No more Alberta Beef at Earl's

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Yeah but I've gone 5 extra times.

The salty tears give the beef more flavor.

[polak]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Where is the golden child Justin Trudeau in this? You can bet if this was a Quebec industry being targeted like this he'd be tweet up a storm supporting Quebec.

lol one medium sized restaurant chain changing their supplier is an attack on the industry?

There are alberta companies losing and gaining supplier contracts multiple times a day. This is a non-issue that is getting blown way out of proportion. Really don't need the Prime Minister wasting his time on this.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

They talked about this last night on the National, and one thing that was brought up was Earl's serving Shrimp, which is apparently a nightmare industry for the workers.

Yeah but who gives a #### about the workers...
Just kidding. Id be interested in their response to those allegations. Does anyone know thier stance on chicken? From what ive heard the chicken industry is far worse.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by polak

lol one medium sized restaurant chain changing their supplier is an attack on the industry?

There are alberta companies losing and gaining supplier contracts multiple times a day. This is a non-issue that is getting blown way out of proportion. Really don't need the Prime Minister wasting his time on this.

No, I don't expect them to do anything, but I do expect to publicly support Canadian Industries. You don't think the Feds would be publicly supporting say the Quebec Cheese Industry if one of the larger restaurant chains in Ontario or Quebec publicly denounced their industry practices and said they were going to import product from the US? Trudeau and the rest of the liberals would be all over twitter denouncing that chain and telling people what horrible Canadians they were.

I'm not a big fan of the PCs or their policies, but they are the only party in Canada that stands up for Western Canada while the others #### all over it while taking out every dollar they can.

Do you not remember the whole French's Ketchup issue? I've been told you can't even find it on the shelves in most Ontario stores now because its sold out and people refuse to purchase Heinz Products. Where's the support for the Canadian Beef Industry? I wouldn't have to be asking that question if it was located in Ontario or Quebec.

[polak]

Loblaw's is monumentally bigger than Earls.

If WalMart said they'd no longer carry Canadian Beef you would see the same reaction as the French's thing. One restaurant chain, that's not even known for their steaks, changing it's beef supplier wouldn't have even made the news if it wasn't for the humane crap.

[ernie]

Originally Posted by blueski

They are minus 3 visits from me and my friends who purposefully went somewhere else last Thursday.

Curious...did you make sure the steak you had was Alberta beef (or that the restaurant only serves alberta beef)?

Do you always check that this is the case? Do any of the people boycotting Earl's check the sourcing of every restaurant they go to before eating there?

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by polak

Loblaw's is monumentally bigger than Earls.

If WalMart said they'd no longer carry Canadian Beef you would see the same reaction as the French's thing. One restaurant chain, that's not even known for their steaks, changing it's beef supplier wouldn't have even made the news if it wasn't for the humane crap.

Sure it would make the news. It's a Canadian restaurant changing from a Canadian provider to a US provider. That's bigtime news fodder regardless of the size of the company.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by ernie

Curious...did you make sure the steak you had was Alberta beef (or that the restaurant only serves alberta beef)?

Do you always check that this is the case? Do any of the people boycotting Earl's check the sourcing of every restaurant they go to before eating there?

And that's where Earl dropped the ball IMO. No one really takes the time to find out, because they honestly don't care. Had Earls just did it quietly and not announced it, they wouldn't have had the backlash they seem to be having right now.

Maybe their end goal is to appeal to other markets, who knows. But if there's no end game, it was a foolish move to alienate Albertans already feeling a little like it's us against the world these days.

[polak]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Sure it would make the news. It's a Canadian restaurant changing from a Canadian provider to a US provider. That's bigtime news fodder regardless of the size of the company.

Wow that happens probably on a daily basis. If it was a window company changing their glass supplier or an Oil and Gas company outsourcing their IT to India there wouldn't be a peep. No one would be tweeting #BoycottRicksGlass or #BoycottSuncor.

Tell Albertans their beef is meh and watch the world explode.

[CaptainCrunch]

I tend to think that Earls could have changed the meat without informing the public and nobody would care. the backlash is more emotional in this province because its feeling like everyone is picking a battle against us.

Especially BC with their anti-pipeline stance that's more about monetary blackmail then it is about environmental policy. Or the hippies in Toronto and their bashing of the energy industry.

Frankly I think that humane or not, some dork in Earl's marketing department has screwed up large, since Alberta is a cornerstone market for Earls and its selection of average unimaginative poorly prepared meals being served by an average at best staff members.

The sad think is that there is no way to fix the relationship with a major market now. They can't go back and say, "Like sorry Dude, we'll buy some of your beef and blend it with this other beef so its 50% humane man" because they'll look hypocritical.

Other restaurants are going to work hard to chip away at Earls and their market share.

Some Hippy with a marketing certificate from a community online college probably screwed this up badly.

[btimbit]

Yeah I agree with that for sure CC. If it's a much better quality of meat than they were using before, like they claim, then they could have made the switch and only upset the people that for some reason thing Alberta Beef is anything other than average. Where they screwed up was making a big deal out of the humane angle.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by polak

Wow that happens probably on a daily basis. If it was a window company changing their glass supplier or an Oil and Gas company outsourcing their IT to India there wouldn't be a peep. No one would be tweeting #BoycottRicksGlass or #BoycottSuncor.

Tell Albertans their beef is meh and watch the world explode.

In what world does changing to a provider in another country get publicly advertised and sold as a marketing gimmick? Name me one other example of this. If you ever see a US company switch to Canadian Beef and publicly decree how great their program is I'll sign you the deed over to my house. That company would be as good as bankrupt within a year.


This isn't moving your IT services to India to save costs, this is taking a fundamental Canadian Agriculture industry and underhandedly crapping on it while hiding behind a ridiculous certification that is meaningless. Anyone who knows anything about the food industry knows that Canadian standards are significantly higher than their US counterparts. The FDA generally has much lower standards than CFIA (administers for Health Canada).

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Yeah I agree with that for sure CC. If it's a much better quality of meat than they were using before, like they claim, then they could have made the switch and only upset the people that for some reason thing Alberta Beef is anything other than average. Where they screwed up was making a big deal out of the humane angle.

It is not a better quality meat. That is inaccurate.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

It is not a better quality meat. That is inaccurate.

I've heard nothing but positive things from people that have tried it. I'll find out myself tonight

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by btimbit

I've heard nothing but positive things from people that have tried it. I'll find out myself tonight

If it's a better quality beef, it's not because it came from the US instead of Alberta, it's because it's a better cut. I would have no problem with Earl's switching to a better cut if they could purchase for less, but that's not why they made the switch according to their posts and responses.

They also could have left people the option to purchase Canadian beef while still making the majority switch. They didn't do that either.

[blueski]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Yeah but I've gone 5 extra times.

The salty tears give the beef more flavor.

You are the problem then!

[polak]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

In what world does changing to a provider in another country get publicly advertised and sold as a marketing gimmick? Name me one other example of this. If you ever see a US company switch to Canadian Beef and publicly decree how great their program is I'll sign you the deed over to my house. That company would be as good as bankrupt within a year.


This isn't moving your IT services to India to save costs, this is taking a fundamental Canadian Agriculture industry and underhandedly crapping on it while hiding behind a ridiculous certification that is meaningless. Anyone who knows anything about the food industry knows that Canadian standards are significantly higher than their US counterparts. I have direct experience in the industry (both with Canadian and US producers), and there's no comparison in the quality of beef raised, produced, and butchered in Canada compared to the US. There's no difference in how the cows are raised, but the US often uses cheaper feed and the FDA generally has much lower standards than CFIA (administers for Health Canada).

Holy crap you're acting like they tweeted:

"Hey Alberta, You and your beef can go #### yourself #SorryNotSorry"

They decided they were going to try and get this certification. Alberta beef farmers couldn't meet this certification. That's it. Jesus. It's not some targeted attack on Alberta Beef. They had their chance to be compliant but they didn't have the paperwork or whatever it was. Clearly not a single Alberta Beef Farm cared about Earls business enough to change their practices (why would they, it's probably a drop in the bucket). Earls didn't even mention Alberta beef once. If they came out and said "Alberta beef is known to be pumped with dangerous steroids and mad cow disease" then that would be an attack. Simply changing your suppliers is not an attack in any way.

In what world is a company supposed to accept being handcuffed by suppliers?

Earls: "Hey we wanna serve certified humane beef but in order to advertise that, we need you guys to do this...."
Alberta Beef Farmers: "Nah"
Earls: "Okay, thanks anyways".

Earls are some how bad guys for doing this?

Also just because overall the US might have lower quality standards in the food industry doesn't mean that one specific supplier doesn't blow all Alberta Beef producers out of the water...

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by ernie

Curious...did you make sure the steak you had was Alberta beef (or that the restaurant only serves alberta beef)?

Do you always check that this is the case? Do any of the people boycotting Earl's check the sourcing of every restaurant they go to before eating there?

Don't really have to go for steak. We had a group that went out for drinks and appies after an escape room. Earls was suggested but shot down by the group because of this. How long that sentiment lasts is another story.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

And that's where Earl dropped the ball IMO. No one really takes the time to find out, because they honestly don't care. Had Earls just did it quietly and not announced it, they wouldn't have had the backlash they seem to be having right now.

Maybe their end goal is to appeal to other markets, who knows. But if there's no end game, it was a foolish move to alienate Albertans already feeling a little like it's us against the world these days.

Evidently they are hoping to tap into that anti-oil/pro-"humane"(sustainable?) modern hippy demographic and really hope that buying into an American lobby's PR trademark will give them credibility with this group. It sounds like they didn't even bother working with any Canadian producers to ensure that the meat they were getting met any standards of ethical or humane treatment - they were only after someone that could allow them to promote the buzzword trademark on their website.

I would actually bet they are saving money too. Moving from multiple suppliers to one would surely allow for them to take advantage of economies of scale. Moreso if they have big US expansion plans.

Whether any gains from this exceeds the damage to Earls' reputation, and any potential lost business remains to be seen though.

[polak]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Evidently they are hoping to tap into that anti-oil/pro-"humane"(sustainable?) modern hippy demographic and really hope that buying into an American lobby's PR trademark will give them credibility with this group. It sounds like they didn't even bother working with any Canadian producers to ensure that the meat they were getting met any standards of ethical or humane treatment - they were only after someone that could allow them to promote the buzzword trademark on their website.

I would actually bet they are saving money too. Moving from multiple suppliers to one would surely allow for them to take advantage of economies of scale. Moreso if they have big US expansion plans.

Whether any gains from this exceeds the damage to Earls' reputation, and any potential lost business remains to be seen though.

Thats what they pay the people who issue the certification to do.

Kinda the point....