Aberdeen-Angus burger boost for Irish producers
Selected cuts of certified Aberdeen-Angus beef for the burger are sourced from meat processors in Britain and Ireland.
The Angus Burger launch was backed by a €7.5m TV advertising and marketing campaign, which has exposed the Aberdeen-Angus brand to a new younger generation within Burger King’s target customer range of 20 to 25 year olds. The product has been praised by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
Exit surveys of customers leaving Burger King restaurants indicate a very good response. In Britain the Angus Burger sells for a premium of 50p over Burger King’s Whopper burger. Burger King says the focus on premium products such as the Angus Burger has helped drive a 3.4% rise in worldwide sales, reaching a record €1.6 billion.
Burger King’s divisional vice-president for North-west Europe, Giorgio Minardi, says the company will work closely with the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society to ensure the availability of product to meet projected increasing demand.
* Irish Aberdeen-Angus breeders have achieved an export breakthrough with the export of 50 pedigree and commercial Aberdeen-Angus cattle to Italy.
The consignment comprised 33 pedigree cattle from four herds and 17 commercial cattle for slaughter and marketing as certified Aberdeen-Angus beef to leading restaurants in south-east Italy.
“We are hopeful the buyer will return in the autumn to make further purchases,” said Jim Mulvey, who supplied a bull and 19 heifers from his Ballinwing herd at Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim. Others involved in the shipment were Leo McEnroe, Virginia, Co Cavan; John McEnroe, Oldcastle, Co Meath, and Norman Little’s Cavetown herd.
