New packaging for N.Z. meat

Press, 19 November 1977, Page 23

New packaging for N.Z. meat

F r o m JOHN N. HUTCHISON in San Francisco. Innovative packaging of New Zealand lamb is being tested at San Francisco by the world’s largest supermarket firm. The frozen meat, seen here only as legs of lamb, is now being offered in several attractively wrapped cuts, from $2.39 per pound for small lamb chops to 79c per pound for shoulder roasts. The other cuts and their prices per pound are leg, $1.39: blade chops, $1.49; racks, $1.79. The test marketing, accompanied by modest, space in the giant Safe* way chain’s large newspaper advertisements, was to have been initiated last July. But it was delayed because of a warehouse strike against the company. The campaign began in September in scores of Safeway markets in the San Francisco area. The company, always reticent about sales or operations, declines to comment on the test. But a representative of the New Zealand Lamb Company. said it is “going very well.” In the introduction of

racks of lamb to retail I customers, Safeway is fol- i lowing a trend of the Cal- I ifornia restaurant trade. | The rack (six to eight un* ' divided ribs) has become a | choice item in some qual- j ity restaurants and clubs. A chain of 18 large res- i taurants called the Velvet Turtle has almost doubled I its buy of racks since last ; year, and is now reported ! io be buying about 150 i boxes a week. A San I Francisco manager in the i group, who calls his trade j about average for the 18, ‘ said he serves about 125 j racks per week from a • menu offering a wide > range of other main i dishes. The charge per ! serving is $8.50. Bali’s, an independent, select San Francisco restaurant, specialises in lamb dishes of Armenian origin, serving 100 racks of New Zealand lamb on an average night at $9.95 per rack. The New Zealand Lamb Company is the source for I all the cuts. It has its j headquarters in Anaheim, I a suburb of Los Angeles. I Its imports are dis- j tributed through nu- I merous California meat i companies.