The Canadian Cattlemen's Association

November 19, 2009 - BIC works with Montana’s to promote Canadian beef

The Beef Information Centre (BIC) is working in partnership with Montana's (restaurant) to launch a steak promotion between November 9 and January 9, 2010.

A casual dining restaurant chain with 85 locations across Canada, Montana’s work with BIC includes development and enhancement of the restaurant’s steak program, focusing on an 8-ounce Canada AAA Top Sirloin.

The partnership includes communication of the quality of the restaurant’s steak category, which features always fresh never frozen, hand-selected steaks, aged 21-28 days, from Canada AAA top sirloin.

BIC’s partnership included training Montana’s service and kitchen staff on steak doneness, preparation, cuts and how to communicate to their guests to ensure an outstanding steak eating experience every time. And in partnership with Cara Operations Limited (Montana’s parent company), BIC developed The Perfect Steak video, which includes training clips for front-of-house (serving) staff and back-of-house (kitchen) staff.

According to John Gillespie, BIC’s chairman and a feedlot operator at Ayr, Ont., the steak training videos were a critical component in the success of the steak program, and Montana’s made re-training their staff a priority in conjunction with the launch of the promotion.

“With this emphasis on training and execution, along with an aggressive in-house steak promotion featuring quality Canadian beef, we anticipate a successful program that will drive dramatic beef sales and volume increases,” says Gillespie. “But the key to success is that this is a long-term commitment to enhancing their menu through steak quality and training which will result in ongoing growth of their steak program as well as an improved guest experience.

“By partnering with innovative chains like Montana’s, we can help position Canadian beef as being the highest quality beef in the world, which will help in growing demand for Canadian beef right here at home, in communities across Canada,” adds Gillespie.

The Canadian beef brand mark is prominently featured on all promotional point of sale materials.

BIC’s efforts to maximize demand for Canadian beef and optimize the value of Canadian beef products is funded in part by cattle producers through the National Beef Check-Off, and through beef industry market development funds provided by the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada

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