Meat&Poultry - August 2013 - 75

T&E MEaTs

no stretch to see him anywhere but in
a custom meat plant. But fate intervened. His parents purchased a farm

market their own meats.”
They formally closed the retail
store in 2011.

in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley with

The private-label aspect of the

the intent of starting a vineyard. But

business went from about 5 percent

shortly after, his father was involved

of sales to the current level of 100 per-

in a serious accident that necessitat-

cent. Cloud says they were able to use

ed Joe’s semi-regular commute from

the space once devoted to retail and

Seattle to help manage the new fam-

convert small areas of the 7,000 sq.-

ily farm.

ft. facility to create greater efficiencies.

Then, somewhere along the line he

box and began seeing custom volume

Virginia farmer Joel Salatin, whose

“Food has
always
been part
of our
family’s
culture.”

They added a 12-ft.-by-16-ft. freezer

attended a seminar given by articulate

climb by 30 to 35 percent every year.

notoriety soared after the publication

In July, they removed the 1972

of Michael Pollan’s book “Omnivore’s

steam boiler and went to a high-effi-

Dilemma.”

ciency, natural-gas system that saved

Salatin, who happened to be the

them money on energy bills.

largest of four interests leasing parts
of the Cloud farm, was preaching

—Joe Cloud

“The point is we just didn’t have
the money to do what we wanted,”

_J

that small farmers were becoming
endangered because of the closing of
so many small, local custom plants.
Cloud and Salatin became friends
and soon started looking at the former
T&E Meats plant in Harrisonburg. It

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was being sold by Tommy and Erma
May, who were retiring after many
decades of ownership. It was one of
the last remaining custom plants that
could process Salatin’s livestock.
In 2008, they purchased the plant,
which also had a retail store, and some
wholesale accounts, complete with refrigerated truck delivery services. The
new owners agreed to let things run as
they were for the first year and monitor what was happening.
“We went heavily into television

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and radio advertising to promote
the retail store,” Cloud recalls. “We
thought that was our area of greatest potential. It wasn’t. We quickly
stopped our wholesale activity and
delivery. We put our entire emphasis on slaughter and processing for
those who wanted to private-label and

For more information contact: Don Ballein
CES/Foodlogistik U.S.A. • 2128 M So. Grove Ave.
Ontario, CA 91761 U.S.A.
Tel (909) 947-8511 • Fax (909) 627-0087
Toll Free 1-888-278-0885
dballein@foodlogistik.com

Please visit our website

www.foodlogistik.com

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