Owner of B &E Meats in Crookston, Brent Epema, attended the annual Minnesota Association of Meat Processors meeting and dish competition last week in St. Cloud. By the time it was over, B & E Meats had brought some hardware back to Crookston.
Every processing plant (that is a member of the association) attended this event and competed. The event included a product competition and supplier show in which 496 total products were presented and sampled by judges. “There were 28 plants that competed,” said Epema, “There were 31 total categories so that we could bring 31 different items, all different varieties. There are 40 judges who come from everywhere. They come from Wisconsin, Illinois, South Dakota, and a few from Iowa State College.”
SUPPLIER SHOW RESULTS
B &E took first place in the Prepared Food Item category, which featured a Crookston fan favorite: chicken fajita and rice bowl. They took second place in the Smoked Poultry category, where they served smoked chicken. Wrapping up the supplier show competition, B & E took third place in the Non-Fermented Summer Sausage category, where they served their popular “Damn Good Summer Sausage” product.
B & E MEATS AWARDED RETAIL BEEF BACKER AWARD
For the first time in company history, B &E Meats was awarded the prestigious Retail Beef Backer Award from the Minnesota Beef Council. Only one meat processing plant in the state of Minnesota is awarded this honor each year.
“For us, our store and employees, it’s a very big prestigious honor,” said Epema, “What this means is that we are doing innovative and all of the advertising and education, giving back to our community, it’s all judged on that criteria. This can go out to any plant in the state of Minnesota, from big to small. It could be Costco, down to the small guys like myself. So we now represent all of the beef farmers from Minnesota right now.”
Epema also commented that this award speaks volumes for the quality of products that B & E Meats provides customers and his employees’ passion for innovation and constantly trying new recipes and meat mixtures.
B&E has recently shown creativity and innovation by recreating an old burger blend from Crookston Cold Storage. “During Christmas time, they cut up a bunch of cows for all of your steaks and fine cuts,” said Epema, “They didn’t know what to do with what was left, so they got together and started mixing things up. I found the old recipe, so I put it back together and brought it back. It’s phenomenal. It’s a great flavor.”
Epema explained that keeping the creative juices flowing and creating new and innovative products could keep B & E Meats in the running for these awards for years to come. “By doing these things and staying innovative, and changing different things,” said Epema, “Hopefully, we can set the bar as high as we did this year. We’ll keep moving forward and promote our product in the small plant.”
