This is a special message from the Beef Checkoff Program.
Luxurious T-bones, strips and filets will always captivate the imagination of consumers craving the premium beef experience. However, there is another class of steaks that offers them everyday pleasure at more welcoming prices.
Enter the realm of steak items conceived with creativity, where a moderate portion of beef goes a long way to add value and versatility across the menu. For example, take the Black & Bleu Salad at Little Apple Brewing Company in Manhattan, Kan., in which six ounces of Certified Angus Beef Petite Tender steak is sliced and arrayed over mixed field greens, along with bleu cheese, spiced pecans, cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette. Priced at $11.49, it’s one of the top-selling items at the brewery-restaurant, which is known for legendary Strip and Porterhouse steak entrees.
The Petite Tender, a tasty, tender and moderately priced cut from the beef chuck, is Little Apple’s “all purpose steak,” according to Russ Loub, co-owner, chef and general manager. “We use it extensively in salads, sandwiches, steak pizza, burritos and lots of specials.”
All told, Little Apple goes through about 300 pounds of versatile Petite Tender per week. “You can braise it like a piece of chuck, sauté it or broil it, as we usually do,” Loub said. “It has great marbling and great flavor whether you cook it well done or medium rare. And it is a great value.”
In addition, a butterflied, broiled 8-ounce Petite Tender anchors Little Apple’s popular Steak Frites, served with a generous portion of well-seasoned fries and red wine-shallot butter sauce. Thin slices derived from trim also star in Bibimbap, a Korean specialty that combines beef with rice, sautéed vegetables, an egg fried over easy and spicy gochujang sauce.
Dishes like those succeed because even a moderate amount of beef can make a successful plate if it is presented attractively with enticing accompaniments. That’s what Steve Schimoler, chef-owner of Crop Bistro & Bar in Cleveland, realized a few years ago.
During the height of the recession, Schimoler found that he could reduce his typical steak portion by half, slice it and fan it out alongside signature side dishes, like the luscious summer tomato salad he currently features. Bottom line, customers are as happy as before, if not more so. In fact, a beef item is the bistro’s number-one selling entrée virtually every night.
“We did not have to reduce the price,” noted Schimoler. “And not one customer has complained about the meat portion size. And I’m talking about Cleveland Browns football players, guys who are on mega-calorie diets.”
“The biggest aha moment was slicing the steak,” noted Schimoler. “Six ounces of meat can look like 12 ounces when it is fanned and perched on the starch or vegetable element of the plate.”
Of course, it also helps that beef has a unique quality of pleasing and satisfying even in modest amounts. “Beef, in my opinion, is the protein that delivers the satiation factor most effectively,” Schimoler said.
The appeal of steak is not lost on chain restaurant operators, either. Shari’s Café & Pies, a 103-unit, Beaverton, Ore.-based family dining chain, is selling 15 percent to 20 percent more dinner items this year than last. Part of that is due to the addition of new and improved steaks offered with signature sides and sauces in a menu section billed as Flame Grilled Favorites.
Although Shari’s Center Cut New York Strip Steak, which weighs nine ounces and is priced at $10.99, already offers high quality and value for the money, patrons can further boost its overall appeal, as well as the operator’s margin, by ordering add-ons for a small upcharge.
For example, for $2, patrons can add sautéed mushrooms, chimichurri steak sauce or bleu cheese crumbles with crispy onion strings. For $3, they can add two shrimp skewers, shrimp scampi or golden fried shrimp.
“Our pricing is aggressive, but if I can add $2 to that steak by selling sautéed mushrooms, it helps me manage my cost,” said Kevin Bechtel, Shari’s senior vice president of purchasing, R&D and menu development.
Improved dinner offerings like that are raising Shari’s competitiveness in a challenging market.
“We are attracting people who may have gone to casual dining restaurants in the past,” said Bechtel. “We are providing options that are as good or better.”
For more information about value-added beef cuts, recipes and menu strategies, visit BeefFoodservice.com.
