Costco in Mexico is looking to expand sales of U.S. beef and pork to foodservice clientele. To help that effort, the U.S. Meat Export Federation, the Beef Checkoff Program and the National Pork Board, trained Costco sales staff on the needs of restaurant and resort chefs.
U.S. pork exports to Mexico are reaching new heights in 2024. Through October, exports totaled nearly 950,000 metric tons. That’s up 6 percent from last year’s record pace, valued at $2.1 billion (up 11 percent). Beef exports increased 13 percent to 193,000 metric tons. Value climbed 15 percent to $1.12 billion.
In Mexico, Costco is a leading distributor of U.S. beef and pork cuts – not just to everyday shoppers, but also to businesses. USMEF Corporate Chef German Navarrete says the seminars were tailored to each Costco location based on the region’s target audience.
“Costco is a very important partner for USMEF because they only carry U.S. beef and pork. So we carried out different seminars because nowadays… they’re approaching restaurants and hotels,” Navarrete explains. “We carried out some seminars in order to train their sales force so that they know… how can it apply to restaurants and hotels and all of the different dishes that they can produce with all these different cuts that they have in their portfolio.”
The program also detailed restaurant preparation methods and kitchen equipment.
“Number one is what kind of equipment they have, what the target market is, and how they’re going to cook the product based on these three premises? Then we go into the recommendation of what product they should be using,” says Navarrete. “So by training sales personnel as to the best cooking methods for each piece, they can approach the customers in this regard.”
