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Our customers like one-pound
packages of ground beef. |
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Make $10, Not $1,000 Mistakes
Once you have decided to market your own beef, it won’t take
long before you figure out that things would be easier if your marketing
effort were bigger. That’s because conventional beef marketing
is set up to move huge quantities of beef very cheaply. Unfortunately,
there are a lot of people who have lost an awful lot of money trying
to do this.
Large beef processing and distribution companies can move huge
quantities of meat very cheaply because they’ve been at it
awhile. Although we dislike the dominating corporate nature of their
business, we have a great deal of respect for what they have been
able to accomplish. They do what they do very well.
When we first started out, we made a presentation to a very kind
individual with a natural foods distribution company. He informed
us that we were not experienced enough or large enough to service
them properly. He also suggested that we sell directly to our area’s
small natural food buying clubs, which were his customers. Even
though we were a trifle (okay, maybe a lot) peeved at his suggestion,
it turned out to be some of the best advice we have gotten.
We learned what cuts the customers want, how they want it packaged,
and how many pounds to put in each package – as well as a
myriad of other details we hadn’t even thought about. For
example, we found out that customers liked beef in see-through fresh
food packages better than if it was wrapped in butcher paper, because
they could see the meat.
Moreover, we found out that our customers like 1-pound packages
of ground beef more than 2-pound packages (2 pounds was too much
for most families).
| These basic industry definitions
help you sound like you know what you’re talking about,
although you don’t really need to know them.
Yield: Percentage of sellable,
live beef weight. On average, expect 30 percent. “We’re
getting a 30-percent yield.”
Yield Grade: (Note: Does not
actually pertain to yield.) Amount of fat per carcass where
1 is leanest and 5 is the most fatty. Most often applies to
the manufacturing of value-added items such as hot dogs and
sausages.
Hanging Weight: Weight of carcass
on rail following slaughter; somewhat meaningless as carcasses
are not sold in this manner.
Cold Carcass Weight (CCW):
Weight of carcass on rail following chilling. Grain-fed cattle
shrink ± 5% from hanging weight (mostly water loss),
while grass-fed cattle have minimal to none.
USDA Grading System: Voluntary,
inconsistently used method for grading beef based on age and
total marbling. USDA grades include: prime, choice, select,
standard, commercial, utility, cutter and canner. Some products
carry merchandising or packer house brands. Non-graded cuts
are sometimes called “no rolls” since a grade
stamp has not been “rolled” onto the carcass.
Wurter Brazelton Sheer Test:
Method of testing for tenderness in which seven samples taken
from a cooked cut are measured for the force it takes to cut
it, then averaged to produce a tenderness score. |
If you are just starting out, sell to your friends or to groups.
Sell sides of beef using an ad in the local paper. Call up local
groups – like the Elks – and ask if you can sell them
the beef for their next big barbecue. Invite comments and criticism.
You need all these experiences.
If people criticize your beef – rightly or wrongly –
the natural thing to do is defend yourself. Try not to. It will
only create ill will between you and your customers. Just be gracious
and thank them for their comments. Offer their money back.
When first starting out, you will need to restrain yourself from
being big. Start small and stay small until you have worked your
way through all the surprises. Then take on some more demand. Do
it incrementally, do it slowly. No one gets everything right. There
are too many things to go wrong. The mistake that gets you won’t
be one you know, it’ll be one you hadn’t even considered.
Your margins won’t be as big when you are small. By the same
token, a mistake won’t kill you either. Take it slow, work
your way through mistakes, and be creative. There is always more
than one way to skin a cat.
Don’t buy a refrigerated truck. Don’t buy any processing
equipment. Don’t buy a processing facility. Lease or hire
it until you are a few years down the road.
Jim Goodman of Wonewoc, Wis., bought a walk-in freezer as his only
initial start-up equipment. He says his business would have been
impossible without it. “It allows us to sell on the farm,
makes getting ready for the farmers market, where all meat must
be sold frozen, quick and easy, with no running to rented freezer
sites,” he says.
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