Nearly nine decades of Chicago-based consumer outreach for meat will come to an end Dec. 31 as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) allows the lease on its Culinary Center at 444 North Michigan Avenue to expire. The NCBA will launch a Center for Excellence for Beef in Denver next year.

The origins of the Culinary Center go back to the National Live Stock and Meat Board Test Kitchens. The Meat Board was established in Chicago in 1922 as a cooperative venture of meat producers and packers to help restore consumer confidence in meat, which had been taking a beating for decades. The Meat Board, in fact, established the first checkoff program in American agriculture that year, charging 5¢ per carload for cattle, hogs and sheep at collection points for use in the research and promotion of meat. Packers were asked to contribute the same amount. A total of $70,000 was raised the first year .

From the beginning, many substantial successes were achieved. For instance, checkoff-funded research in the 1930s led to the discovery that eating liver could be a significant help in fighting anemia. That research earned the Nobel Prize for Dr. G. H. Whipple and increased the price of what had previously been considered a meat by-product.

At first, the Meat Board made little differentiation among the red meats, preferring to bundle promotions of beef, pork and lamb into single efforts. Because many farmers in the early half of the 20th century had interests in all of them, there was little need for specialization.

As the meat industry became more segregated, however, meat promotion did the same. In 1963, three separate councils were created at the Meat Board: the Beef Industry Council, the Pork Industry Committee (later to be called the Pork Industry Group) and the Lamb Committee. These entities conducted programs funded specifically by producers and packers of those species.

Funding deficiencies hit all three species, and in the 1970s, the industries started exploring ways of expanding programs by establishing mandatory checkoff programs. After producers voted those programs into existence in the 1980s, the Meat Board’s days became numbered.

City of meat
In 1922, Chicago was the logical location for this kind of organization. The Union Stockyards were in their heyday, drawing livestock from all over the country for processing. Not only did major packers have headquarters there, but major meat organizations, including the American Meat Institute, resided there as well. Centrally located and a major transportation hub with a huge consumer base, Chicago made sense as the Meat Board home.

“The beef checkoff is in the food marketing business,” says Mark Thomas, who worked for the Meat Board and NCBA for more than 32 years. “We found value in being in a food city – one of only four or five in the United States.”

John Huston agrees, saying the city was similar to Minneapolis in its Midwest food roots. “Being in Chicago created some synergies with other food organizations and companies,” says Huston, who was Meat Board president from 1980 to 1996, when it merged with the National Cattlemen’s Association (NCA) to form the NCBA. “For that reason, it had a lot of appeal.”

Thomas says there were other advantages to having the promotions in Chicago. For one thing, the major advertising and public relations agencies that serviced the organization were there. Staff from Leo Burnett, for instance, could easily go over to the Meat Board/NCBA offices and orient themselves to the “intricacies of beef.” In addition, major media outlets were prevalent in the city.

The National Restaurant Association held its annual convention and show in Chicago, as did the American Meat Institute. The National Association of Meat Processors held meetings and shows there, too. Meetings could be held with participants of those events, who could drop by the Meat Board offices for official or unofficial visits. It was also easy for Meat Board staff to participate in Chicago conventions.

Being in the Central Time Zone helped, too; it was a one day trip to or from anywhere. A Chicago site made sense.

Moving north
Originally, there were three Meat Board offices in Chicago. The first was located at 407 South Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago. In the 1950s, the Board moved its facilities to 36 South Wabash, in the heart of the Loop. Located on the 7th floor of the Carson Pirie Scott Department Store building, with the Men’s Grill Restaurant directly above it, the offices were small and less than ideal.

“The offices were small, but we made the most of it,” says Ken Johnson, who was hired as the Meat Board director of meat merchandising in 1972.

In 1976, then Meat Board president David Stroud helped engineer a move to larger offices at 444 North Michigan Avenue, just north of the Chicago River and the Wrigley Building. It was his intention to focus more on issues and science than on meat demonstrations, which had been a key feature of Meat Board outreach for decades. The move wasn’t universally supported.

“There was a lot of misunderstanding in the country about our having a ‘high-priced office’ [at 444 N. Michigan],” Thomas says. “But it was actually very cost effective and functional, and it represented the livestock and meat industry in a very professional way.”

The office had its own library and librarian. And the test kitchens built there would become the “crown jewel of the organization,” Thomas says, providing tremendous support for various promotion and education programs. The triple-tested recipes being developed in these kitchens were highly respected by food editors and others. “Our test kitchens were second to none,” Thomas says.

“The test kitchens were always very important in developing the consumer message,” Huston says. “And all consumer literature was based on the work of the home economist staff. It was very key to our consumer services.”

Beyond that, though, the Meat Board became the source for meat selection, preparation, storage and serving information, Johnson says. Throughout the industry and throughout the country, people looked to the Meat Board as the experts when it came to how to handle the product.

Having the offices on North Michigan Avenue had certain perks. The Chicago Tribune had its offices right across the street, and the Sun-Times newspaper was around the corner. WGN television and radio studios were nearby, and for years, the Meat Board had a representative on Orion Samuelson’s WGN television program every week, addressing the country’s agriculture community. A major hotel with good meeting facilities was across the street from the North Michigan Avenue office, which helped save money.

Powered by people
It was the people of the Meat Board – the directors and the staff – who made it work, Johnson says. “People who worked for the Meat Board were tops in their field,” he says. “When you worked for the Meat Board, people respected what you did.”

Johnson worked for the Meat Board/NCBA full time for 26 years, and did significant consulting for another five. He was on the ground floor of Uniform Retail Meat Identity Standards (URMIS) in the 1970s and ‘80s, which standardized meat cut names and provided the foundation that eventually enabled uniform product codes (UPCs) on meat packaging. He also helped the industry develop tools that gave retailers a better handle on decision making in their departments. These tools, Johnson notes, are still in use today.

It was an honor to work for the organization, Johnson says. “I consider myself very lucky to have worked for the Meat Board for as long as I did. It provided growth, both personally and professionally.”

To the future
Times change, of course, and the industry is changing with them. The key decision that effectively ended the Chicago Meat Board era was made 13 years ago when the Board merged with NCA to become NCBA, headquartered in Denver. “This is just a part of that whole process,” notes Huston. “Certainly there are some emotions around it. But you have to look at it from the perspective of that consolidation.”

Huston says the merger was intended to give a greater force to the beef industry, delivering programming with more efficiency and effectiveness. For a while, it was less expensive to leave the Culinary Center in Chicago than to move it, but now the Center is aging and it’s at the end of its lease. Time to re-evaluate.

After a broad-based committee of producers, state beef council staff and culinary experts researched options, NCBA senior management determined the move to Denver made the best business sense. They presented the decision to NCBA officers, who accepted the recommendations unanimously. The organization’s executive committee also voted to support the recommendation.

Just because an ending has come for that chapter of the beef industry’s history doesn’t mean the industry should ever forget what the Meat Board was all about, Huston says. “I just hope that as we make the transition we don’t lose the focus on presenting the product to consumers in the best possible light,” he says.

To that end, NCBA has that pledged culinary services will become one of the foundation programs in its Center of Excellence for Beef in Denver. It will “enable NCBA to not only enhance, but also leverage programs such as culinary services, beef innovations, producer education, market research and product enhancement within NCBA and with its external partners,” according to the organization’s news release.

Lead Chicago staff Dave Zino and Deb Baughman, with more than 30 years combined culinary experience, will remain with the organization and continue to serve state beef councils and beef checkoff-funded programs in the Center. NCBA’s Ellen Gibson will lead the expanded Center with a team of beef research, culinary, producer and marketing experts.