Ontario Beef Farmers Focus on Strengthening the Local Market

By Lauren O’Brien

Beef farmers in Ontario are focused on increasing the share of Ontario beef in the province’s marketplace.

In early 2017, the organization, Beef Farmers of Ontario, implemented its regional marketing initiative. The RMI is a marketing strategy geared toward aiding the development of Ontario beef programs.The project’s objectives are to maximize the value of Ontario products and enhance consumer confidence in the province’s beef industry.

John Baker, project manager for the RMI, works to help develop several Ontario companies.

“We do have research that supports that Ontario consumers would prefer to purchase Ontario produced beef,” said Baker.

Recently, BFO has relaunched its collaborative partnership program to further the impact of the RMI. All sectors of the provinces beef industry can apply to the program for assistance with developing their brands.

In 2016, the RMI partnered with the Ontario premium beef brand Carve. Created by Flanagan Food Services of Kitchener, Carve has become one of the independently owned company’s biggest brands. It is supplied solely to restaurants in Ontario.  

During the development and launch of Carve, the RMI worked to find a cattle supplier which met the criteria Flanagan was looking for. They also set up a processor and shared marketing resources.

Baker said Carve is unique because it is one of the few premium Ontario beef products complete with full marketing support. In a little over a year, Carve surpassed its two year sales forecast of $3 million.

Peter Bozzer is director of procurement for Carve. His job is to oversee all of the company’s purchases. He manages a team of professional who negotiate pricing and marketing with their 5000 vendors.

“Typically, we’d have to go out and push really hard. We’re in a position now where people are asking us about it. We’ve definitely built up a good reputation in a small amount of time,” said Bozzer.

In a July 2018 newsletter, the RMI stated it has a total budget of $550,000. About $400,000 goes toward market development and $150,000 to consumer engagement. As of July 10, 2018, the RMI had spent 26 per cent of this budget. These funds went to nine approved applications through the CPP.

BFO’s current projects include developing a video about on-farm management practices as well as how genetic selection can impact beef quality. They are also compiling and analyzing the results of their second consumer research survey.