Innovative retail merchandising strategies to accommodate for the growing trend of heavier carcass weights in the United States

Three subprimals from beef carcasses, Average (mean = 340.6 kg) and Heavy weight (mean = 461.6 kg), were cut using Innovative versus Conventional cutting styles. Longer (P < 0.05) processing times were required for the Heavy compared to Average and Innovative compared to Conventional. Total saleable yields were lower for the Innovative compared to Conventional for the top sirloin butt (P = 0.0025) and ribeye (P < 0.0001), but not for the strip loin (P = 0.1416). However, yields were higher for the Heavy compared to Average for the ribeye (P = 0.0054) and strip loin (P = 0.0017), but not for the top sirloin butt (P = 0.6797). Retail pricing increases for the Innovative compared to Conventional were 11.6% for top sirloin butt, 26.9% for ribeye, and 2.6% for strip loin. Retailers adopting innovative cutting styles to more effectively merchandise heavyweight beef must account for the decreased primary saleable yields and increased labor requirements through increased retail pricing.