Changing demographics have made food service about equal in size to food retailing. According to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, beef remains the number-one protein served in restaurants. fast food accounted for more than 43% of all beef served in commercial restaurants in 2008....More

The skyrocketing growth in certified beef programs portends the arrival of even more intensively managed supply chains requiring specific genetics, management and marketing schemes to participate....More

Each year between 700 and 1,000 significant foodservice purchasing executives report their wholesale beef purchases for the Foodservice Volumetric Study. Enough data is collected to allow fairly robust extrapolations to the industry at large. Estimates are also cross-checked with 25 distributors and five protein processors focused on the foodservice channel. The time range covered is 12 months through a September month-end. A margin of error of +/- 10% should be assumed when interpreting pound estimates....More