Restaurants that rank in the top five in meat sales in the capital city and major tourist center of Tbilisi, Georgia, were selected to participate in a promotion for U.S. pork during two weeks in late November. Each restaurant developed new, unique dishes for a U.S. pork "festival," utilizing baby back ribs, spareribs and boneless loins.

In addition to positioning U.S. pork as a high-quality protein choice at high-end restaurants, Galina Kochubeeva, USMEF representative in Russia and the Surrounding Region, explains the festival created an opportunity to introduce U.S. pork dishes to menus for the holiday season as well.

"Overall, the dishes were very well received by customers and some of the restaurants even kept the dishes on menus through the holiday season," says Kochubeeva.

Funded by USDA's Market Access Program and National Pork Board, the U.S. Pork Festival was another step toward increasing awareness and trial in this tourism-driven country. Kochubeeva explains that Georgia is a port hub for many countries in the region. With more than 100 resorts, it is also a popular vacation destination, hosting nearly 10 million visitors in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

"When things return to normal, we expect tourism to ramp up quickly," says Kochubeeva. "We are developing partnerships in the HRI sector now in anticipation of greater demand for high-quality, center-of-the-plate protein options such as U.S. pork."

Source: U.S. Meat Export Federation, which is solely responsible for the information provided, and wholly owns the information. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset. The opinions of this writer are not necessarily those of Farm Progress/Informa.