We can usually always utilize our trim by using it for our ground beef value packs that we have on sale that particular week. We go through so many v.p.'s that even if the trim is extremely fatty we can always get it to the proper %. If we do for some reason find ourselves heavy on trim, we'll bust out the patty machine and make frozen patties, or fresh patties for that matter and get them out at a good price!

Well, you've got a ton of options.
Grind it out at about 80/20, get yourself a rotisserie, cook them off, get some buns, slap some cheese on 'em, cost it out for margin and sell them as in-house prepared burgers. Make them for lunch. You'll sell half to the store staff daily. Make sure you cost it out.

Make beef jerky out of it if it's possible. Cost it out.

These two are easy.

Now if you have too...demo it out if you can, write it off under demo expense.
Worst case scenario: see if you can transfer it to the deli/kitchen for immediate preparation.

These are the easy ones though...especially if you have a small shop...in a small store...

You should also invest in a good smoker.

how many pounds per day you looking at. there are meatballs, meatloaf, stuffed peppers,stuffed mushrooms, burgers, gourmet burgers, this after all merchandisable cuts have been done, worst case scenario is family pack ground beef for a percentage off the regular price. fwiw management will tell you to lessen the trim standard, which in effect could leesen the cut movement based on appearance. just a few ideas ......

one thing i find alotta meat cutters these days are bad at is mixing all the fat with all the trim.......keep 2 tubs one pure fat and one pure meat......u will make alot just by doing this.......trim from hip meat and chuck is usually 4.00 to 6.00 a kg...you can get away with selling x lean at 10 or 11 a kg....and if you seperate the 2 you wont have as much trim.....i dont bother saving lots of fat even tossing the fat im make min 40 to 50 % mark up on everything sell

Process is key when making frozen patties. They have to look good to sell them. Use your best trim. I did stacks of 8 on peach paper within lug liners. Peach the top too and close the lug liners tightly. Pre-freeze the platters and lug liners so they are already chilled. Get them in the freezer asap. When frozen split the stacks of 8 and display the center patties on top. They will have great bloom and sell!

My company grinds no trim, it all comes in as coarse ground chubs from a single processor, lessens our liability in case of a recall, or an ecoli breakout. We buy all trimmed primals, what little we do have to trim we chop up in our horizontal slicer very fine and sell as taco meat, or asst beef for soup. I really have to keep on my cutters because company wants no more than 1 lug a day of trim. Our stales run about 1%

I think stealing by employees may be a big part of the shrink problem is some of our stores.

thats grosss but pretty cool at the same time..lol

something i also do is take meat with a couple days and make steak mixture packs in clubpack trays and blow them out for 880kg or higher depending what it is......( and make sure the same date i took it off the counter is........my miss code is set at 1.00 kg so it looks good on shrink

Hi Matt
here's my two cents to the original question

Many great suggestions above!!
I almost think someone could be a "shrink" specialist-Thiers a difference in independent stores , but in chain stores, most are quite limited in what you can do-they dont want human judgement, because they have many stores and if one cutter or meat manager makes the wrong judgement and someone gets sick- it hurts the image of ALL stores in that company- thats why they are so strict.
chain stores, reduce, and then throw out- minimal reworks-in fact , many chain stores have cameras to see if meatcutters are re-working in the morning.
Many say- how can they just throw out and maintain a profit? Its called volume
there's an old saying "volume cures all" many believe that in a high volume store the shrink should be minimum- it's all relative to some degree- In high volume chain stores the traffic count and visibility is so high, that shrink as a percentage can be less- if ordering, and processing systems are in place.

The independent world is sooooo much different and better when it comes to shrink
because you have options-you often dont have the volume and traffic count a chain store has-but you have options that are powerful

In an ideal world- shrink prevention systems are in place, everyone follows them and it's less than 1%

can this happen? yes, it can, but more so in an independent-they have more shrink-recovery systems

Back to the original question- I really like the one answer of making meatloaf and cooking it-this insures you arent reworking into another fresh item and pushing dates ahead-cook it !! you kill any and all bacteria at 160 degrees, and you can actually increase gross margin when you sell it!! Again-you can take a potential loss and turn it into a gain-everyday!!

The most successful independent meat depts I see are cooking everyday- not only to deter shrink, but many are now cooking sale items for more margin (cooking thighs, drums, split breasts, with bbq sprinkle on them, or lemon-pepper) then selling for 2.29-2.99lb

the whole key is to keep a meat dept package tag (label) to get sales and margin credit
will the deli welcome this?? maybe, maybe not- but most agree if you can cut your shrink in half by cooking it- the store makes it happen

even selling cold cooked chicken parts, and pork ribs sell in most stores- heatnserve-you are selling raw meat to cook-but now you are offering fully-cooked-again, just heat n serve.

Dont have time to cook?? but you have time to rewrap, and rework items? and have a high shrink %?

this is one huge trend in independent stores in the last 5 yrs-again, dont transfer to deli's for thier meals to go- cook it over there and package yourself- huge profit difference.
you cant do this in chain stores

say , thighs and drums are coming up on sale-.99lb or 1.39lb
some stores sell loss-leader chicken parts at 5% or less margin (on sale)

In my store- I cook a box of thighs and drums a day- and sell for 2.99lb- sprinkle some bbq powder on top
in 7 days thats 14 cases of thighs and drums (40lbs a cs=560lbs at 2.99lb) you will lose up to 15 % when cooking (560x.85=476lbs x 2.99lb(retail)=1423.24 gross profit-place in food warmers-if no food warmer place the cooked chicken parts next to wrapped sandwiches in deli-but also in your meatcase-100's of stores are doing this daily

that 5% loss leader , just went to at least 50% when cooked, so you can see why even when many cutters werent too keen on cooking-they tried it and are now cooking everyday and has increased dept margins.


if you cook meatloaf-slice and put in trays with shredded white/yellow cheese over slices- adds to eye appeal-also, you can cook meatloaf burgers and place in warmer (with a slice of cheese, wrapped in foil) some stores sell 20 of these a day)


A couple of shrink prevention tips

say it's very slow- you need to cut a whole bnls rib-eye, but you only need half the steaks for the case
if you have a vac sealer- you can just vac seal the other half
if no vac sealer-you can also, just price the amount of steaks you need, but instead of wrapping up the other half either in meatfilm or butcher paper (you can still get a green ring on outer edge ) cut all the steaks, wrap them and place the steaks on a tray in cooler -unpriced-price them the next day-gives them a full extra day of shelf life
the cooler will keep the product much better than the meatcase (meatcase has 3-4 defrost cycles a day)

also, say after my day off, my second cutter , overcut yesterday- very heavy on rib-eyes and strips-too much that I know in a couple days im going to reduce half of them... what can I do?
I take 8 steaks of each and marinate them-whether its teriyaki/sweet bourbon/steakhouse , whatever your fav marinade is)
this just added 7 days of shelf-life, it's adding a premium added value to my steak selection and im just going to upcharge minimally-to push them)
the whole key here is FRESH steaks- the steaks were cut yesterday still in full bloom.

just price the amount of steaks you need, but instead of wrapping up the other half either in meatfilm or butcher paper (you can still get a green ring on outer edge ) cut all the steaks, wrap them and place the steaks on a tray in cooler -unpriced-price them the next day-gives them a full extra day of shelf life
the cooler will keep the product much better than the meatcase (meatcase has 3-4 defrost cycles a day)

Mainemeatman this gave me a flash back LOL

I had a run in with a " Meat God " once  that came in and caught me with 5 racks of meat cut, wrapped but not weighed, He ask me why I had all that cut and not weighed because it was against company policy & I couldn't do that, my reply was that I was still processing it., He ask me why I was cleaning up instead of processing it, I told him I like to get cleaned up before processing it out so I could fill case up for the evening as I go. He told me, " I don't believe that bull **** " So I played my ace card, He had told me when he came in he only had a few mins he had to meet his wife at a restaurant with their two grand kids. I said I'll be through cleaning up in about 20 more mins, stay around, drink coffee and you can see me process it. he replied, Got to go, will see you first thing in the morning, better not be any racks of meat in the cooler not weigh when I get here. I'm going to tell store manager you are not to work over tonight.. I knew this " Meat god " never came into the store before 8:30 in the mornings, So I just came in the next morning early, done my thing and when he came in, he went to the cooler and said, " guess you wasn't lying to me " to this I said, Sir you hurt my feelings, I'm a company man, I do every thing by the book !!

Again came the " I don't believe that Bull **** " , As he was walking away he said, YOU OLD CUTTERS are the only ones that give me a problem about cutting ahead !! As he got to the door I said, " I think your OLD cutters have the best profit markets in your division, Don't they ?? He turn and look at me, I winked at him and told him HAVE A GREAT DAY BOSS. After this he NEVER looked in my cooler after that lol

 

 

I think ive met you leon 24 times...lol
something about being quick-witted, sarcasm and being a meatcutter..


I learned early on , never to piss off a state inspector- did well, except for one fellow- when i first met him, I was wound up about something and he was the last guy I wanted to see-he looked like a state office worker-like he never did an honest days work-he introduced himself, and stuck out his hand, so I gave him one of them vice-wrenching handshakes, he lets out an involuntary yelp-
I was lucky, he was right-handed and I just crushed his writing hand-he didnt say a word for the next half hr, and didnt write anything either

the guy came back 4 days later-wouldnt shake my hand, and gave me the most lengthy write up of stupid stuff, you've ever seen
-from that point on, he made his point