Steak-umm facts for kids
Steak-umm is a popular brand of very thin, frozen beef slices. People often use them to make delicious homemade Philadelphia-style cheesesteak sandwiches. The company says it's the most famous brand for sandwich steak in America. They helped make the "Philly Cheese Steak" sandwich a common meal across the country many years ago. Steak-umm also makes frozen hamburger patties that come in "Original" and "Sweet Onion" flavors.
Over the years, different companies have owned Steak-umm. These include Gagliardi Bros., H.J. Heinz, and TriFoods International. In 2006, a company called Quaker Maid Meats bought the rights to the Steak-umm brand name.
History of Steak-umm
The idea for Steak-umm came from a food expert named Eugene Gagliardi in 1968. He also invented popcorn chicken! At the time, Gagliardi worked at his family's meat company in West Philadelphia. He wanted to create a softer kind of meat for steak sandwiches.
In 1975, the Steak-umm company officially started. It operated from a meat factory in West Chester, Pennsylvania. A friend of Gagliardi's came up with the name "Steak-umm." In 1980, the company was sold to H.J. Heinz for $20 million. Heinz then sold Steak-umm under its Ore-Ida frozen foods brand.
In April 1994, TriFoods International, Inc. bought the Steak-umm brand. Eugene Gagliardi had started this company himself, though he only owned a small part of it. The company then moved from Pennsylvania to Pomfret, Connecticut.
Years later, in 2006, Quaker Maid Meats bought the rights to the Steak-umm brand. They now make the product in Reading, Pennsylvania.
In 2009, Steak-umm took legal action against a Philadelphia sandwich shop called "Steak'em Up." Steak-umm said the shop's name was too similar to theirs. However, in 2012, a judge decided that the two businesses were not direct competitors. The judge also found no clear proof that customers were confused by the names. So, the owners of "Steak'em Up" won the case.
What is Steak-umm?
The inventor, Gene Gagliardi, explained how Steak-umm is made. First, beef is put through a grinder many times. Then, it's mixed, shaped, and frozen. After that, it's softened and finally sliced into thin pieces.
In the 2012 legal case, Judge Lawrence Stengel described Steak-umm as a "chopped and formed meat product." He said it's made from beef trimmings. These are the pieces of beef left over after the main cuts, like tenderloin or rib eye, are removed from an animal. The chopped meat is then pressed into a loaf shape, sliced, frozen, and packaged.
Sometimes, people use Steak-umm as a replacement for chipped beef in recipes.
Steak-umm on Twitter
In 2017, Steak-umm started a fun campaign to get its Twitter account, @steak_umm, officially verified. They used the hashtag #VerifySteakUmm. They successfully got the blue checkmark on January 15, 2018.
The Steak-umm Twitter account became even more famous during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many brands started acting more casual and funny on social media. The Steak-umm account began posting inspiring tweets and jokes. It even had a friendly debate with famous scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Researchers have studied why the account became so popular.
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