actually ran out, Deanna says, but had Usinger’s sausage company, out of Milwaukee, Wis., not stepped up to the plate and increased production, the story could have been different.

10_01a menu board-1 — Available at all concessions throughout the games, as well as Olympic Village, the CAB frankfurters and chili were hits. The latter was developed specifically for the games; both are still available today.

There was no one to blame, Deeana says. Simply a surprise – one of the good kinds.

“All of the models assumed how many we would sell but people stayed at the events even longer and were ordering frankfurters at 9:30 in the morning, all morning long,” she says. “The food at the concession stands was just that phenomenal.”

10_02 Retailer wins trip to Games-1 — In anticipation, CAB held competitions with retailers and consumers alike. Lucky winners won trips to the games.

A bit of a history buff when it comes to the brand and an Olympic fan to boot, I thought that was a pretty fun fact.

As the games come to an end, here’s wishing all Olympic athletes the best. Even more, here’s to good surprises.

Thanks for allowing me to tell your story,

Laura

Select beef: Who wants it?

by Miranda Reiman

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