June 30, 2021

NEW ALBANY, OHIO – If you could choose one meal to eat out, would you choose breakfast? The first meal of the day has always been the easiest to make at home with a bowl of cereal or a granola bar, and this statement was even more prevalent at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Families were less likely to order out from their favorite breakfast spot due to the ease of a quick breakfast in bed.

Let’s be clear, pork remained an item on the weekly grocery list, but the usual purchasing of bacon and sausage turned into dinner-time pork cuts. As the world begins to turn back to normal, the emphasis on going out for breakfast with friends and family was something that Ohio’s bacon and egg farmers wanted to bring back to the daily routine. With this in mind, the Best Buckeye Breakfasts campaign was established, and the impact has already been felt across the state.

These are different ways that Best Buckeye Breakfasts is using its campaign to promote adding pork to your breakfast order while putting your Checkoff dollars to good use.

Encouraging consumers to ditch the bowl of cereal

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many consumers became accustomed to doing everything from home, including work, shopping, groceries, and especially eating. What Best Buckeye Breakfasts is doing is giving the consumer a reason to go out and eat again. Whether it’s through nominations, prizes, or simply giving the consumer a voice, BBB is encouraging the consumer to support local restaurants, try their favorite breakfasts meals of pork and poultry, and support Ohio’s pig and poultry farmers. Restaurant and meal nominations have continued to rise in each of the four weeks of the campaign, meaning the BBB’s encouragement to go out and eat bacon for breakfast again is working.

Reinforce the idea of eating safe and healthy pork at restaurants

While Best Buckeye Breakfasts is encouraging consumers to eat breakfast out again, it is also highlighting the positive experiences had at many local restaurants. Consumers have questions about pork, and BBB drives home the truth about safety, quality, and the benefits of consuming pork. The partnership with the Ohio Poultry Association in this campaign benefits the Ohio Pork Council, as bacon and eggs have a natural marriage at the breakfast table. As the campaign continues to give the consumer a reason to talk about their best breakfast spots, it will raise confidence in the consumers’ ability to go out for breakfast and have their favorite pork dish.

Keeping restaurants a player in the pork demand game

Yes, the Best Buckeye Breakfasts campaign is promoting the consumption of pork and poultry through different restaurants across the state, but the number of breakfasts spots that they are highlighting is impressive. Each week, a new slate of breakfast spots and dishes are featured at bestbuckeyebreakfasts.com, giving more and more restaurants the spotlight as consumers send in their nominations. The BBB’s biweekly $2,500 grant is also influencing the restaurant to push the consumer for a nomination, meaning that more people will come to their restaurant for breakfast, and they will have a higher demand for bacon, sausage, ham, etc. Best Buckeye Breakfasts is helping Ohio’s restaurants get their name out to the consumer. Confidence is building, and so is our demand.