KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The meat case at an Ohio supermarket is stocked with 21-oz. case-ready trays of Schweid & Sons burgers made from a premium blend of Certified Angus Beef, chuck and brisket. The four burgers in each package each weigh just over 5 oz. and retail for $8.99. Pricey? Maybe, but sales of the burgers are brisk.
More consumers are willing to pay a premium for “blended” burgers, especially after discovering they don’t contain cheap meat cuts and offer outstanding taste.
Jamie Schweid, who with his father and brother own and operate Carlstadt, NJ-based Schweid & Sons, a large ground beef purveyor that sells to thousands of restaurants and hundreds of supermarkets, attributes the increased popularity of blended burgers to the rise of the better burger category.
“It may sound simplistic, but it always starts with the very best cuts of beef,” Schweid says of building the better burger.
Lawrence Aylward, editor of MEAT+POULTRY, caught up with Schweid recently to discuss the art of ground beef blending and what the future holds for high-end hamburgers.
