Building your beef business: Insights from Modern Steak

Amid the ever-growing panoply of exotic restaurant experiences, steak is still king.

“People see going for a high-quality steak dinner as something special,” says Stephen Deere, owner of Modern Steak’s two Calgary restaurants.

“We strive to provide the best experience to our guests with a nice bottle of wine, an incredible cut of the best beef and great ambiance to ensure that they have an elevated experience when dining. Guests will pay for the experience along with the food.”

Modern Steak sources ranch-specific beef for their menu. When marketing is all about differentiating your brand and telling your story, Deere says Alberta’s beef isn’t appreciated the way it should be.

But Deere, a third-generation Albertan, sees something special in our beef. “Alberta has the best native grass.

We have some of the best water and we definitely have the world’s greatest barley,” he said. “Those are the three inputs that make Alberta beef what it is.

Great ranchers and producers can make something phenomenal that rivals anything in the world. I’m not sure that every person in Alberta or Canada knows that, so it’s my job to scream from the rooftops about how special this product is—as well as the people behind it.”

He likens the distinctive qualities of great beef to terroir in French wine—a term that refers to the unique flavours imparted by geography, climate, and soil.

“We can show terroir of beef when you know there’s a difference between ranches in northern Alberta and southern Alberta—the grass might be different or the water is different. Or the processing is different in terms of their aging regimens.”

Deere owned Muse in Calgary for three years. Before that he held the Canadian licence for Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurants, working with Buffett in the Caribbean and the United States.

It was then that Deere saw the potential for a new style of upscale steakhouse.

“What we had in Calgary was the traditional kind of steakhouse—contemporary or even old-school New York. Lots of dark reds and browns and leather, and very masculine,” he said.

Deere saw an opportunity to serve outstanding beef, and to sell more of it, by shaking up the preconceptions of what a steakhouse should be.

“Not everyone is interested in the classic steakhouse experience, we want to provide guests with options for something different that stands out amongst the crowd,” he said.

A truly outstanding steak, whether six ounces or 40 ounces or cut to order, is a heck of an option.

Deere insists on dealing directly with selected ranches. He talks with the producers and learns about everything from their breeding programs to their feed and forage; from their animal welfare practices to their land stewardship.

It matters to him, he says, because it matters to his customers.

Modern Steak’s primary source of beef is Benchmark Angus, owned by the Munton family and based in Lethbridge. The restaurant boasts that its commitment to top-quality Alberta beef is so strong, they partnered with Benchmark and bought their own bull.

For selecting their suppliers, “we have a checklist,” Deere said. “It starts with the people. Benchmark’s been in the same place for almost 110 years. Their son Michael will be the fifth generation running that ranch.

“They have a great track record. They are always improving their stewardship of the land. Their animal welfare is top of mind. And the biggest thing for us is that they produce top quality—they are myopic in that focus.” Deere looks for the same thing from other suppliers: a goal to produce the best, whether grass-fed, conventional or hybrid.

He offers some advice for ranches looking to get into the specialty market.

What’s your story?

It’s the story that gives your steak its sizzle, and it’s the sizzle that sells. Deere looks for suppliers with a great story to tell.

He will ask, where is your ranch? What kind of water does it have? What kind of feed or grass does it have? What is its history? If you have a product that stands out from commodity beef, you need to establish its provenance.

“The specialty beef market demands a good story along with quality beef. Guests want to know the who and why behind what is on their plate when paying a premium price,” he says.

Quality and quantity: Can you deliver?

“We also want to know that you have the expertise to be able to do it,” Deere said. You need to have a large enough herd to supply your specialty buyers, whether it’s one steak house or butcher shop, or 10.

Though their main supply comes from Benchmark, Modern Steak deals with smaller producers on a feature sheet basis. “We might only get one to three animals from a ranch, and we run that until we run out and then we move on to something else,” Deere said.

But ranches that want to establish themselves as a premium brand need to have the numbers to meet demand, or they will end up spending more to build the brand than they will earn in sales.

Make friends with technology

As ranches move towards artisan beef, they need sophisticated marketing tools. Again, it ties into the story of the beef and how to tell it.

Marketing doesn’t always feel like a priority, Deere says. But a website, an Instagram page, someone to handle your social media, and someone to handle your order desk are vitally important.

“It’s the turning point for getting your beef into somewhere special. When you master this, you get more money for your animals. Your product is coveted because they buy into the quality of the story, and the place and the person behind it.”

Know your customer

If you want to sell to a premium steakhouse, Deere says, come in and experience what they’re serving. It’s one thing to know your cattle and your beef, but you have to understand your customer—not just the restaurateur, but the paying guest.

“It can be incredibly helpful to the ranchers to understand the entire process of their hard work. We invite producers to come to the restaurant to live the experience from the customer’s point of view,” Deere said.

Every rancher in Alberta will tell you their beef is the best, he says, and obviously they can’t all be right. Find out where your product stands.

Some closing thoughts

Deere is excited by the product Alberta’s ranchers can provide. He believes Alberta produces the best beef—he wants to celebrate and promote the best of the best.

And he’s looking forward to doing even more of it. Modern Steak plans to feature 12 different ranches over 12 months. “I want to have all these different brand-named ranches and what they do and what’s special about them,” Deere said. “Every month we’ll feature their beef and let people know about all these different places.”

It’s all part of unlocking ever-more value for Alberta beef, he says, and helping ranchers reap the benefits of the brand.”

This article was first published in Volume 5 Issue 2 of ABP Magazine (May 2025). To access the full digital magazine or subscribe to the print edition, click here.