This paper analyzed the competitiveness of beef retailing in Brazil+ We carried out a rapid appraisal by means of extensive usage of secondary information, key informant semistructured interviews and direct observation all around the country+ We found that beef has been losing competitiveness to other meats in part because of price disadvantage and in part because of mar- keting inefficiencies+ The critical points are: the intermittent quality, unhealthy image and high price of beef, the low level of income of most consumers, inept enforcement of safety regulations, and failing vertical coordination+ An important outcome of this study is that most of the problems faced by retailers do not depend only on them+ However, retailers need to play a dominant role in dealing with these issues because they represent the most organized segment of the Brazilian beef system.