Big beef business in the Little Apple

A local restaurant in the Sunflower State had a party. But not just any kind of party. As you would expect from this blog, it was a beefy party.

The Little Apple Brewing Company celebrated being named the 2011 National Beef Backer Award winners. We couldn’t have been happier for or prouder of Little Apple for this well-deserved recognition.

Co- part-owners and managers Russ and Kelly Loub accepted the award earlier this month in Nashville at the National Cattle Industry Convention with partner Lori Fink, who also co-owns the restaurant with her husband Galen. 

The Fink family is no stranger to the award stage. That special connection they have between the cattle business and selling steaks in the Manhattan, Kansas restaurant has made them a shining star to the Certified Angus Beef® brand for years.

This winter, I got to visit with Russ and Kelly about the restaurant business, their connection to CAB and their affinity for serving incredible beef dishes to their customers. Their passion for quality food service and inherint pride in satisfied beef eaters was inspiring.

Of course, my favorite open-faced steak sandwich was also inspiring:

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Russ and Kelly from my interview that day. If you get the chance to travel through Manhattan, Kansas, make it a priority to stop in and say hello to them. These folks are working hard every day to make sure your high-quality cattle are in demand by hungry customers. Tell them “thanks,” and “congratulations.” And for heaven’s sake, order the open-faced sandwich!

“From day one, we aligned ourselves with CAB and became a licensed restaurant. That was really where we put our focus, on having great steaks. We needed to be aligned with a brand that was nationally known, that had its own quality reputation. There was no other place in town that was doing that kind of thing, putting their steaks out front, saying ‘Yeah, these are the best you can get, right here.’”

“You drive down the highway and see lots of cows in the field, but don’t really think about what’s going on there. Behind the scenes – we just see meat in a box, but there’s an awful lot that goes into that, way more than I ever imagined. From breeders to production people to packers — it’s just amazing how many people are involved in this industry. When I think about that, I just say, ‘Wow!’ There are an awful lot of people out there really looking to put out a great product.”

“We salivate knowing we had a really great food and eating experience, and we want to relive that again. I think that’s what we’ve always stived to do here — have consistancy, consistancy, consistancy. The Certified Angus Beef® brand has certainly provided that.”

“That’s what delineates a great resturant from just any resturant: the ability to replicate the same thing over and over and over again, thousands and thousands of times, and have it still comes out as good as it did the very first time. CAB has been there to do that for us.”

“What’s made it work more than anything else is our staff, the loyalty of our staff. Our customers like seeing those same people. It’s like home for them. People love that they come in and see the same person they’ve seen for five years taking care of them. We’ve been so blessed that way – people come back to see us when they’re in town. That’s really been a godsend for us, the loyalty of the staff.”  

Read more about the Little Apple Brewery in the March issue of the Angus Journal.

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