Shaye Koester (00:00):
Hey, Hey, it's Shaye Koester and I'm your host for Casual Cattle Conversations, where we talk about all things related to ranching, through sharing the stories and practices of different ranchers in their operations.
Shaye Koester (00:18):
To start things off, we're going to hear from one of the casual cattle conversations, patrons, Luke Frantz. Now, what is a patron? A patron is someone or a business who wants to support this podcast financially. How that works is through Podbean. You are able to donate anywhere from one to 20 to $50 a month of your choosing and through that you get different rewards, whether that's merchandise, a meeting with me, or in Luke's case, a shout-out on the podcast. And he is also able to read a message. There's also social media shout-outs available to you with that, thank you, Luke. And let's hear what Luke has to say about the podcast and the episode that you will be listening to today.
Luke Frantz (00:59):
Hi everyone. I'm Luke with Grazed Grass-fed beef, uh, just real quick wanted to mention, what we value the most in direct to consumer marketing for us, it's really the traceability that we're able to provide for our consumers. Um, people know exactly what they're getting, how their beef was raised and, you know, probably just as important they know who's raising their beef. Uh, we think being able to put a face with the product or face with the brand is important, and we really saw that value increase exponentially during the pandemic. And another thing, you know, why, why I enjoy the casual cattle conversations podcast is really just the diversity and the content, you know, from grazing management to ag policy, to beef marketing, there's a little something for everyone. And I think that's why it'll continue to grow.
Shaye Koester (01:46):
Thank you, Luke, for contributing to the podcast and for introducing today's topic on direct-to-consumer beef marketing. Welcome back. And thanks for returning I'm glad you're on here. As I watched the download numbers increase on this episode and my other episodes, you guys are stellar. Amazing. All-stars keep it up. Now. Let's talk about marketing beef direct to consumers. Now, this is a unique episode with Mary at Five Marys Farms in California, where Mary talks about how her and her husband are first-generation ranchers and started their business by selling directly to consumers, but shipping their product throughout the country and not necessarily selling completely local. Mary shares her experience in how they started and how they've grown, how they're employing others, how they are creating opportunities for other ranchers to learn how to market directly to consumers, as well as the education they offer to consumers or how their whole family is involved and the different stores and businesses, and even adding their own butcher shop. In addition to this, to what they're doing, they don't just sell beef. They also sell pork and lamb too. In this episode, Mary offers a lot of advice on getting started working through some of the hiccups, how to grow and when you decide to grow, please let me know what you think of this episode or other episodes. Give me that five-star rating and like comment. Let me hear it. I've appreciated everything you've said so far. Let me know what other topics you want to hear with that. Let's get on with the episode.
Mary (03:32):
Hi, how are you?
Shaye Koester (03:35):
I'm doing well. How are you?
Mary (03:37):
Good.
Shaye Koester (03:37):
Just to get started. Can you explain your background with ranching a little bit?
Mary (03:42):
Sure. Um, so my husband and I are first-generation cattle ranchers. We started about seven years ago. Um, he grew up more in agriculture and, um, I did not grow up in agriculture at all. Uh, when we met, we, um, were both working in kind of a suburban more corporate settings and, um, seven years ago we just decided to make a total change to, um, ranch full time. So we moved our family out to some property that we'd bought in rural Siskew County, um, and really started from scratch.
Shaye Koester (04:17):
Well, that's awesome. So that's in California, correct?
Mary (04:20):
Yes, far Northern California.
Shaye Koester (04:23):
Awesome. So can you talk a little bit about what Five Marys is today?
Mary (04:29):
Today, Five Marys is a brand for our family business.
Mary (04:33):
We sell our ranch, raised beef, pork, and lamb all over the country. Um, we ship to all 50 States, right from our farm store here in town, and all the meat is raised on our ranch. We also have a restaurant in town, Five Mary's burger house where we, um, all of our own meats on the menu. For, um, locals we do lunch and dinner six days a week for locals. And a lot of people actually come kind of from far and wide to experience Five Mary's and come to the burger house. And then we have, um, an entrepreneurs group where we help other small businesses to, um, reach the direct-to-consumer market most, um, entrepreneurs in agriculture who are working on setting up their own small businesses. And we have, uh, M Five ranch school where we, um, are working on kind of creating a year-long educational program to introduce kids who might not be familiar with agriculture to all the different components of an agricultural world, as well as the outdoors and trades. Um, and kind of some of those skills that we seem to have lost.
Shaye Koester (05:42):
That is absolutely amazing and so much going on. But with that, where did you start with that? So you have a bunch of different segments there. What was your, where was your starting point?
Mary (05:53):
Um, I've always kind of been an entrepreneur and I love to see a need and fill it. So I wouldn't say we ever really had a starting point. It's just sort of an evolution of, um, how our business grows. You know, when we see something that, um, we feel like would make a viable business, it could be successful that could fill a need. Um, my husband and I really kind of just like to jump on it. Um, the last piece of our puzzle is the, uh, butchery. So right now we are using, um, outside third parties, obviously for, for our USDA inspected butchery before we sell our meat to our customers. Um, and we are hoping to kind of complete our vertical integration and have control of that process as well. There's a real need in it and agriculture to have more, um, small butcher shops. So we are building our own that we just got permits approved and should be, um, starting on pretty soon. Yeah.
Shaye Koester (06:48):
Well, that's awesome. So going back to, you know, selling your meat directly to consumers, did you start selling all three right away or did you start with one specific species?
Mary (07:00):
We started with all three. We knew that we wanted to offer our customer base as diverse set of, um, of proteins. So if they wanted to order a monthly box from us, it could have all the options of beef, pork, and lamb. We don't do any poultry. Um, but we also pretty quickly realized that the direct-to-consumer market was going to be the only way for us to make this work as first-generation ranchers. Um, doing a really high-quality products was really important to us with an extended feed time and an extended dry age. Um, and those costs, you know, some extra inputs to make that happen. So, um, the direct-to-consumer market was really the only way that made sense for us to be able to put those extra inputs in and still find the margins in raising a great quality product.
Shaye Koester (07:47):
Wow. So you started right away putting these in boxes and sending them out, or was it more, Hey, um, just to a few neighbors here and there?
Mary (07:57):
No, we kind of were like, if this is the plan of how this is going to work, this is what we need to do to make happen. Um, it took about a year of trial and error to figure out the packaging and the dry ice and the shipping carriers and how it was gonna work. Um, but we knew early on, you know, we chose this lifestyle to be on the ranch together as a family, to be the only ones taking care of our animals. And it just wasn't feasible to send one of us to a farmer's market or to be traveling for deliveries. Um, we wanted to use our energy to stay on the ranch and be taking the best care of our animals possible. So, um, you know, putting our meat in a box and sending it right from the ranch to customer's doorstep seemed like the best solution.
Mary (08:38):
It was just, it was, it was difficult to work out the logistics of how to do that. Um, no one was really doing it. We didn't have anybody to look for. And as an example, who was a small farm, um, but after all that trial and error, we really wanted to kind of help create that roadmap and help other small farms do that as well. Um, so we have over 800 families in our small business course, and many of them are shipping direct to consumers, um, you know, getting their own ranch raised uh, operations up. Um, we'd like to think that, you know, there's plenty of mouths to feed in this country and we're, we're all in this together. So it's better for all of us when we work together and collaborate, instead of feel like it's competition,
Shaye Koester (09:22):
You said you have 800 customers now.
Mary (09:26):
No, we've got, um, gosh, I don't even know. We've had tens of thousands of customers. We have 800 families in our, um, entrepreneurs group where we have 800 small agricultural farms and ranches who we work together as a community to help others ship their own meat as well.
Shaye Koester (09:44):
So what do people do to become a part of that community?
Mary (09:49):
Um, we opened a online course. It also has digital, uh, we have 79 chapters of digital content with 20 hours of video. We do Q&A sessions that are always available to replay. We have three course books that really teach you the ins and outs of, um, building your small business, using social media to grow as well as how to ship, um, farm products like perishables. So we open up, um, in the fall and in the spring for a new session every year and people join the session, then they get access to all of the digital content, um, the workbooks, and then we host in-person workshops. Um, when we can to really help people kind of take their business to the next level, learn how to do their own branding, their own marketing, how to build their own website, um, how to do e-commerce and, and really meet directly to that, um, that customer base. So we, we, we bring new people in, um, about every six months.
Shaye Koester (10:47):
Wow. That is amazing. So what were some challenges you really faced right away when you were starting with your direct to consumer?
Mary (10:58):
Um, shipping was the biggest obstacle. I mean, obviously in ranching, we face new obstacles every day with, um, the logistics of raising livestock, but, um, shipping meat to being a perishable product was a huge obstacle and trying to navigate, um, how to ship, how to find good quality insulated liners that would keep me frozen, but weren't styrofoam, you know, something that was more environmentally friendly, um, how to use dry ice, how to source dry ice, how long dry ice lasts, which shipping carriers work do you need to ship overnight, or can you ship on ground? Um, and it, it took us a while to navigate that and we're still learning and, you know, things change and things get easier for us, um, as we go, but it's, uh, it's definitely been, there was a very steep learning curve at first. Um, and, and, uh, it was a challenge to plow through that, but we really, we knew there was no other option, so we had to keep pushing.
Shaye Koester (11:53):
Awesome. So is there anything You wish you would've done differently as you started out?
Mary (11:58):
Um, that's a good question. I feel like I wish I'd had like a, a network of people that I could rely on. We had, um, great mentors in actual ranching and farming and irrigation and fencing, you know, that, that helped Brian and I understand everything we needed to do to build this ranch, but there wasn't anybody that we could, um, talk to about, you know, how, how do you ship meat and how do you sell to a customer and what kind of cut list should we do the first time? Like, what cuts are people actually going to want to buy and how thick should the steaks be? Um, so it was, it was hard to navigate it without really any support, um, which is what I, I just love about our course and community is that now we have that support and people who are just starting now could go on our community at any point during the day and say, you know, here's my issue. The butcher sent me back and all the steaks are cut half the size. And, you know, uh, a few of us who are more experienced can say, okay, here we sell them as petite cuts, or here's an idea, or here's how you can market them. And, you know, just the feeling of, yes, we've been there before. We're all in this together, um, is a really neat thing.
Shaye Koester (13:09):
Well, that is awesome. So with you selling three different species, do you notice more of a demand for a specific one or are they, do you have almost an equal demand for them? What do you see there?
Mary (13:21):
Um, beef will always be our number one product just in terms of volume. Um, we are harvesting 10 steers a week. Um, so we've got, you know, 20,000 pounds of beef a month to move and then pork. Um, there's a huge demand for pork and pork is really efficient to raise, you know, you get more meat for, um, for carcass and perks in easy sell. I always say, because you don't have kind of the odd cuts or too many roasts in winter, you know, it's pork chops, it's poor, gross, it's ground pork, sausage, and bacon. And those people know, they know what they're buying, that it's easy to sell. So we have a huge demand for pork. We just don't always have as much of it. Um, and lamb is actually a hard sell people who love lamb. Absolutely love it. They love our lamb because it has a really, um, mild yet like great flavor. I think a lot of people who don't like lamb have had bad lamb in their, in their past. And so they're more hesitant to try it, but, um, people who try our lamb love it. Um, but it definitely sells in the smallest percentage of, of what we're moving
Shaye Koester (14:29):
Well. That's awesome. So with your butchery, is that something where you're going to keep it just in house for you guys? Or will you open it up so that other producers can come and have their own butchered there too?
Mary (14:41):
Our butchery will be open to the public. So we'll do about half our own work and half, um, other small farms and ranches. So we're excited to work with, um, some other farms and really help them get their product to consumer. It will be designed for people who are selling by the cut direct to the consumer. It will all be USDA certified, um, and we'll have great options for packaging and getting their label on the package. Um, and a lot of the things that were challenges for us in the beginning. Um, we hope to make that a lot easier for small farms and ranches coming to ours.
Shaye Koester (15:14):
Well, that's awesome. So with everything that you have going on, how have you learned to balance and manage all these different moving parts and pieces of your business?
Mary (15:25):
Um, you know, my husband's a great partner and we work together to just, you know, keep pushing through and tackle the to-do lists every day. Um, we've got a great team in my shop here. We've got a great team at the restaurant. Um, everybody kind of works together and is a big part of the team. And, um, we all kind of have our, our big picture lists and our daily to do lists. And there's only so much you can do in a day, but we try to knock out as much as possible and, um, just keep pushing our brand forward.
Shaye Koester (15:53):
Awesome. So how many employees do you have then?
Mary (15:57):
Um, but we have nine to 10 in my shop and about 15 at the restaurant, um, and only about one and a half on the ranch.
Shaye Koester (16:06):
Okay. So that's maybe more than some, but you're still all having full to-do lists there with that number.
Mary (16:14):
The ranch is a lot and Brian covers a lot, but the girls are really helpful. You know, we have, um, our daughters are eight, nine, 11, and 13, and they're very capable. And, you know, by now raised on the ranch long enough that they, they know the ins and outs probably better than I do. Um, and so they're really helpful in the daily operation as well.
Shaye Koester (16:35):
Now you mentioned that you don't really come from an ag background. So what are some things you did to bridge that gap for yourself?
Mary (16:43):
Um, just watching and learning and, and talking to people who've been doing this their whole life and, um, kind of learning the way things are done and somethings, you know, we see that we can do differently. We might do differently, but really we're raising our animals, um, in a very conventional way, the way it's been done for years and years, um, just the way we market our end product is a little different than what most people are doing.
Shaye Koester (17:07):
So with that, I guess, to wrap up, you really answered a lot and hit a lot of questions. About what advice do you have for individuals who are just looking at getting started selling direct to consumers?
Mary (17:20):
I say a hundred percent go for it. You know, the time is now people really want to connect with the farm or the ranch raising their meat. Um, there's so many tools out there to make it easy to get started between, you know, the internet and social media and building a website. Most of these things just cost you your time. And if you're willing to invest the time to, um, build a brand for yourself and connect with your consumers, the market is there.
Shaye Koester (17:47):
Awesome. I, I do have one more question that I missed. How have you tied in advocacy to your business?
Mary (17:55):
I think education is a big part of what we all do. And, um, I really use social media to kind of share our story and show, um, what it's like on a cattle ranch. And I'll have people say all the time, you know, I'm going to be so thankful that next time I have a bite of steak because I didn't know how much work went into raising animals, um, and showing, you know, the good days, the bad days kind of sharing it all so that people have a window into what it's like, um, to raise livestock.
Shaye Koester (18:23):
Awesome. Well, thank you very much for your time today. I appreciate it visiting with you and I'm sure the listeners will love this
Mary (18:30):
Sounds great. It was nice to chat with you today.
Shaye Koester (18:32):
And that's a wrap on that one. I certainly hope you got a lot of value out of that and found some advice on marketing beef directly to consumers, or maybe just learned about a new approach to it. I learned a lot visiting with Mary. I enjoyed the visit. It was great to meet her. And with that, let me know what you the think. Follow me on Facebook. Instagram, Twitter got a little bit on YouTube, so check it out and let me know your thoughts. Have a great day.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
[inaudible].
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