Center Plate

A weekend in photos

We've had a full weekend of fun and crazy catering. Ed and Rod were at the Phoenix International Raceway Thursday thru Sunday grilling breakfast and lunch for our friends at 98Kupd and Budweiser. The big man, Roger, was also around for the event. He is a big NASCAR fan. Here are a few pictures of the event.

 

Brady (red apron) of "Holmberg's Morning Sickness" on 98 KUPD serves up burgers and steaks along with his special BBQ Sweet and Spicy Sauce where you'll be able to buy online here. Ed follows his lead with seasoning.

Nothing better than fresh sweet corn grilled. It was simply amazing, and a welcome surprise to the party goers.

A few pictures of the race. This is how close we were to the tracks. It took 3 washings to get the dirt and dust out of my hair. It was unusually overcast, windy, and cold for Phoenix.

 

 

   

I caught a ride with friends to the track. But, Rod and Ed camped out at Roger's RV which was parked in the area at the center of the track. Needless to say, as the cars raced around us and more than 100,000 fans cheering on the stands, it was a deafening experience.

A picture of the victory lane. I thought it would be bigger.

 

My final picture. This of our family dog Mike. No reason. He's so adorable resting on this plush dog the kids never really played with. Makes me smile.

Only 24 days left

until Thanksgiving Day. R U Ready? Our early bird Thanksgiving Turkey and Dinners order form are posted here for your convenience. There are several ways to get your order in.

1. Print the form here and fax it in to 480-924-1710

2. Email your order to  info@midwesternmeats.com write "Thanksgiving Order" on the subject line.

3. Call in your order at 480-924-5855.

In addition to fresh turkeys, we also have pumpkin pies, assorted fruit pies, bread rolls, stuffing---basically all the things you need to serve a memorable Thanksgiving dinner.

And of course, a Halloween picture. I think this one says it all.

   

And here's our cake from Midwestern Bakery.

It looks so much better IRL. Double-layered white cake with raspberry creme in the middle. Amazing and ymmy.

Get help when you need it

This last week has been crazy silly busy for Rod and I, and the gang at 4308 East Main Street. It began on Tuesday with a Midwestern Fitness cookout at Gold's Gym in Mesa; Friday, grilling brats and burgers at Mountain Pointe High School in Ahwatukee during the football game; Saturday, serving up sample chicken breast and sirloins for a promo at MaxMuscle in Scottsdale; later that evening, Ed was at another high school football game in Union Hills; Sunday, pre-game tailgate (Cardinals vs. Cowboys) catering for 25 mostly Cowboy fans nonetheless from Insight.com, and then, later, a post-game (how about dem Cards!) tailgate party for 300 or so Cardinal players, staff, family and friends. Our final cookout was yesterday at the LA Fitness location in Ahwatukee.

As Rod and I worked our little hiney off, our children who were on Fall break, spent time with Nana. I don't know what I would've done without my mother--probably have a highly paid Nanny with health benefits! As I plan for the rest of this week, I see that we have a community cookout for the Cortina HOA this Saturday, a block party on Halloween night in our neighborhood, two NASCAR catering gigs Nov. 6, 7, and 8 (one for a private party and one for a local radio station), Nov. 3 a post-game tailgate party for the Cardinals; then, soon, comes Thanksgiving, my annual cookie exchange party, Christmas, New Year's, Valentines and finally St. Patrick's Day. Goodness, my head hurts just thinking of it all.

Luckily, Rod and I learned a long time ago that to get things done around the holidays or any special event takes team work. You need to start with one long list that might turn into 3 or more lists that gets divied up to your team. One team you can count on is us. We are pros when it comes to food. Just ask me. No joke. As a fulltime working mother and wife, how else do I get my children fed on days when I get home right at dinner time. I stock my freezer with ready-to-eat food from Midwestern Meats of course! It's fresh and nutritious with no extra additives. For the upcoming Halloween block party, I'm ordering a Halloween inspired cake, baked whole chicken, and a few bakery treats for the kids goody bag. That's at least 8 items crossed off my to dos list.

I believe the only time I'm cooking anything is for my annual cookie exchange where I have to share the receipes. But, even this event is planned to help me and my friends save time and expense baking holiday cookies for gifts and Santa.

Is it expensive to cater out? Not when you think of it in this way: with each event I plan, I ask myself where am I most valuable? Is it doing the groceries AND cooking the meals? Or am I more useful helping my daughter practice math or coloring dinosaurs with my son? Or how about watching the news with my husband? The choice becomes clear. Get the pros to help with your to dos. By choosing how you want your time spent, and including it in your cost equation, you'll discover like I have that there's no savings whatsoever doing it all by yourself. Time or money.

Holidays and celebrations are things we are extremely good at because we have a team experienced in all things food. Our meat department can help you decide exactly how much turkey or prime rib you need to order to feed a party of 5 or 5000. If you love to cook, I suggest you choose the entree you are famous for and leave the rest to us. Be it bread rolls or pumpkin pies. Not only will your guests remember the great food you served, but how you did it with little time spent in the kitchen. Imagine, you will actually look fresh, not tired, in the pictures.

To begin crossing items off your party list, plan now to save time by clicking here and here for starters. Check back often as we rev up for the holidays with more menu guides and planning ideas for the upcoming season.

Story of Meatboy

Meatboy is an interesting story that has grown into a fun marketing tool that 1 little boy thinks is the greatest. 

When I started working for Midwestern 10 years ago I would always refer to the butchers as "Meatboys."  I always played sports and used nicknames all the time so I felt this was appropriate for our store.  Well, one day I got the idea to turn it around and put the word "Meatboy" on my license plate.  Well, I never imagined the comments I would get by doing this.  At least once a day I was asked what it meant or had someone wave at me because they knew I was from Midwestern Meats.  This made me start thinking of a marketing idea to have a meatboy represent our philosophies and how we manage our day to day services. 

Finally I decided to meet with a promotional professional to talk about my idea and get an opinion.  My idea was to take a little boy and make him Meatboy.  She felt that it would have to be a cartoon generated, as this would be more acceptable and more effective with customers.  I sat on it a few days, but just thought my idea was still the right one so I moved forward.  I created Meatboy with my son Kellen.   He was 3 at the time.  My wife snapped some pictures of Kellen "acting" at home and this was the beginning.  He was now officially Meatboy.  I then would take the different pictures, and come up with sayings that he (any little kid) would come up with.  There are so many fun things kids say, it was easy to create the fun pictures we have used.  I immediately had a large picture printed and put on our front window welcoming people to our store.  This picture has turned into an item all on it's own as our window painter will paint different looks on Kellen based on the season or holiday.  I think his favorite is when he looks like a bunny rabbit for Easter.  Everytime he comes to the store he can't wait to see what he looks like today. 

Anyway, it's a fun way to get our services out and it's a fun way for my little boy to be involved with my business.  He now thinks he is the "boss" and he takes alot of pride knowing he is Meatboy.  If you should ever see Kellen in the store please don't hesitate to call him Meatboy.

   

Birthdays and Cakes

For the past week my mind has been consumed with planning my children's birthday parties. The date is fast approaching and we finally nailed down a theme. The meatboy decided on the Incredible Hulk, and the princess chose a Rock Star party. The invitations for the Hulk went out today, while the Rock Star invites are still in the designing stage. Last year both kids spent their birthday holed up in the house with chicken pox so this year we are going all out. It'll be interesting how I manage two separate parties in one day. It's tough when you have your only children's birthdays in one month and within 5 days of each other. Here's a picture of them this time last year right before they were struck with chicken pox.

Nonetheless I found myself reminiscing of birthdays past--how much they've grown. Which made me think of our Bakery and how it has evolved too. When we first opened the Bakery our selections were limited to breads, donuts, and fruit pies. We didn't have a cake decorator who did anything more than the basic icing and rosebuds. At one point we were one of those bakery that ordered edible wallpaper of licensed products like the Disney princess. It was an improvement but certainly not by a mile. Today, we have Marcee and Angel--bona fide cake decorators and for the past year have done everything from bachelorette to retirement to wedding cakes. We have tons of pictures at the store or real like examples.  I will post a few of our best ones later, but for now, here's a sampling of some of our earlier works.

Now back to more birthday planning. If you're wondering what this year's birthday cakes will be  . . . Angel and I decided for the Hulk, the sheet cake will replicate blocks of stones with a toy Hulk looking as if it broke thru. The Rock Star cake is either a guitar-shaped cake or black and purple with glittered stars all over with a toy microphone. These designs have not been done in our Bakery before, but I'm confident Angel can design it. Stop by the Bakery and see what they can do for your next party. I'll post more cakes and bakery goods later.

Lin

Industry Info

Just some quick industry info that I found very interesting, and can help you understand beef pricing today.  Besides all the variables that go into any commodity there are a few which certainly effect each specific product, including beef.  Well, our product as most of you know is the best due to being corn fed.  Here some info on the cost of corn that I found very interesting.

Cost per bushel:

2004 May - $2.87   2005 May - $1.99  2006 May - $2.17   2007 May - $3.49

Now this year in May the cost was $5.28.  Wow!  It has almost doubled in 4 years.  Good for the corn farmers, tough for the cattle farmers.  This does several things to make the price of beef higher, it eliminates some farmers from raising cattle as the cost to feed is too high to operate.  When farmers quit raising cattle it leaves a shortage in the marketplace.  For the poeple who continue to raise cattle, it costs more to do so, so they need to sell the cattle at a higher price just to keep their heads above water.  All this eventually comes to the marketplace and takes prices higher for the consumer. 

Although we have been effected by this, I can assure you we have been very consistent with our beef prices.  We are confident that this will come down soon, as the expected corn crops are projected to be very good.  Our ability to eat some of our normal margin when prices increase is an advantage alot of businesses don't have.  This is simply thanks to all your support for 19 years in business.  You can be sure we will always provide you with the best quality beef in town, at the best value. 

How much beef should kids eat?

 

Good nutrition is vital in the growth and development of children, but with the rate of child obesity rising, sometimes beef gets a bad rep even though a 3 oz. serving of lean beef makes for less than 10% of the calories in a 2000 - calorie diet. Our children need all the essential nutrients from all the food groups to promote healthy bodies, healthy habits, and healthy minds. Two of these essential nutrients is zinc and iron that's found in abundance in lean beef such as a sirloin steak. Zinc and iron are important contributors to building a better brain especially in the areas of memory and reasoning. The National Cattlemans Beef Industry's (who came up with the "Beef, it's what's for Dinner" slogan) website is full of information, receipes, and ideas on how to incorporate healthy doses of lean beef into your family meals. Visit the website here.

Hey, kids aren't the only ones who need strong bodies. Let's face it, we aren't getting any younger (ahem) and if you're like me--have issues swallowing a large multivitamin--lean beef can make the difference. Take a look at this page on the NCBI website. It's good to know that eating a lean ground beef patty does more than tickle your taste buds. You're getting Protein, Zinc, B12, Selenium, and Phosophorus, Niacin, B6, Iron, and Riboflavin. Okay, so it's not everything, but it helps.

Beef, it really should be what's for dinner.

Value versus Price

As gas prices continue to eat away at our pocketbooks I feel it's extremely important to remember a simple philosophy about retail business,  The purchase price does not always reflect the value of a product.  One of our customers yesterday told me a great story that represents this simple philosophy.  He decided late Monday night he wanted to grill a steak.  He didn't have any ready so he made a quick trip to the closest grocery store by his house.  I won't name the store, but it was a Safe trip.  He bought 2 T-Bones, for $8.49/lb.  They looked good and red and he was happy with the price.  Well, to make a long story short, his exact words were, "They were tasteless and very disappointing."  I guarantee he won't be doing that again.  The price was a little less than ours, and the trip was a little shorter than to our store, but the $18 he spent was wasted.  He received zero "value" from this experience.  He would have paid $22 at Midwestern, but he would have received 100% value and satisfaction from the steaks.  Too often, especially today, we look for the lowest price and at times it is the best value.  But, most of the time when it comes to meat, you will find that our 19 years in business are due to a superior product that offers more value than any grocery store sale price or regular price ever will.  You can take your chances, or you can go with the  sure thing, Midwestern Value.