Market development efforts for beef and pork expand in Honduras
US Meat Export Federation partners with Honduran importer Grupo Alza to introduce new US beef and pork cuts to distributors and end-user restaurants and provide further training and education.
USMEF’s cutting demonstrations showcased US pork baby back ribs and US beef petite tender, flat iron and chuck flap for 140 customers of Grupo Alza.
The US Meat Export Federation recently conducted a series of training sessions with key hotel, restaurant and cafe customers of Honduran importer Grupo Alza in the northern city of San Pedro Sula. With a metro area population of nearly 1.5 million, San Pedro Sula is Honduras’ primary industrial center and its second largest city after the capital city of Tegucigalpa. San Pedro Sula has an estimated 25–30% of the country’s formal restaurants, making it a key foodservice hub.
USMEF partnered with Grupo Alza to introduce new US beef and pork cuts to distributors and end-user restaurants and provide further training and education. A total of 10 training sessions were carried out, reaching staff of two distributors and eight restaurants. In all, 140 participated in the training. In addition, 14 members of Grupo Alza’s sales team received dedicated training, reinforcing their technical and commercial knowledge to support future sales.
Despite declines in domestic pork production in Honduras, per capita pork consumption continues to grow, driven by the affordability and versatility of US pork, which accounts for more than 94% of total import volume. Imported pork is used in foodservice but also in further processing. US beef represents approximately 58% of Honduras imported beef volume. While beef accounts for a smaller share of total national consumption compared to pork, US beef plays a strong role in premium foodservice, hotels and meat boutiques, where quality and consistency are key.
The training sessions focused on strengthening knowledge of US beef and pork, highlighting US production standards, feeding regimens and product quality characteristics. Additional technical topics included cold chain management, proper thawing methods and the introduction of new cuts with high commercial potential.
The US beef cuts presented during the trainings were petite tender, flat iron and chuck flap, while the US pork cut promoted was baby back ribs.
“The products received strong interest and positive feedback from restaurant clients, several of whom placed trial orders,” said USMEF Central America/DR Representative Lucia Ruano.
The training series was supported by the Beef Checkoff Program and the National Pork Board.
Source: US Meat Export Federation
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