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Nebraska’s new slogan “Honestly, it’s not for everyone” may be true for some people, but the one thing that may be for everyone is Nebraska’s beef. The state’s quality beef is what inspired the Nebraska Beef Council to launch the Nebraska Beef Passport, which includes Sly’s Family Bar and Grill in Neligh.

According to nebeef.org, “The Nebraska Beef Council is a non-profit organization served by a nine-member board of directors. The volunteers oversee Nebraska’s beef checkoff and checkoff-funded programs.”

Adam Wegner, director of marketing for the NBC, explained that the passport program began in 2021, featuring more than 40 Nebraska restaurants that serve outstanding beef menu items.

“The Nebraska Beef Passport has been a fun way for people to visit parts of the state they’ve maybe never been to before and enjoy some outstanding beef,” he said. “It hopefully provides a nice boost to the local restaurants but also highlights the quality beef that our state has to offer.”

This year’s promotion began May 1 and continues through Sept. 30. It includes a digital passport option, available through mobile devices as well. Individuals participating in the Nebraska Beef Passport are allowed to use both the digital and hard copy passport.

Wegner shared how the Nebraska Beef Council can interact directly with beef consumers and share additional beef resources.

“Over 1,000 people have joined the Good Life Great Steak Facebook group and have shared pictures and comments from their beef passport travels,” he said. “Over 9,000 printed passports and 1,560 digital passports have been distributed.”

The Nebraska Beef Council board of directors is divided by districts. District four director is Jim Ramm, who represents Boyd, Holt, Knox, Antelope, Wheeler and Boone counties.

Ramm’s responsibility as director is to represent beef producers in his district and provide guidance on Beef Checkoff investments. The Nebraska Beef Council then uses that guidance to invest dollars in beef promotion, research and education with the goal of strengthening overall beef demand.

When asked how the Nebraska Beef Passport has helped District 4, Ramm responded with, “I think it’s made us more aware of some of the very good establishments for eating beef at restaurants and bars and grills in this area.”

He also mentioned the challenges in measuring how much beef is sold when it comes to investing money into different areas.

“It’s tough to measure that (the amount of beef consumed), but when we did this passport, it can be almost directly linked to if somebody goes into a restaurant and orders a beef product for dinner or lunch and picks up a passport and marks it down. You can just about measure how much beef we’re selling across the state,” Ramm said.

Through the use of the Nebraska Beef Passport, people are excited to drive to a new town and try something new.

According to Ramm, “Last year, we ran out of passport forms to the point where this year we went and put an app on people’s phones they could use plus the hard copy, and it was so successful that the state of North Dakota now has copied what we’re doing and they’re doing the same thing.”

The first year when it came to deciding what restaurants got on the passport, the directors were told to look at the towns in the area and talk with people to see what good beef establishments were around with easy access.

“After the first year, we had some other establishments come back and request being on there next year… we also had a couple of Mexican restaurants that sell a lot of beef request to join,” Ramm said.

Sly’s Family Bar and Grill in Neligh had “great reviews about their beef,” so owners applied to be on the beef passport.

“We were excited to be notified we were chosen,” exclaimed owner of Sly’s, Teresa Legate.

Sly’s Family Bar and Grill has seen great support from customers coming from all over to use the beef passports, even people traveling from other states.

“The passport is a great asset to our small restaurant, as it gives us promotion across the state of Nebraska,” Legate said. “It gets our name and location to thousands of people, and it gives us the possibility of customers coming to Sly’s that would have never heard of us or would not ever think of coming to Neligh to eat.”

Another great aspect of the passport is that while people begin traveling around, they spend money not only at the restaurants but also in the communities across the state.

“Many (people) go to local attractions as well,” Legate said. “Some stay in local motels, visit parks and of course gas stations. It keeps revenue in our state.”

Legate mentioned that Sly’s Family Bar and Grill has always purchased Nebraska beef.

“That has been Sly’s (Brian Legate’s) top priority when purchasing beef,” she said. “Many options are offered by our companies that sell to us.”

Sly’s Family Bar and Grill has enjoyed seeing many new customers, hearing their stories and talking about how beautiful and wonderful the state of Nebraska truly is.

Along with the joy the passports have already given, participants can receive prizes for having several stamps on their passports. A customer who purchases a beef item is entitled to a stamp on their passport. Digital stamps are automatically recorded under the name on the online account, but the booklet passports must be mailed in and postmarked by Oct. 5, 2022.

There will be two top prize winners who will receive a $250 beef bundle and grilling swag. 30 or more stamps will grant participants their name on the Beef Passport Hall of Fame with a Good Life, Great Steaks t-shirt and grilling swag. People with 10 or more stamps will be entered to win a flexible cutting board, koozie and a cookbook: 150 winners. People with five or more stamps will be entered to win a Good Life, Great Steaks koozie and cookbook: 250 winners. Finally, people with five or more digital stamps will be entered to win a “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner” cooler.

Sly’s Family Bar and Grill is among several restaurants that are very grateful for the privilege to be on the Nebraska Beef Passport.