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Wal-Mart beefs up for a bigger stake
For the past year, the nation’s biggest grocer worked with meat giants to secure a supply of steaks and roasts at no additional cost to consumers
New York/Chicago — Just in time for Fourth of July barbecues on Independence Day, top retailer Wal-Mart Stores has upgraded its beef to certified Angus across the US as the fight for food shoppers’ cash intensifies. For the past year, the nation’s biggest grocer worked with meat giants including Tyson Foods and Cargill to secure a supply of Angus steaks and roasts at no additional cost to consumers, said Scott Neal, Wal-Mart’s senior vice-president of meat, seafood and quality control. The higher-quality cuts have been available in all of Wal-Mart’s 4,700 US stores since March, but the retailer has not announced or advertised the shift yet. The move is part of Wal-Mart’s response to rapidly intensifying competition: German discounters Aldi and Lidl are expanding aggressively and Amazon.com’s purchase of Whole Foods Markets threatens to upend the industry. Wal-Mart also wants to entice shoppers by improving the quality of fresh foods such as produce and meat, which are a key draw for...
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