New York Stick Claims Choice Spot in the World of Dashboard Dining

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

When consumers think of the New York steak, immediately the image of a choice cut of meat comes to mind. This is one of the things that convinced Lester Lodoen of Classic Meats in Fox Valley it was the right name for his new product.

“When we did the market research at the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre, there was a group of us together, and we had to come up with a name that was no more than three words long," he explains. "We tried Meat Treats, but that was like dog food. We tried Trimmers, but that implied cuts of poor quality meat. One guy came up with New York Stick—we said OK. The New York steak is a very good cut of meat. We trademarked it. It is good to go.”

The product in question is a pre-cooked, hand-held meat snack. It is an 85-gram beef steakette on a popsicle-type stick. It is vacuum-packed, should be refrigerated at 4ºC or frozen, and is made with secondary cuts of meat.

“I have been working with meat quality and beef for a number of years," says Lodoen. "One of the people working with me came up with the concept that we somehow had to increase the value of the secondary cuts of meat, because you can always sell the primary cuts. We wanted to go beyond just making hamburgers. We took this idea to the Food Centre at the University of Saskatchewan, and worked with them to develop the process and the product.”

Lodoen is also a beef producer, who long ago realized that the farm economy runs in a constantly evolving world.

The Lodoen family farm has been a value-added operation from the time of Lester's father, but, he explains, marketing a new product today is a totally different ball game then it was 20 years ago. Market research has led Lodoen to the convenience sector, but right now the company's biggest push is toward food services: getting into hockey arenas, curling rinks, gas stations and convenience stores—wherever convenience food services are required.

“We are in the value chain program," he says, "and in our value chain we have a food broker working with us. Ten or 15 years ago, anyone could market their product themselves, but now, if you don’t know the people, it is difficult. We are working with a group that has a lot of connections to different sources. What you need today is a distributor who will take you on.”

Lodoen says he making good and steady progress in his endeavours.

“Beside beef, we have BBQ pork on a stick as well. We are talking about the New York Stick family of products, really. It consists of Spiced Beef, BBQ Pork, Southwest Chicken and Mediterranean Chicken. Now we have a couple of distribution companies that are very interested in helping us distribute it.

“I would say to anyone getting into this type of business today: it's not enough to just have an idea. You better research it, and know where you want to go with it, and take advantage of the expertise and the resources that are out there.”

Lodoen wouldn’t trade what he is doing for the world.

“I like the marketing, although sometimes it can be frustrating. When you are developing a product, you always want to move faster and faster, but that doesn’t happen in this world any more."

Lodoen's company is still working with the Food Centre. He hopes eventually to be working with a co-packer, or a co-processor. They are currently selling the product in all the Saskatchewan Made stores, and have placed it in a couple of schools in Regina and a couple of stores in rural Saskatchewan. It is also being sold in Alberta and Ontario.

Lodoen hopes his New York Stick will make it big in the realm of hand-held food, which some experts have already identified as the food of the future.

For more information, contact:

Lester Lodoen
Classic Meats and Double L Farms
Fox Valley
(306) 666-4447 (tel)
(306) 666-4448 (fax)
doublelfarms@sasktel.net