• Ad Age, Tuesday, May 8, 2007 11:15 AM

Consumers might be confused by the nuances that separate Angus, Kobe and other high grades of meat, but they are willing to pay more for primo proteins. That's good news for a $100 billion wholesale-meat industry with notoriously slim margins. Meatpackers are pushing premium meats to keep sales healthy, now that the protein-heavy Atkins-diet trend has faded, says Morgan Paisley, livestock analyst for Alaron, a futures- and options-trading firm. It's working: Consumers worldwide bought more than 544 million pounds of Certified Angus Beef in 2006, generating $2.3 billion in retail sales.

Among the 6,100 restaurants and 4,500 grocery outlets selling beef under the brand are Cheesecake Factory and Meijer. There's even a Black Angus Steakhouse chain with 84 units in 10 Western states that boasts it sells nothing but 100% natural, corn-fed Black Angus.

Grocers and sandwich shops are also upgrading cold cuts. Tropical Smoothie Café, a 240-unit smoothie and gourmet-sandwich chain, touts its Boar's Head meats and OvenGold turkey. And No. 2 sandwich chain Quiznos beefed up its quality attack on Subway Restaurants with a TV spot accusing rivals of using bricks of sliced cold cuts instead of slicing fresh meat on-site.

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