If you want to measure how much the J&B Group—best known for No Name Steaks and No Name Butcher Quality Meats—has changed since its beginnings as an undercapitalized, seat-of-the-pants operation more than 25 years ago, you needn’t look any further than Frank Petersen’s kitchen.
Hired in July 2005, Petersen is the first and, to date, only official research and development chef for J&B, which is headquartered in St. Michael, about 30 miles northwest of Minneapolis. A graduate of the elite Culinary Institute of America in New York, he’s one of only 55 certified research chefs in the United States. Stops along his 30-year career path include Edina-based grocer Jerry’s Foods, Marriott Corporation, Schwan’s Food Service (where he developed individualized meals for home delivery), Lund Food Holdings, and most recently, Cargill’s “value-added proteins” operation, which creates specialty meat products. Petersen’s deep knowledge of food trends comes partly from his habit of keeping detailed notes of every restaurant meal he has ever eaten. That way, he explains, “I can keep track of what I saw [on a menu] two or three years ago that might evolve from a fine-dining to a more mainstream culinary product.”
Ready to serve: J&B has expanded No Name’s offerings from its original steaks to a variety of heat-’em-up entrees.
In his brief time with J&B, Petersen has already developed new offerings for clients ranging from Kowalski’s Markets, the upscale metro-area grocery chain, to Let’s Dish, an Eden Prairie–headquartered retail chain that combines elements of traditional cooking schools with a make-it-yourself approach to preparing meals. (J&B also supplies food products to large warehousing operations, retailers, and food-service companies throughout the Upper Midwest.) Petersen is currently putting the finishing touches on a new line of No Name products, five in all, including parmesan-and-pecan-crusted chicken breasts, stuffed pork and chicken cutlets, and a burgundy-peppercorn steak.
With new products like these, the $450 million J&B Group is planning to double its revenues in the next five years. The company has recently started advertising on television to raise its profile. Not that its growth so far has been easy. The meat products industry is a tough business. Margins are razor thin, capital investment significant. It’s also highly regulated, with significant risk for losses if microbial testing requires product recall. As President Mike Hageman puts it, J&B is in an unusual position in the marketplace—“too big to be small, and too small to be big.” So, he adds, it has had to carve out a space in the market that its larger competitors won’t serve.
“J&B is not Hormel. It’s not Tyson,” Petersen says. “We can be much more responsive to smaller retail chains that want unique products that no one else offers.” And that’s how the company behind No Name Steaks has made a name for itself.
