Meat+Poultry - July 2018 - ground beef - 24

RE TA IL & FOOD SERVIC E TR END S

Burger development
Cargill satisfies retail and foodservice customer
demand through culinary innovation
By Kimberlie Clyma
k c l y m a@ so sl a n d .c o m

hen it comes to understanding
the trends and technology relating to the ground beef industry,
the experts at Cargill - the
Wichita, Kansas-based processor that produces more ground
beef than any other company in
the world - know more than most. The Cargill
Innovation Center, including the in-house culinary
team, works closely with customers to create new
burgers for foodservice and retail. Megan Speas,
foodservice channel marketing director and
Tammy Shaw, retail channel marketing director,
share insights about burger trends and Cargill's
role in the industry.

MEAT+ POULTRY: What are some new innovations
for burgers - flavors, packaging?
Megan Speas: Consumer and customer demand
for a unique burger eating experience continues
to increase. Consumers are no longer looking to
simply customize their burger; instead they are
looking for unique flavors either from the burger,
or what they add to the burger.

Even when dining at
home, consumers are
looking for more than
traditional burgers these
days. To meet that need,
Cargill's culinary team
developed its Bourbon
BBQ Cheddar patties.

We are seeing strong global flavor influences
in burger builds. In recent years, there was a
proliferation of Asian and Latin burgers, and next
on the burger scene are Filipino-inspired burgers which feature ingredients such as longanisa
(sweet sausage), banana ketchup, garlic, pork
crackling, mango, pickled green papaya, sweet
potato fries and pandesal bread. Younger consumers are especially interested in global flavors
and will seek out restaurants that allow them to
explore different cultures on their plates.
M + P: How does the Cargill culinary team get
involved in burger development?
Speas: Cargill Protein's culinary team supports
our retail, foodservice and business-to-business
customer channels. We work in both the service
request space, where a customer asks for a specific
product, and the proactive space, where we examine research from our consumer insights team, then
collaborate to create burger concepts with our
marketing and R&D colleagues.
Our chefs are amazed at the longstanding
and consistently growing love affair with burgers and that passion inspires our creations. From
the Chef Daniel Boulud burger with foie gras and
truffles to a great patty melt, we see many needs
being filled by today's burger offerings. One
example is the interesting push to have a steakhouse experience in a burger, with bold flavors
like cracked pepper, aged cheeses and meat
toppings like Prosciutto and short ribs being
paired with a thick juicy burger.
The "vacation experience" is also turning
up between a bun, with flavors including black

Photos: Cargill

2018 GROUND BEEF TRENDS + TECHNOLOGY MEAT+ POULTRY

Meat+Poultry - July 2018

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