For its 50th birthday, Belmont Meats got a new market

David Spragge and Paul Roach

By Bill Tremblay

NORTH YORK, Ont. — Belmont Meats celebrated its 50th anniversary by expanding its product line into the United States.

This spring, the North York-based meat processor officially launched in the United States, offering both retail and foodservice products.

“We’re celebrating our past, but also recognizing the future is very different,” said Paul Roach, president and chief executive officer of Belmont Meats.

David Spragge, vice-president of sales and marketing for Belmont, said taking their product south demonstrates a Canadian producer is able to compete in the American market.

“Our burgers can match up against any U.S. burger supplier in quality,” said Spragge. “We’re winning the taste test and we’re listening to the consumer.”

The Walderman Family opened Belmont Meats in 1966. In its early years, the business primarily served as a foodservice provider. Summer Street Capital Partners purchased the company eight years ago.

“Over the years, as the next generations came in, it became more of a burger manufacturer and steak portion processor,” Roach said. “That just evolved over time.”

Today, Belmont Meats sells more than 40 million pounds of hamburgers to numerous chain restaurants, including Burger King, Dairy Queen and Hero Certified Burgers.

Before heading into the United States market, Belmont studied emerging trends in the burger business. Spragge explained Americans are buying higher-end cuts of meat — such as prime rib, brisket and short rib — for their burgers.

“The consumer seems to be willing to pay, on both the retail and foodservice side, a premium for a better burger. They study the ingredient deck,” Spragge said. “We’re turning into a gourmet supplier of higher-end quality burgers, that’s what consumers are demanding.”

He added trends in the United States, which also include beef that is grass-fed, organic, antibiotic-free and with no hormones added, are headed north.

“People want better quality meat blocks. They want to know what meat is in the product,” he said.  

To stay on top of trends, Belmont hired Curtis Dool, a Red Seal-certified chef, to lead the company’s test kitchen.

“It’s where we get a lot of creativity and exchange of ideas of what’s happening in the market,” Roach said.

“We invest heavily in our R&D facilities,” Spragge added.

One of the company’s recent advancements is a home-style burger, a frozen patty that avoids the traditional hockey puck shape.

“It makes it look like a homemade burger. It’s not like a formed round burger,” Spragge said.

Now, the company is working towards creating a patty that requires less cooking time.

“Foodservice is really about reducing the cooking time,” Roach said. “If we can get more air into the patty, so the heat gets to the burger quicker, you can reduce that cooking time.”

Innovation in the burger business is a focus of Belmont’s strategy as they move forward.  

“We’re searching the world for the next new burger technology,” Spragge said.

So what makes a great burger?

“It’s a very personal answer,” Roach said. “We believe it’s the nature of the ingredients itself.”

Comments

1 comments

David

Congratulations on this exciting venture into the U.S. market...and of course, on Belmont's 50th anniversary.