Starting this fall, lamb and beef from Ignacio-based Fox Fire Farms will become a rarity in Southwest Colorado as the company works out the final stages of a contract to sell almost all its meat to Whole Foods Market.
The deal with the natural and organic grocery store chain will allow the farm to finally turn a profit on its meat, which is grass-fed and organic, said Brent Walter, Fox Fire's sales and marketing director.
"We all worked really hard these last couple years to make the farm profitable with lots of different private enterprises, but we didn't anticipate the huge costs in direct marketing, freezers, vehicles and labor," Walter said. "We struggled to stay above water, and when all was said and done, we only broke even."
The Whole Foods contract will allow the company to give up the job of processing, storing and selling its meat directly, saving time and money, Walter said. He will get to focus his energy on the "fun stuff" – planning events and organizing wine tastings – and the farm will save money on electricity, processing costs and labor. Accepting, filling and delivering meat orders took one full-time employee, one intern and a few delivery people, he said. With the change, Fox Fire has downsized from seven employees to four.
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