Meat+Poultry - July 2021 - 38

COMPANY PROFILE
" It's a great feeling that a lot of people that
might not have, tried our product because it
was the only thing on the shelf, " Ward said.
" And now, we have returning customers. "
RANCHER NETWORK
During the 30-plus years Dineen's been in the
bison business he's developed partnerships
with bison ranchers in order to support
the industry, grow his side of the business,
and produce the best product possible. The
company buys from around 70 different
rancher producers - purchasing from the top
20 of those on a weekly basis.
Great Range Bison's
most popular product
is its 90% lean ground
meat. The brand also
sells ground patties and
a variety of steaks.
" Some of our production is filling orders,
some is predictive, some depends on the
size of the order that has come in and when
shipments have to take place, " Dineen said.
" There are a lot of logistics involved and a lot
of moving parts. "
Ace Ward, chief operating officer, added,
" This little, tiny business has a lot of moving
parts. We don't schedule our day based on
how much we can put through the plant, we
schedule our day based on how many orders
we get. We're kind of a harvest-to-order type
of company. There's no commodity market
for bison, so if we produce too much, there's
nowhere in the market for it to go. "
However, the company's small size also
allows it to be nimble and flexible. " Because
we're small, we're pretty fast on our feet -
we can change our lines over pretty quickly
to accommodate increases or changes in
our orders. "
Last year, during the early months of the
COVID-19 pandemic, when retail meat cases
started to empty, the company found itself
having to increase orders.
" In April and May, when grocery stores
were running out of meat, our products were
often the only ones left in the case, " said David
Kent, senior vice president of sales. " We got
a lot of new customers to try our products
during the pandemic. We gained a lot of new
trial with customers during that time and it's
paid dividends. "
38 MEAT+POULTRY | 07.21 | www.meatpoultry.com
" There are some small ranches that we buy
10 head from a year and there are some we
buy 100 to 200 head a week from, every week, "
Dineen said. " There are major producers out
there that feel like we're the best company to
sell their animals to and likewise, we feel like
they're the best to buy from. "
Most of the bison producers in North
America are small family ranches located
in the high plains of the United States and
Canada. Rocky Mountain Natural Meats'
rancher partners include Beldon Bison Ranch
in Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Black Kettle
Buffalo in South Central Kansas and Diamond
Trail Ranch in Northern Colorado. Many of
the ranches are family owned and have been
passed down from generation to generation.
" There are a lot of people who grow up in
this business. I grew up in the bison business.
Bob basically grew up in the bison business, "
Ward said. " We didn't start this business
because we thought there was money in it - it's
because we love the animal. It's because bison
is what we know. There's something about the
animal that just draws you in, and that's why
we're here. We want to promote bison. "
And as the market for bison grows,
hopefully so will the market for Great Range
Bison products, Ward added.
" We think everybody should eat beef six
days a week and eat bison on the seventh.
There's not enough bison meat out there to
feed everybody seven days a week, " Dineen
said. " There's a very limited supply of product
in this industry. It will grow as consumer
demand grows.
" Ultimately, we want to see the industry,
as a whole, be successful. And if that happens,
we'll be successful too. "
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Meat+Poultry - July 2021

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