Branded beef is capturing the attention of consumers interested in the “story” behind the brand and the promise of better quality.
This year has seen the rise and rise of brands.
JBS Australia’s Beef City Black was named Best Branded Beef product at the Australian Food Awards run by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria while its Thousand Guineas for Shorthorn has proven a hit in high end restaurants. JBS also has a new Tasmanian player in Three Islands Beef.
Rangers Valley is noted for its Black Onyx and Black Magic Angus, and Sher Wagyu helped Kanpai Classic restaurant in Shanghai, China, earn a Michelin Star.
Bindaree Beef’s Mayfield Beef, Highland Park, Cape Byron, Fernhill Road, The Prestige and Vintage Dry Age brands won a string of fine foods medals.
Beef marketing guru Richard Rains says branded beef is the future of the industry.
The former Sanger chief executive said Australian production costs were the highest in world.
“We must produce something that sets us apart, be it grass-fed, HGP-free, organic – all those things Australia can do as a boutique-type producer,” he said. Cattle Council of Australia director Marc Greening said brands were essential for progressing the beef industry.
“We can’t compete globally on cost – brands are a way of ensuring our ability to get into the premium markets of the world,” he said. “They are the future, not only in beef but in most commodities.”
Mr Greening said the consumer was becoming acclimatised to the idea of all beef purchases being branded.
“In the future, we envisage all beef, including the basic, cheaper, no-name cuts, will be branded,” he said.
Holding it back is no doubt the fact supermarkets, who sell the lion’s share of beef domestically, currently only stock their own brands.
Mr Rains believes the onus is on the industry to come up with brands supermarkets need on their shelves.
“It’s not the job of Meat and Livestock Australia,” he said. “No other product, apart from fruit and vegetables, is marketed by a body. You don’t buy toothpaste – you buy Colgate.
“There is room for MLA to espouse the value of red meat but more responsibility needs to go back to the processor to market their brand.”
Mr Rains believes livestock and meat prices should go up every year.
“Apple put their phone prices up five times a year, it’s expected,” he said. “Yes, there will be some pullback but nine times out of 10 consumers get used to the higher price and come back to beef.”
Mr Rains said Australia’s beef cut grading system – Meat Standards Australia – allowed for “unbelievably consistent” supply, which was the key to branding.
“Never does McDonald’s say we can’t do chips today,” he said. “Rather, when there was a supply problem in Japan they hired jumbo jets to fly chips out of the US.”
For that reason, it is difficult for a producer to have their own brand, so aligning with processors and supplying animals to a tight specification was the path to the premiums available from beef branding, Mr Rains said.
Mr Greening said to be profitable, producers had to work out whether they could supply available branded products and meet the specifications consistently.
MLA’s group marketing manager Andrew Howie said supermarkets were becoming more sophisticated in developing private label brands.
“Branded beef offers a point of difference. It also comes with a story, which is attractive for the consumer,” he said.
