Resorts serving up new 'Ski Vermont Burger'
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By Brent Curtis Rutland Herald - Published: December 8, 2007
Those hitting the slopes in Vermont this winter might be mooooved to buy local by a partnership between four of the state's ski areas and the Vermont Beef Producers Association.
In an effort to encourage local buying, the beef producers, Ski Vermont — which is the marketing arm of the Vermont Ski Areas Association — and the state Agency of Agriculture have teamed up to create the "Ski Vermont Burger."
The beefy burger will appear in restaurants at Okemo, Bolton Valley, Jay Peak and Stowe Mountain Resort starting today.
"We've really been trying to tap into the buy local program," said Tori Ossola, vice president of marketing for Ski Vermont. "We came up with the idea initially because we were doing promotional shoots at some of the resorts last year and everywhere we went it was an unwritten law that we had to sample the hamburgers. The more we thought about it, the more it seemed like the perfect food for this."
The burger, served with a Vermont-made maple toothpick featuring the buy local logo, will give diners a little taste of the Green Mountains in every bite since the grass-based diet of Vermont-raised cattle offers a distinctive taste, state and beef industry officials say.
At some of the restaurants, the burger, the bun, the cheese and all the toppings are Vermont grown as well.
While skiers with a hankering for homegrown beef can only find the Ski Vermont Burger at four resorts this year, Ossola predicted the new item would spread to menus on other mountains next year.
"We see it staying on menus for years to come. One of the reasons it's not more widespread this year is there isn't enough beef to supply all the ski resorts," she said.
Indeed, the Agency of Agriculture reports that while there are about 1,000 beef producers in Vermont, some of those producers have as few as two head of cattle.
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts, said he hopes beef production will pick up in the future in part because of the increased demand and more favorable pricing provided by the arrangement with the ski areas.
"That's the goal — to enhance what we already have here," he said.
The program not only provides guaranteed market, it pays a premium for the meat that producers in the state normally aren't afforded, Tebbetts said.
"The state isn't subsidizing the program, in fact there's no state money involved," he said. "It all comes from negotiations with the ski areas."
Chip Morgan, treasurer of the beef producers association and owner of Wood Creek Farm Beef in Bridport, said the program would benefit as many as 300 beef-growing families this year and perhaps more in the future. He also said the program would help keep dollars in Vermont by keeping the beef from crossing the border to states like Pennsylvania where many producers send their cattle to be processed.
Under the program, Morgan said, the cattle would be processed and distributed by Vermont companies.
He also lauded the participating ski areas for absorbing the expenses of buying locally. Morgan estimated the resorts could pay half as much for beef by buying from Western or overseas sources.
"The ski resorts are really supporting the economy because they're paying twice as much," he said. "They're not making as much money as they could be, but they're keeping all the money being made in Vermont."
Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.
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