Meat&Poultry - January 2012 - 46

PANORAMA MEATS

are slaughtered at between 16 and 18 months, at a weight of between 1,050 and 1,100 lbs., less than grain-fed beef. One part of Graves’s marketing strategy is to not run down the opposition. “We don’t say other products are bad. We think our products are great. When we look at studies to prove the health benefits of grass-fed beef, we talk about others, not any studies about any other kind of beef.” Graves also says his principle marketing mechanism is demonstrations “in stores, where the consumers are, handing beef to customers and saying ‘try it.’” One thing Graves has to do is conMack Graves, CEO of Panorama Meats (left), and his son, John, pose while handing out samples at a Whole Foods Market in Denver. (Photo courtesy of Panorama Meats)

vince the ranchers to keep the cattle for another year. “We have to pay a premium to the ranchers. Grassfed cattle gain about 1-1/2 to 2 lbs. of weight a day, where grain-fed beef from the feedlot gain 4 lbs. of weight a day. “One advantage for ranchers is they can take advantage of our strong retail presence to get a premium price and a guaranteed market for their beef. “Panorama handles all the processing, merchandising and marketing for their beef to consumers, allowing family ranchers to focus on ranching.” He says his mission is to help make organic grass-fed and fi nished cattle ranching a viable economic strategy. We also want to help our rancher partners employ systems to protect delicate ranchlands for future generations.” Graves says the environment, sustainability and conservation are very important to him and his company. “One of our ranchers won the NCBA Environmental Stewardship Award two years ago. We not only talk the talk, we walk the walk.” ■
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Foods are looking for grass-fed beef,” he says. “The ones we sell to are all in the West. We don’t really compete with the ‘big boys’. In Texas, we do compete with other companies, and we market our product. We sell to HEB Groceries in Texas, Central Markets there and Abundant Harvest Organics in California. HEB carries only one item of ours: pre-packaged ground beef.”

head of cattle were processed. “We don’t like to get into the financials publicly too much, since we’re privately held, but we’re in the $12 million to $15 million sales category.” Because the company is relatively small, it contracts with slaughterers and processors to handle the

Repeat customers
Graves also talks about his pragmatic business approach: “You can probably get anyone to eat something one time,” he says with a chuckle. “The real thing is to get them to come back. With food, the fi nal criterion is taste. The consumer makes the fi nal decision, and you have to tell the consumer everything you’ve done. When you tell them the animals are humanely treated, you don’t add a lot of things you shouldn’t add to their feed and the product measures up, you have a winner.” Graves says the company’s sales have grown consistently by about 22 percent per year. In 2011, about 7,000

“Panorama handles all the processing, merchandising and marketing for their beef to consumers, allowing family ranchers to focus on ranching.”
beef. They include Yosemite Valley Beef Packing in Merced, Calif.; G & C Packing in Colorado Springs, Rocky Mountain Natural Meats in Henderson, Colo.; and Golden California Meat Packers in Fresno, Calif. “We outsource everything,” Graves says. “We don’t even have an office of our own. Our company has a total of four employees.” Most of the cattle

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Meat&Poultry - January 2012

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