Not just A&W using beef as a marketing campaign....in the USA.
From Lubbock Online.
How would you like your steak — imported or local?
Chipotle Mexican Grill recently switched to the former, a move that frustrated supporters of an industry they say offers just as fine a product here at home.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said he was “shocked” by the restaurant’s move toward Australian beef.
In an open letter to Chipotle CEO Steve Ells, Staples points out Texas’ vast acreage of cattle herds. With more than 249,000 farms and ranches and 130.2 million acres, the Lone Star State leads the country’s cattle market.
“We have a wide variety of producers and processors,” Staples said in the letter. “It seems foolish to discount these immense, local resources when making decisions about where to source your beef.”
In a blog post on The Huffington Post, Ells described Chipotle’s beef as “responsibly raised” with no hormones or antiobiotics, and grass-fed. He said beef that meets those standards is getting more difficult to find domestically, particularly with the drought-induced shrinking cattle herd.
“We’re optimistic that our decision to serve grass-fed beef from Australia is one small step in the larger journey of restoring the practice of raising great American beef entirely on grass,” he said in the post.
Staples denies the claim that the U.S. has any shortage of beef, grass-fed or otherwise. He requests a meeting in which he and Texas cattle industry representatives brainstorm with Ells ways in which they can meet Chipotle’s needs.
The beef between Chipotle and the Department of Agriculture (forgive the pun) is not the burrito chain's first time to garner controversy in Texas.
About a month ago, Chipotle caught headlines for asking their customers no longer bring guns into their restaurants.
That request was largely in response to a group of advocates who brought assault rifles into one of their restaurants as a show of their Second Amendment rights. The open display made customers uncomfortable, restaurant representatives said.
Staples’ letter to Chipotle is available here: http://www.texasagriculture.gov/NewsEvents/NewsEventsDetails/tabid/76/Article/2197/Commissioner-Staples-Urges-Chipotle-CEO-to-Work-With-Texas-Beef-Industry-to-Del.aspx
From Lubbock Online.
How would you like your steak — imported or local?
Chipotle Mexican Grill recently switched to the former, a move that frustrated supporters of an industry they say offers just as fine a product here at home.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said he was “shocked” by the restaurant’s move toward Australian beef.
In an open letter to Chipotle CEO Steve Ells, Staples points out Texas’ vast acreage of cattle herds. With more than 249,000 farms and ranches and 130.2 million acres, the Lone Star State leads the country’s cattle market.
“We have a wide variety of producers and processors,” Staples said in the letter. “It seems foolish to discount these immense, local resources when making decisions about where to source your beef.”
In a blog post on The Huffington Post, Ells described Chipotle’s beef as “responsibly raised” with no hormones or antiobiotics, and grass-fed. He said beef that meets those standards is getting more difficult to find domestically, particularly with the drought-induced shrinking cattle herd.
“We’re optimistic that our decision to serve grass-fed beef from Australia is one small step in the larger journey of restoring the practice of raising great American beef entirely on grass,” he said in the post.
Staples denies the claim that the U.S. has any shortage of beef, grass-fed or otherwise. He requests a meeting in which he and Texas cattle industry representatives brainstorm with Ells ways in which they can meet Chipotle’s needs.
The beef between Chipotle and the Department of Agriculture (forgive the pun) is not the burrito chain's first time to garner controversy in Texas.
About a month ago, Chipotle caught headlines for asking their customers no longer bring guns into their restaurants.
That request was largely in response to a group of advocates who brought assault rifles into one of their restaurants as a show of their Second Amendment rights. The open display made customers uncomfortable, restaurant representatives said.
Staples’ letter to Chipotle is available here: http://www.texasagriculture.gov/NewsEvents/NewsEventsDetails/tabid/76/Article/2197/Commissioner-Staples-Urges-Chipotle-CEO-to-Work-With-Texas-Beef-Industry-to-Del.aspx