ARLINGTON, VA -- Earlier this month, USA Rice kicked off a new promotional foodservice partnership with On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, a national dining chain. After meeting with the leaders of their culinary and purchasing teams to understand On the Border’s goals and how USA Rice could best support the operation, USA Rice is providing culinary and marketing support to On the Border (OTB) and in turn the restaurant chain has added a callout for U.S.-grown rice to their
menus that feature the industry’s “Grown in the USA” (GITUSA) logo.
Starting the first week in February, the GITUSA logo was printed on Page Ten of every menu for the chain’s more than 120 locations, positioned next to the two rice sides of Mexican Rice and Cilantro Lime Rice, both made with U.S.-grown long grain rice.
“Rice is an important part of many food cultures, and this is no different in Tex-Mex cuisine. It is a staple component of almost every dish we serve at On the Border,” said Daniel Camp, OTB senior director of culinary. “We proudly source U.S-grown rice because of its high quality, cooking characteristics, and the fact that we are able to support the local economy as well. We are now featuring the Grown in the USA logo on our menus to help bring this to the attention of our guests and look forward to continuing to offer high quality U.S. rice products to our guests in the future.”
In addition to the U.S.-grown rice menu callout, USA Rice will conduct a menu ideation session for the OTB culinary team where the USA Rice team of R&D chefs will develop and present six to eight recipe concepts for a new rice option that the chain plans to add to their offerings. OTB also will promote U.S.-grown rice through a series of social posts highlighting their use of domestic rice and the importance of choosing U.S.-grown.
“This partnership is a great opportunity to get the word out on U.S.-grown rice and we are thrilled to be working with an established brand like On the Border,” said Robbie Trahan, Louisiana rice miller and chair of the USA Rice Domestic Promotion Committee. “We anticipate this ongoing collaboration adding new U.S.-grown rice options to OTB offerings, but we are also going to have eaters across the country seeing the Grown in the USA logo featured on all their menus. That kind of exposure for the GITUSA logo is tremendous and will help consumers make the connection that it stands for the highest quality and safest rice available.”
The partnership is a result of the USA Rice Domestic Promotion Chain Engagement Program that works to solve specific marketing or back of house (BOH) needs through USA Rice foodservice partner offerings in exchange for U.S.-grown rice recognition on marketing materials and restaurant communications.
Partner offerings include marketing support (e.g., social content and collaboration, custom point of sale materials, customer research, trend webinars), industry research (rice consumption data, sustainability report), operator learning tools (training videos, guides, foodservice playbooks), culinary support (menu ideation, BOH training and custom support), and the Foodservice Farm & Mill Tour.
On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina is a forty-year-old Tex-Mex casual dining chain based out of Irving, Texas, with more than 120 locations across the country and South Korea. Each week, OTB feeds on average 246,000 consumers and has rice served with every entrée.
Visit the
OTB website to find the location nearest you.