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Coalcracker


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Prepackaged Fresh Beef: Its Only a Matter of Time
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There is an old saying that there is nothing wrong with following a good-leader, but following a follower can be disaster". If Kroger goes to all pre-packaged meat in their fresh meat cases will the industry follow? A better question is can meat cutter unions prevent this? I doubt it!

 One of the issues with Kroger as well as other national chains is that most of their meat cutters are veteran cutters that are probably topped out in their salary ranges. If national chains adopted Kroger's lead and begin to  slowly convert using a  pilot store program approach to total pre-packaged meat, they will be betting on  veteran meat cutters to throw-in-the frock and retire? If this approach doesn't work then financially healthy national chains may do what the military has begun to do currently. Offer golden parachutes to get rid of the top earners.

Kroger, believe it or not is still smarting from what Walmart has achieved relative to meat departments. Whether Walmart's meat departments are doing good or not what they have accomplished  is that they  change the minds of many shoppers across the land that there is nothing wrong with buying prepackage fresh cut meat.

Lately I have visited both Sam's Club and Costco and both of these giants are slowly filling their display cases with pre-packaged fresh meat and fresh seafood. Their displays of fresh beef and pork are slowly shrinking. There is enough cut meat to make shoppers believe that everything is cut and packaged in the store. A "slight of hand trick" that Kroger has adopted in their conventional stores. And it works!.

I am not trying to be an alarmist concerning the future of meat cutters, I am only trying to convey my realistic thoughts to my fellow meat cutters. You may be thinking at the moment that you are safe because your stores are doing so well with in-store meat cutting. Unfortunately prepackage fresh meat may be forced down the throats of your company by the pressure put on them by the  national chains that have totally converted. Why? Because the money saved on labor and equipment will be redirected in ways that will make the national chains even more competitive and gain more market share. Thus forcing regional chains to follow suit.

Pre-packaged meat time line: First to go was smoked and cooked meat, second to go was fresh poultry, third to go was fresh pork, then followed by lamb and veal. Beef is one quarter of the way possibly more.

Yesterday in a Kroger store I held in one hand a cryovac piece boneless chuck roast, and the other a cryovac  package of two sirloin tip steaks. As I placed the chuck roast back into the meat case a shopper picked it up and put it in her shopping cart. Price $6.95 per pound. Foodlion up the road has boneless chuck advertised for $3.99 per pound. I stopped that shopper and asked her why she didn't buy her roast at Foodlion.  She said that she tried but  there was only one meat cutter on duty and he was very, very busy and that there was one chuck roast in the case and  it was very fatty.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A ROCKET-SCIENTIST TO FIGUER OUT THAT IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME"

 

 

 

 

  

 



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Phil ( coalcracker ) Verduce

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apcowboy


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Kroger has a lot of issues with their meat depts.

http://www.chowhound.com/post/problems-kroger-meat-department-887200

http://www.digitaljournal.com/biz/business/op-ed-kroger-being-sued-for-lying-about-their-simple-truth-chicken/article/370682

https://www.paleohacks.com/grass-fed/thoughts-on-kroger-grass-fed-beef-31132

Kroger Expands Beef Recall To 20 States - CBS News

 

Over 1 million pounds of ground beef recalled

If you really want to know the issues Kroger has read what their employees have to say about them http://krogerforum.activeboard.com/p/recent/ 

 

you will notice that they sign by Anonymous, they to afraid to sign their real name

 

Besides Kroger doesn't set the standard for our industry, the customers do, Wal Mart meat dept thought they could make people buy what they wanted, look where that got them.  At both Wal Marts here in Dalton they start reducing their meat on the second day and still can't get rid of it.

Of two Kroger here I never go into but one, I been knowing that meat man for years

 

 

 



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Leon Wildberger

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apcowboy


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I do love this Kroger tidbit  lol

They have a sign at the meat department that says "Any cut of meat you want from 9 to 9 daily." They never have anyone there except when they want. We have sent e-mails to corp office and still no action. Last night at 5:30 there was no one to cut some chops. So my husband was very upset and let them know it. So today he goes to get buns and they tell him to leave or they will call the cops.

The above came from here, check them out and see how the once great Kroger of the 70's & 80's has bomb

 

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/supermarkets/kroger.html?page=2



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Leon Wildberger

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Coalcracker


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Leon listed these old links about Kroger's problems which is a strong indication to me why Kroger is looking to gradually convert to pre packaged beef. One of the main reasons is the large ground beef recall they had  eight years ago. They just don't want total liability put on them. They want to be able to put the blame on the manufactures.  

http://www.chowhound.com/post/problems-kroger-meat-department-887200 Jan 21, 2013

 https://www.paleohacks.com/grass-fed/thoughts-on-kroger-grass-fed-beef-31132 April 10, 2014 

      Kroger Expands Beef Recall To 20 States - CBS News--July 2, 2008,

                

 



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Phil ( coalcracker ) Verduce

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Ebling


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So glad I burned out of there. Once they rammed their Key Retailing program down our throats I knew the writing was on the wall. Count the cooler and case three times per day, wait on a service case, scan 'outs' in your deli case, etc... It just led to fudging paperwork and hoping that a specialist (traveling supervisor) didn't stroll in and catch you red-handed. It was no way to live.

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kbraker510


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There is a lot to say about this thread, but I should shut my mouth. The only thing i can offer is that in my area the Walmart meats are more expensive than Krogers...

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Andrew


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maybe a few of us Kroger guys should make a anonymous profile and tell the dirty little secrets, I know I could tell a few



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Ebling


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Kroger (Dillons in my case) wasn't so bad when I started. They were all about a good-looking, fresh meat case and seemed invested in my apprenticeship as guys and gals like myself were the way to maintain their standards. The beginning of the end was corporate setting virtually unattainable numbers/goals for people to earn their yearly bonus. Soon, they did away with the bonuses altogether. When I was hired they already had a two-tiered pay scale. Old hires and new hires they called it. Old hires earned time and a half on Sunday whereas a new hire only got an extra dollar per hour. Later on came the third pay tier. I have no idea what they called it...should've been 'not for long hire'. Those poor folks got nothing extra. Consequently it became harder and harder to staff the departments (not just meat) with quality help. Of course none of this is news to anyone here. Especially those of you working in a big chain shop. The pre-cut meat is still pretty limited for my old company at this point (most ground beef, but only some pork and lamb).

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MooseCutter


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Safeways here in Canada made the switch about 12 or so years ago. They haven't recovered since. They used to be some of our biggest meat sales, reduced to maybe half of their previsions sales. It hurt them hard. Before my current employer bought A&P Canada, we were going the way of pre-pack. Our merchandiser told us at one point that A&P meat counter would be 75% pre-pack. They started us on a no trim policy and started sending in pre-pack grounds. The grounds stop selling and customers started leaving, so A&P switched back. It took a while for our customer base to trust we ground our own minces. With our current employer they lead their ads with meat. Everybody sells groceries now. The company I work for focus's on the service counters to draw customers. That being said I hear coalcrackes warning, because I seen how A&P was doing it. They were being to aggressive. That was why it wasn't working. I also seen how fast they can switch. I once asked the upper brass how long if they decide to go pre-pack will it take to switch over. He told me "by the next truck load".

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Coalcracker


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YMooseCutter wrote:

Safeways here in Canada made the switch about 12 or so years ago. They haven't recovered since. They used to be some of our biggest meat sales, reduced to maybe half of their previsions sales. It hurt them hard. Before my current employer bought A&P Canada, we were going the way of pre-pack. Our merchandiser told us at one point that A&P meat counter would be 75% pre-pack. They started us on a no trim policy and started sending in pre-pack grounds. The grounds stop selling and customers started leaving, so A&P switched back. It took a while for our customer base to trust we ground our own minces. With our current employer they lead their ads with meat. Everybody sells groceries now. The company I work for focus's on the service counters to draw customers. That being said I hear coalcrackes warning, because I seen how A&P was doing it. They were being to aggressive. That was why it wasn't working. I also seen how fast they can switch. I once asked the upper brass how long if they decide to go pre-pack will it take to switch over. He told me "by the next truck load".

Hi Mossecutter and thanks for sharing. You are correct in your assessment of A & P.  When companies begin a fast down turn they do what I call a knee-jerk reaction to slow the slide but only make things worse. Personally I would not like to see more innovation in the beef sector  but the handwriting is on the wall. Beef is the last commodity to be totally innovated but the evolution has already begun. All you have to do is visit several of the leading chain stores and you will see it for your self. In the form of ground beef chubs; pre- pack fresh beef patties; pre-packed flat irons and pre-packed fresh beef brisket flats; pre-pack chuck mock tenders wrapped in bacon; Utility grade rib eyes and strips. I am sure you can name a few more items. Of course Kroger one of the leading supermarkets in America has pre-packed beef roast and other pre-packed beef items.

Then you have Walmart and you can love them or hate them but they successfully introduced a pre-packed total meat department. For Walmart now there is no turning back. They either stay with it or get out of the meat business altogether. Personally, I don't think that will happen.

Lets look at all of this from the eyes of two men that I knew and met personally Currier Holman and Andy Anderson. Two men that would not accept the status- quo relative to the beef industry. These business men have been instilled with our American tradition "can-do". Lets take a few minutes and look at innovation through their accomplishments.

1) They asked why do we ship cattle from mid-western feedlots to Chicago to have them slaughtered? Why not slaughter the cattle here and ship only the beef and save money on shipping cost. Plus we can render right here and process our hides as well.

2) After that accomplishment they looked at the carcass beef and said. Why should we ship all that fat and bone out across the country? We can process right here and save even more on shipping cost plus make even more money on rendering because the rendering material will be fresher and the finish product more saleable.

3) But wait a minute we don't have that know how! So they visited a Ford auto plant and saw how cars were built on a assembly line. The light bulbs went on. We will build dis-assembly plants to take carcasses apart. Thus boxed beef was born.

4) Now they had to sell this new concept. So these business men said there is only one person that can sell boxed beef to a rail beef user and that is a former rail beef user. Thus guys like me were hired. Our jobs were to convert the rail beef users to boxed beef. There were only 30 of us Nationally and we did it.

Of course Holman and Anderson are gone but  the innovations never stopped. From bone in boxed beef to sub-primal, and now from sub primal to individual muscles. The final innovation is yet to come but it is on its way. And when you look at the larger picture of things, you will see innovation in just about everything we as food consumers need and want.

I will leave you with this. Before 1969 there was no internet; it is 47 years later and this innovation is astonishing!

 

 



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Phil ( coalcracker ) Verduce

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newbernbears


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I agree it is a matter of time. Walmart in my opinion is losing money on the case ready beef & pork, but they have stuck with the program a long time, just too cheap to hire cutters, rather throw meat in the garbage can by the ton. Our commissary has mostly prepackaged boneless pork, we cut beef and bone in pork, occasionally boneless pork.

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Allen Scott
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One more company is looking to get rid of thier cutter s in Ct / Mass area. Walmart did a bold move 16 years or so. I honestly think they had it in the works for a long time coming, it just took an isolated incident to get things pushed forward. My company is gearing up to do the same within 5 years. The technology is there and the marketing/media has scared and brainwashed a generation...

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