Finding myself in Wooster’s north end on a Wednesday afternoon, I texted my former colleague at The Daily Record, and now marketing manager for Certified Angus Beef brand, Bryan Schaaf. In January, I launched a digital marketing business, Wooster Media Group LLC, and I thought I might pay a visit to my old friend.
Certified Angus Beef is a nonprofit organization formed by the American Angus Association to promote good, quality Angus beef. The quest for producing the best tasting beef came about after a Marshallville, Ohio, rancher had a bad experience with a steak promoted as “Angus beef” in a restaurant. Harold Etling had said the steak he ate that night in the restaurant was a far cry from the beef from the Angus cattle he raised on his Wayne Knolls Farm.
Embarrassed at what was being promoted as Angus beef, Etling enlisted the help of some friends from the national association, which included Fred Johnson of Smithville and Mick Colvin of West Salem. CAB was born in 1978 in Colvin’s garage. It would later move to Wooster and then purchase the former When in Rome/Jake’s Restaurant near the corner of Burbank and Riffel roads. The building that once housed the restaurants has since been converted into CAB’s Education & Culinary Center. So, this means Certified Angus Beef is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
The ECC has become the showcase for all things Certified Angus Beef. It has a commercial kitchen where some of the world’s top chefs can come in and prepare amazing meals. The main area of the ECC can double as an educational space or dining area. What the team at CAB discovered was it was difficult having to convert from a dining area to a teaching area, so it added on to the building, creating another dining room where the outside patio had been. It also just built a dedicated meat lab that allows butchers to come into a cooled environment and learn how to break down and cut sides of Angus beef in new and innovative ways.
Certified Angus Beef has been recognized in many ways. In 2015, the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce named CAB its Business of the Year. In 2017, it was named one of the Top 100 Healthiest Places to Work.
Below are excerpts from my story in The Daily Record about Certified Angus Beef being named Business of the Year:
At the time, Dr. Bob VanStavern, an Ohio State University meat scientist, told Colvin and others, they could do what they want, but if they were to follow his eight carcass specifications, the result would be a very tasty product. Since then, the list has grown to 10 specifications. They include the age of the animal (it cannot be older than 30 months), the amount of marbling (it must be moderate or higher), the type of marbling (sort of flaked) and the size of the ribeye (between 10-16 square inches). …
In June 1982, Buehler’s made the switch and sold Certified Angus Beef exclusively.
Then, representatives went to each Buehler’s grocery store and taught them about what makes the brand different.
“I still have fond memories of sitting down with Mick Colvin and my dad in West Salem to draw lines on a map of where our stores would have exclusive retail marketing rights in towns where our stores were located,” Bob Buehler said. “I also remember when grilling season was over in 1982, after switching to Certified Angus Beef, I had not heard one single complaint from a customer or employee about a tough steak. It was unbelievable what this group from Ohio had accomplished starting with a farmer, a scientist and the Ohio State University. It is the gold standard.” …
President John Stika said as long as people crave high-quality beef, the opportunity to grow the business is there. But for Stika, growth involves more than just the bottom line. Because it is a nonprofit organization, there are not stockholders demanding a certain level of profit.
I tell people I am a Certified Angus Beef snob. I worked in a restaurant that sold USDA prime steaks, and they do not compare to the quality of Certified Angus Beef steaks out of the meat coolers at Buehler’s. Speaking of Buehler’s and CAB, this was dinner the other night: Top sirloin filets.
