 Nice to Meat, together with several other international suppliers, was invited to respond to an invitation to tender for the development of a new “Hilton Classic US burger” for European Hilton hotels. In this way Vice President Food & Beverage James Glover of the European headquarters in London gave new impetus to the concept of “Hilton Classics”, three classic dishes that are prepared and presented everywhere according to precisely the same standard criteria (the Caesar Salad, the Classic Club Sandwich and the Classic US Burger).
Area Chef Roberto Giudici summarised the conditions that the new hamburger had to fulfil to guarantee that every guest in every European Hilton is assured of the same flavour and quality. It had to become the “best burger in the world.” In various rounds of testing in, among other places, Paris, Prague and Cologne judged by the Hilton chefs gathered there, Nice to Meat was the convincing winner of this tough competition. Mikel Pouw, Director of Nice to Meat says of this order: “Anyone can produce 100 tasty burgers but 100,000 is a completely different matter. Nice to Meat can do it. So Hilton is the only hotel chain that can offer its guests such a burger with an exclusive high standard of quality.”
Creation of the “best burger in the world”
Nice to Meat developed a hamburger from the Premium Black Angus meat using the whole “chuck.” No offcuts, just pure muscle meat with no additives, herbs or e-numbers. This Burger was developed in the hotel and catering butcher’s own test kitchens in Amsterdam. The large-scale production takes place at Creekstone Farms in the US. In this specialist abattoir, animal welfare is paramount and only one kind of cattle is slaughtered, the Black Angus breed.
Black Angus cattle are fed on maize. The cattle are raised in accordance with the Creekstone USDA “approved program” in which all data about breeding methods, feeding, medical passports, transportation and movement are recorded. This results in an animal-friendly, sustainable breeding process so as to guarantee that consistent quality is assured. For the Hilton Classic US burger, a special technique for mincing the meat has been developed and new pressing equipment had to be produced for the specific form of hamburger that Hilton wanted. The entire production process has been carefully specified in the Creekstone HACCP burger scheme.
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