Chuckwagon Cafe Media
Restaurateur's search for quality starts value chain
When Terry Myhre signed up for a course to find out more about the beef he was buying, he had no idea it would take him to leading a value chain. That's a supply chain that gives all the participants a share of the extra value that comes from sharing information among suppliers and buyers.
Myhre owns the Chuckwagon Cafe in Turner Valley, southwest of Calgary. It seems a typical small town diner, serving breakfast and lunch from 8 am to 2:30 pm every day. But, at the Chuckwagon, everything, from pancakes and hash browns to gravy, is made from scratch and it includes feeding the beef animals they serve. Buying and supplying his served beef this way helps Myhre serve what are considered excellent meals.
In the past Myhre was not always happy with the quality of the beef he was buying. He could order AAA beef, but he couldn't specify the size of the cut or predict the quality. Curious about the beef he was buying, where it came from and what affected quality, Myhre signed up for Olds College's Beef School. Once he'd seen the impact of a particular breed, feeding and aging had on beef, he wanted more control over the beef he served in his restaurant. He particularly wanted tender beef - the first priority for consumers. Marbling, he says, mainly affects juiciness and taste with only a small impact on tenderness. He also wanted meat from smaller carcasses.
"A steak needs to be an inch thick to cook properly," he says. "I have an 8 ounce New York steak on the menu, but sometimes that cut was too big to cut - either it's more than 8 ounces or it's only 3/4 inch thick. No-one can cook a thin steak properly and the customer is disappointed."
Fred Taylor of the Beef Grading Agency suggested Wendy and Udo Adam of Okotoks as a source of tender beef and small carcasses. Adams breed Murray Grey cattle and finish some for direct sales. The breed finishes at lighter weights than continental crosses, so cuts are smaller, more in line with the appetites of modern consumers. Murray Greys have won or placed second in most recent Calgary Stampede Carcass Competitions.
Adams agreed to background steers and sell them to Myhre at around 600 to 700 lbs. He's built a small feedlot at his acreage south of Turner Valley. His needs have increased rapidly, so Adams have worked with other Murray-Grey breeders to provide calves for them to background for Myhre with minimal variation in carcasses.
Not every animal fits Myhre's specs. Ideally, he wants calves immunized early, creep-fed and soft weaned at five or six months. He doesn't want an animal that has ever been sick or been implanted.
He buys cattle from the Adams in small groups as they're ready and feeds them for about 150 days.
"I really enjoy feeding the cattle," he says. "I can keep track of how they're doing. It's only a few more chores."
He's enjoying his feeder cattle so much, he's bought some Murray Grey cows for fall calving to balance other producers' winter and spring calves. He'll be assured of a year-round supply of fresh, high quality beef for the restaurant.
Myhre works with a provincially inspected plant in High River and carcasses are dry aged and cut into primals - the major cuts. Myhre cuts the beef into portions himself. It's beef as good as he hoped.
"I'm getting the quality and size of cuts I want," he says. "Our customers are delighted. Professional cowboys and entertainers who've eaten at some of the fanciest steakhouses all over North America tell me this is the best steak they've ever eaten. And, our beef sales have at least doubled."
"I did have to learn to cook all over again, though. I had to figure out how to use the whole carcass."
The Chuckwagon menu now includes fajitas and chicken-fried steak to use lower value cuts. Trim goes into the restaurant's trademark beef-barley soup and homemade gravy. Myhre uses a specials board to showcase daily features.
One dish Myhre developed has become an outstanding success, beef tenderloin eggs benedict. He can serve it one Sunday every three weeks.
"It's all gone by 10:30," he says. "A tenderloin only goes so far. Our reputation for beef and our other food has increased our customer numbers.
"I'm getting exactly the beef I want and the customers are just blown away by the beef dishes. Increased beef sales mean a better contribution to our margins. The waitresses get better tips. The Murray-Grey people have a place to promote their breed. Everybody is winning."
The Murray-Grey breeders supplying cattle are happy with all the information they get. Myhre shares all the costs and returns from every animal.
"As breeders, we go to the expense of identifying every animal with a tag that can be linked to lots of carcass quality, but the big packers never share that with us," says Wendy Adam. "They may share it with feeders, but the only benefit I see is verification an animal is under 21 months."
"Terry is totally open with his numbers. He lays out his feeding costs, carcass information, weights of various cuts and his returns. We can use that information to make our breeding decisions and to promote our cattle. There's no other way we could collect this information."
Suzan Moore and Ed Gilmet who supply calves to Adams, agree. Like Adams, Gilmet and Moore are testing their animals for tenderness, marbling, ribeye size, and other genetic markers. Myhre's information helps verify the DNA test scores with what is being served on the plate.
"We need cold hard facts," says Moore. "Our cattle have to make money. People will pay for the superior beef our cattle can produce, but we have to be able to identify quality so we can market it. Ultrasound hasn't worked as well as we hoped in predicting carcass traits and it cannot predict tenderness."
"I just want to produce good beef," says Udo Adam. "It's great to hook up with someone who feels the same way. That's more important than the dollars."
"When I started this program, I figured it would work," says Myhre. "I'd no idea it could be this good. We're serving 350 or 400 people a day and I'm proud of the meals we're serving."
The beef producers lament that although they are very happy with their arrangement with Myhre, it highlights the problems in the beef industry. Any restaurant could do this, says Myhre, if they just took the trouble to learn to cook all the cuts in the carcass. He's found the Beef Information Centre has done a great job of educating the restaurant trade, but most home cooks still use only one method of cooking beef and it doesn't work for all cuts.
Myhre is doing his part to change that. He's recently increased his slaughter rate and to slightly more beef than he can use. He'll have some extra roasts his customers can cook at home. He gives them precise instructions and his cell phone number along with the meat.
Driving Directions to the Chuckwagon Cafe
Chuckwagon Cafe & Cattle Co
105 Sunset Blvd,
Turner Valley, AB,
Canada
Telephone: 403-933-0003
Hours
Mon - Fri: 8am - 2:30pm
Sat - Sun: 8am - 3:30pm
