State beef councils and the national Beef Checkoff Program have introduced a new retail beef marketing program that has the potential, they say, to significantly increase U.S. beef sales. The Beef Alternative Marketing, or BAM, creates smaller filets and roasts out of beef ribeyes, top loins and top sirloins by utilizing innovative cutting techniques. By increasing cut thickness, final product quality is protected.

BAM takes advantage of shoppers who previously looked elsewhere for nutritious, high-quality, size-appropriate proteins. The program’s supporters say the smaller portions give consumers the sizes and nutritional profiles they seek. BAM includes a complete cutting and marketing program, including retailer training materials, point-of-sale materials, recipes, cooking instructions, charts, photos and instructional cutting posters.

According to Jim Henger, executive director of channel marketing for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, BAM is a perfect product for the times because it allows retailers to offer a product that has a new nutritional selling point, is sized to increase sales and retains the cooking quality of larger steaks. Focus groups have shown that consumers not only like the new shapes and thicknesses of the cuts, they are not concerned about higher per-pound costs because there is a lower price per package.