FSR August 2023

CHEFS & INGREDIENTS NOW SERVING

From Pasture to Plate BY SAM DANLEY Grass-fed beef is taking center stage in steakhouse menus.

GIBSONS RESTAURANT GROUP WANTED TO OFFER A MORE DIVERSE SELECTION OF STEAKS BEYOND THE GRAIN-FED DOMESTIC PRIME THE COMPANY WAS KNOWN FOR.

MARCIN CYMMER

THERE’S AN EVER-CHANGING land scape of beef available at Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse, where head chef Danny McCallum prints the menu daily. “I like to have the menu read like a wine list,” he says. “Do you prefer California Cab or Bordeaux? Angus from Kansas or from Scotland? It’s all about the terroir in these cases.” Guests at the high-end Toronto res taurant can also choose from a variety of grass-fed steaks, including domestic beef sourced from local farms in Canada as

well as imported beef sourced from dif ferent regions around the world. McCal lum notes he’s seen a significant uptick in demand for those grass-fed cuts, driven in large part by their health and sustainability halos. Gibsons Restaurant Group has seen consistent growth in consumers crav ing grass-fed beef, too. Corporate exec utive chef Daniel Huebschmann cites The Boathouse as one example. Located in Orlando’s Disney World resort, the upscale steak and seafood concept

stands as one of the nation’s highest grossing restaurants. It was moving a fair amount of 12-ounce grass-fed rib eye steaks when it launched the prod uct in the months leading up to COVID 19, and Huebschmann says the item has seen “exponential growth” coming out of the pandemic. “If I had to compare January 2020 to January 2022, I’d say we were up around 40 percent,” he says. “This spring we saw our second-best month on that item, and it’s been available for about four years.”

AUGUST 2023

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