What’s for lunch? BEEF! On Wednesday Jan. 13, the Cass County Beef producers came to the Atlantic High School  to grill hamburgers for the students at lunch.

The event got off the ground in December when beef queen Alexis Freund was trying to think of a fantastic way to promote beef. Then it came to her: What better way to promote beef to the public then serving freshly grilled burgers to the schools?

According to Beef Producer member Colleen Babe, the beef queen from years ago talked about doing this in the past but never had enough time to take on the responsibility to make it a reality.

This year in finally happened and the Producers put lots of time in with Freund to make it run as smoothly as it did. Freund talked to the producers about her idea and then talked with the Food Service Director DeeAnn Schreiner about the producers funding a day where they come and grill for lunch.

When Babe asked Schreiner, she was overjoyed but a little hesitant because of what happened last time she was asked. But this time Babe promised her it would happen and Schreiner was confident that is was going to happen. According to Schreiner, under the new Obama legislation and all the rules that schools have to abide by, she jumped at the chance to offer the students and faculty a 100% beef, quarter pound hamburger. She said “I struggle with the new rules and am always looking for the best product out there, but it’s really hard to stay within the food guidelines and also keep food cost in line.”

Schreiner also added “I would really like to thank the Beef Producers for sharing their knowledge about the beef industry.  But most of all I really want to thank them for providing the burgers to all the schools. They were fabulous and [were] greatly appreciated.” The cooking staff showed off their beef appreciation by wearing We-Love-Beef aprons.  

President of the Beef Producers, Myles McDermott, members Todd Russell and Wynn Winston heated things up in the back parking lot. With so much to do in so little time, the producers ended up grilling 540 burgers just at the high school.

Next week the Producers will be grilling for the middle school and the elementary school. Babe said, “It was fabulous! Great feedback from students and faculty. The queen this year did a great job promoting beef.”

Babe estimated 2,000 burgers will be grilled all together. The organization plans to visit CAM and Griswold’s school district to grill for them too. While McDermott was laughing and having fun grilling with Russell, he said, “We are happy to be cooking for the schools!” He hopes everyone loved what they have cooked.

During lunch students were quiet eating and going back for seconds. Freshman Jordan Zarbano said, “It was pretty cool, and we should do it more often.”

Sophomore Jene Zarbano noticed the Starburst and Tootsie Roll candies left on the tables. Freund put them there to show that beef by products are in lots of different things.

In the teacher’s’ work room, the faculty’s plates were mounted with food. Math teacher Paul Dudley said, “It was delicious. It was two hundred times better then normal school burgers because I’m sure it was Iowa grown and it was freshly grilled.”

Overall, the first time having the Beef Producers come to AHS was a huge success. If you enjoyed the burgers make sure you thank the 2014-2015 Beef Queen, Lexi Freund, for setting this all up!