NBC staff recently attended the Annual Meat Conference (AMC) on March 6-8 in Dallas, Texas. The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and North American Meat Institute (NAMI), a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, partner to provide this yearly opportunity for meat professionals to get a pulse on meat retail trends and meat shopper insights. This is the first year since 2020 that it was in-person, and was a great opportunity to reconnect with retailers, suppliers, and colleagues in the meat business.
The NBC had a chance to attend insightful presentations, such as the highly sought-after The Power of Meat 2023 presented by 210 Analytics’ Anne-Marie Roerink. Each year, The Power of Meat study combines shopper input with IRI sales results to give valuable insight into today’s consumer purchase decision tree, meat’s role in meal planning and execution, and retail challenges and opportunities.
Some of the other educational sessions, included topics about Case Ready Meat; the 2023 Market Outlook for Meat and Poultry in which Randy Blach, CEO of CattleFax, provided beef market forecasting; and Using Influencer Marketing and Social Media Partnerships which featured the Hardcore Carnivore influencer Jess Pryles that the California Beef Council hosted at their 2022 Beef Leadership Summit for retail and foodservice professionals.
A half-day tradeshow in the exhibit hall provided an opportunity for meat companies to showcase new products, packaging, labeling and innovation within the industry. In addition to visiting with many retailers and beef suppliers on the show floor and throughout the conference, the NBC staff also had the opportunity to join the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) account relationship team, on behalf of the National Beef Checkoff, for a meeting with one of the nations-leading large-chain big box retailers to discuss challenges and opportunities within their meat business.
“AMC provides an opportunity for the Beef Checkoff to not only maintain and build industry relationships within the retail and supplier segments of the supply chain, but also provides us with insights and education to ensure that we’re providing retailers with content that is relevant to their beef business,” said Christie Van Egmond, Director of Retail & Foodservice Marketing for the NBC. “The Annual Meat Conference is the retail meat industry’s leading conference that the NBC attends nearly every year as it provides such important insights.”