Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 292: From Pasture to Plate How Your Cattle Turn Into a Steakhouse Experience with T.C. Turner

Transcript

292: From Pasture to Plate How Your Cattle Turn Into a Steakhouse Experience with T.C. Turner · CattleUSA Daily

0:00
Today I am so excited to welcome on TC Turner or as some of you
0:05
may know him by the Red Bearded Butcher.
0:08
TC and I met in Nashville a few weeks ago and I am just so
0:13
excited to have him on today. TC is a butcher in Nashville and
0:18
has just had an amazing career from the retail side, from the
0:22
butcher side to now to being in the restaurant and culinary
0:27
industry. And so often as producers, we
0:30
don't always get to see what our end product looks like or hear
0:34
from people that are working with our end product.
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And TC just has such an amazing passion for our beef industry,
0:40
for our producer population and for the independent processors
0:45
as well. In today's conversation with TC,
0:48
we touch on his story, we touch on the need for independent
0:50
processors, we talk about grilling, we talk about best
0:54
practices, all of the different things and some maybe some hard
0:57
truths that TC wants to share with our producers population as
1:01
well. Before we hop into today's
1:02
episode, make sure if you're watching on YouTube, you take a
1:05
second to hit that subscribe button and like this episode.
1:08
If you're on any of our other podcast platforms, make sure
1:10
you're following the show, go right and review it and share it
1:14
with a friend. We appreciate all of the love
1:16
and support that you guys give us as listeners and continuing
1:19
to show up week after week, episode after episode.
1:22
For us, we are truly just here to continue to grow our producer
1:25
population and continue to make a wider impact on the beef
1:29
industry and that would not be possible without you guys.
1:32
So doing all of those things really just helps us continue to
1:34
grow and just know that I really, really appreciate it and
1:38
all of us here at the team appreciate it as well.
1:40
Without further ado, let's go ahead and hear from TC Turner.
1:47
Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily Podcast, your go to source for
1:51
the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
1:54
updates shaping agriculture today.
1:56
I'm your host Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
1:59
agriculture, here to keep you informed and connected.
2:02
Now let's dive into today's episode.
2:09
TC, welcome to the podcast. I have been anticipating getting
2:13
you on and chit chatting with you some more since meeting you
2:16
in Nashville last month. And I am just so excited for our
2:20
conversation today. I would love it if you could
2:22
just kind of take it away and share a little bit about
2:25
yourself for all of our audience members, who you are, what you
2:28
do, and kind of what brought you to the life that you're living
2:31
now. Yeah, sure, you bet.
2:32
So my name is TC Turner, I'm a butcher here in Nashville, TN
2:36
and we had the pleasure of meeting a couple weeks ago back
2:39
in cattle con and I had a great conversation over some smoked
2:42
brisket, which is very fitting right?
2:45
That was that that was a great time.
2:46
I've been in the industry basically my entire life going a
2:50
little over 30 years now. My father was a butcher, so
2:53
started with him back at a really young age, whether it be
2:56
you're going to processing wild game on his days off during
2:59
hunting seasons for people or doing some animals on the side
3:03
during the fall. You know, butchers were always
3:05
looking to find side jobs and we're always kind of hustling,
3:08
kind of like the plumbers and electricians, right?
3:10
There's never really a day off, just a day away from what your
3:12
regular work is. So I've been able to have a fun
3:14
career. I, I worked in retail for the
3:17
first, you know, 20 plus years before starting kind of doing
3:22
the consulting and just teaching on the side.
3:25
I've been able to travel with a great beef company, company
3:27
around the country. We teach butchery classes to the
3:30
culinary world. We've done a lot of classes in
3:34
New York City, Washington, DC, Boston, Las Vegas, just to name
3:38
a few places. And we've had James Beard
3:40
award-winning chefs with us. We've had Michelin star chefs
3:43
sitting in with us. And we just talked about beef,
3:45
we talked about processing. We give them opportunities to
3:49
increase sales, increase margins, learn, you know, new
3:53
tactics that are going to set them apart from maybe their
3:55
other competition in the area and just give them a little bit
3:58
more of a round, well-rounded beef knowledge.
4:01
It's helpful, you know, And now I just started the new project
4:04
here in Nashville where I've actually taken my first position
4:07
in a full scale restaurant where I'm I'm now the butcher in a
4:11
brand new steakhouse here in Nashville called Prime and
4:14
Proper, which already has an amazing location in Detroit.
4:17
They're one of the top 20 steakhouses in the country, so
4:19
it was really great to have an opportunity.
4:21
We have a big dry aging room. We cut everything from, you
4:24
know, all of fed Japanese Wagyu beef, American Australian Wagyu
4:29
beef. We do prime with a big dry aging
4:31
room. So yeah, it's really, it's
4:33
really great to be on the culinary side of things, maybe a
4:36
little bit more than the retail side of things now.
4:38
Yeah, wow. You have lived a lot of life
4:41
over your career and all of the things that you do, that's for
4:44
sure. I think it's so fun that you've
4:45
seen so many different facets of the industry too over your
4:49
career over the past 30 years. I'm sure a lot has changed,
4:53
whether it be in retail or processing or just like the
4:56
butchery art in and of itself. What has kind of changed the
4:59
most in your opinion since you started?
5:01
Well, I think, you know, a lot of the lot of the standards have
5:06
remained the same. A lot of the basic principles
5:09
are the same. What I see on the culinary side
5:11
of things now is that everybody's just always
5:13
elevating, wanting to put out better products.
5:16
So when I started, the industry had a lot of select beef, not
5:20
nearly as much choice beef, and prime beef was very limited.
5:23
The producers are getting so good with the science of beef,
5:28
of beef producing nowadays that they're producing a much higher
5:31
percentage of choice and prime beef.
5:33
So the beef is definitely gotten better over the last 2530 years
5:38
without a doubt. You know, I think big processing
5:41
has taken over a little bit more of the industry now as a whole.
5:45
You know, they own a larger percentage of the processing.
5:47
The smaller processors for multiple reasons have kind of
5:52
faded away a little bit. I think a lot of them retired,
5:55
you know, the, the boomers just are kind of retiring out of the
5:58
industry. And a lot of the smaller meat
6:00
processing plants that we had are going away.
6:03
And I feel like there's a, there's a need to bring back
6:06
small regional processing plants.
6:07
I really have a passion for seeing that happen.
6:10
You know, I love working with the small farmers who are, you
6:13
know, producing, sending 468 head of beef to a processor at a
6:17
time because they're, you know, they're just the salt of the
6:20
earth people. They're working hard, they're
6:22
running their own small businesses and they're selling
6:26
via, you know, e-commerce or word of mouth around their
6:29
areas. So I really love to see, I want
6:32
to continue to see that side of the industry grow and come back
6:35
a little bit. And the big processing, although
6:37
it's extremely necessary, we couldn't put out the beef that
6:40
we do without the big processors.
6:42
We couldn't feed as many people as we do and we couldn't get the
6:45
products around the country the way that we need to.
6:47
Sometimes I feel like there's a a little bit of a danger in the
6:50
big processors owning such a large portion of the industry.
6:53
So I'm really a component, a fan of seeing the, you know, the
6:57
smaller processors continue to grow a little bit.
6:59
Yeah, 100%. We had such a great conversation
7:01
about that in Nashville. And just your insight as someone
7:05
kind of on the other side of the industry then I typically see as
7:09
a producer was just so fascinating just hearing your
7:13
thoughts and your passion for it, because I have the same
7:16
passion. And I think a lot of ranchers
7:19
have that passion too. And I think that we've seen a
7:22
really big change since COVID, right?
7:25
Like COVID hit and small processors, like things have
7:29
changed with our community processing plants with our
7:32
ability to get beef processed, all of these different things.
7:35
What kind of are your thoughts on that and just the massive
7:39
change and also just decline that we've seen in those smaller
7:43
family owned community owned processing plants that we've
7:47
kind of seen over the past decade?
7:49
Well, you know what, when we talk to a lot of people,
7:51
everybody understands and wants to see the small processors
7:55
operating in in ready to go. And I think the few challenges
7:58
are are one the biggest is that we have to people in my
8:02
position, we have to continue to train butchers along the ways.
8:05
We have to have qualified people to run these small processors.
8:09
So that that's a little bit of a challenge, but also another big
8:12
challenge is just funding and financing for small people to
8:17
start in the industry. Obviously a small plant is very
8:21
expensive. I know guys that have, you know,
8:24
$4 million into a small, a small establishment here in Tennessee,
8:29
you know, and the ROI is not as great as some other industries.
8:33
So when you go for standard financing through the banks,
8:36
they're not real impressed to work with people because the ROI
8:40
is a little bit slower to come. And it's just an industry that
8:43
people don't in the finance world don't get excited to work
8:46
with. So I would love to see, you
8:50
know, private equity and maybe some of these larger banks step
8:53
up and say, hey, we want to help the processors, we want to help
8:57
the industry, We want to support the local farmers and local
9:01
producers in our area to be able to keep products, you know, a
9:05
little bit closer to home. And I think that that's really
9:07
going to be the first place. I know that the you know, the
9:11
USDA and a lot of other agencies have worked very hard to get a
9:14
lot of grant money and a lot of money to improve that situation.
9:19
Unfortunately for the small guy, a lot of the money goes to the
9:22
larger producers right away. And that's what we saw after
9:26
COVID is that earmarked a lot of money to go to processing
9:30
facilities. And a lot of people were excited
9:33
and they were ready, You know, with the boom of e-commerce beef
9:36
and the small farmers that a lot of small processors were really
9:39
excited to either want one, grow out their processing facility or
9:42
two, start a new facility in an area where they didn't have
9:45
enough processing currently. But even after the grants were
9:48
written and all the paperwork was done, the money went to the
9:51
larger producers right away. And I understand it, but there
9:54
needs to be, I feel if they would have said a quota saying,
9:57
hey, we're going to set this money aside and we're going to
9:59
take 25% of it and 25% is going to go to small producers, I
10:04
think would have been a better idea than to allow, you know,
10:07
the big companies have a lot of money.
10:08
They have great grant writers. They have great lawyers working
10:11
behind them. You know, they have all their,
10:13
you know, their i's dotted and their T's crossed and they're
10:15
very good at it. And they're deserving of those
10:18
grants and those funds as well that employ a lot of people and
10:21
they feed a lot of people across the country.
10:22
I would just need to see somebody who's willing to really
10:26
take a true stance instead of just saying we're going to set
10:28
some money aside to really meet with producers like yourself and
10:32
with butchers like myself and say, hey, how can we kind of get
10:35
this situation remedied? Because there is still while
10:38
some of the larger producers are cutting back on the amount of
10:41
animals are processing be due to the, you know, smaller herd that
10:45
we have in the country right now.
10:46
Most of the small processes are still booked out six to 12
10:49
months. And a lot of people are having a
10:51
hard time finding time slots at their producer.
10:53
Some producers are booked out further than 12 months, so when
10:57
the big plants are cutting back and the small producers are at
10:59
Max capacity, I believe that simply tells us that we have a
11:03
need for more small regional processors.
11:05
Yeah, absolutely. When you look at those small
11:07
regional processors and like the family owned of the community
11:10
owned ones, what do you think the biggest issue that we're
11:13
seeing right now is, is it labor, is it regulation, Is it
11:17
thorough put like what do you kind of think that is really
11:21
struggling in the industry right now?
11:23
Well, I think I think qualified labor is, is the biggest issue.
11:28
And also I'll give you a great example.
11:33
Like I kind of tell people this a lot.
11:35
It's always been a trade, being a butcher's always been a trade.
11:37
And when I started in the industry out of high school, say
11:41
1997, when I was 18 years old, I started in 97 in a grocery
11:46
store. Journeyman butcher was basically
11:49
on the same pay scale as a journeyman electrician or a
11:53
framer or a concrete guy. Well, those trades in those
11:57
industries, as home prices have grown, are basically two to
12:01
three times the annual wage of a journeyman butcher these days.
12:05
So as Americans, we've become addicted to cheap food, right?
12:09
Everybody wants to go to the grocery store and find that rib
12:12
eye or that New York strip on sale.
12:14
They don't want to pay full price because they know the
12:16
industry has devalued the product by letting them know if
12:19
you just wait a week or two, it's going to go on sale again,
12:22
right? So we're addicted to cheap food
12:24
and farmers, honestly, you know, ranchers, for a long time there
12:28
wasn't, even though, you know, now there's a little bit of
12:31
money and beef for producers right now, three or four years
12:33
ago, it wasn't that way, right? And so there wasn't money to pay
12:37
a butcher. So getting people to want to
12:39
come into the industry and basically put in the hard work,
12:42
in the blood, sweat and tears to make a living was more of a
12:45
passion project than anything, you know, And it's just been
12:48
hard to recruit and retain people, along with people
12:51
retiring out, you know, there's just not as many people to train
12:54
anymore. Yeah, I think that that is such
12:57
a great point. Like it's not just labor, it's
12:59
qualified and skilled labor that you guys are really struggling
13:03
with. And what is really being seen on
13:05
that side of the industry when we're looking at more like the
13:08
producer side of things. TC cuz our audience that we're
13:12
talking to today is going to be producers that feel this and see
13:15
this. They see it in their
13:16
communities. They're the ones that, hey,
13:18
we're just trying to get one steer process for my family to
13:21
fill up the freezer, but they're sending the rest of the sail
13:24
burner, things like that. And they're the ones that are
13:26
like, I can't get in, like I'm having to go 10 counties over to
13:30
get a fucking slaughter, things like that.
13:32
And so I think that they all see this and feel this, but we also
13:36
see on both sides of the spectrum, sometimes we don't
13:39
have these conversations once our once our cattle get to that
13:42
sale barn or once our cattle get to that processor, it's it's
13:46
handed off to the next guy, right.
13:47
And so from your perspective as a butcher, what are some things
13:51
that you would like to see more of on the producer side of
13:56
things like what do we need to be doing as producers?
14:00
Just make I guess your job easier on the processing side.
14:04
I think, I think the, excuse me, I think the number one thing we
14:07
need to do is we need to have open, honest conversations and
14:11
we need to not have predetermined outcomes in our
14:15
mind already, right? We need to be open to being
14:18
flexible and getting creative to find a solution to the system.
14:22
I'll give you a perfect example. I have a friend in the foothills
14:26
of the Hill Country of Texas, and he has to send all of his
14:30
beef to Dallas, 3 1/2 hours away to be processed.
14:34
And they're both quite a ways out.
14:36
And there's a lot of producers in the Hill Country that if we
14:39
had a facility in his area that could Max out that facility
14:43
really fast, you know, But if everybody's just comfortable
14:47
with putting their cat on the trailer and driving 3 hours
14:50
because it's a simple solution and they're already busy and
14:54
they're already working, you know, sun up to way past sundown
14:57
every single day. You know, we have to earmark a
15:00
little bit of time and we have to talk with the right people.
15:04
And we have to find influences in the local community as far as
15:09
financing and creativity to start a getting a few more
15:13
facilities built out. And then we had to find people
15:16
that are passionate to kind of be almost be like a training
15:19
facility or a hub. And somebody says, hey, I, I
15:21
will, I'll get this facility built out.
15:23
We're going to work with people. We're going to start producing
15:25
locally. And then every two years, you
15:27
know, we're going to turn out four or five people that are
15:30
qualified to run their own facility.
15:32
And then that same group says, OK, now we're going to take
15:35
these butchers and we're going to take this group of financing.
15:38
We're going to strategic basically find, you know, more
15:40
locations that need these facilities built out and you 10
15:43
or 15 years down the road we can really change the landscape of
15:47
where we are. There's no such thing as a fast
15:49
fix, but if we don't start working on it really hard, it's
15:52
not going to get any better anytime soon.
15:54
You said it perfectly right there.
15:56
And I think it's one of those situations that we look at and
15:58
it feels as producers sometimes a situation that's like, it's
16:02
not our problem or it's, it's not something that we're
16:06
directly, directly involved in sometimes.
16:09
Or like you said, we have a maybe not super convenient
16:12
alternative, but an easier alternative than putting
16:15
together a whole new program or starting a new processing plant
16:18
in our communities or things like that.
16:20
And so we're just going to go do that because we're busy
16:22
otherwise. But if we don't start having
16:25
these conversations now and creating at least awareness
16:29
around this now and the major need for it, you said it
16:32
perfectly, in 10 years, nothing's going to change.
16:34
Like it's not an overnight fix. It's not an overnight fix.
16:37
I think the value of having a, a local regional producer is that
16:40
you get to work hand in hand with them, right.
16:42
When you go into a larger producer, they're already
16:45
working in time, they're working in time constraints.
16:48
You know, you have a time frame that you need to get your cattle
16:51
back. And so sometimes, especially a
16:53
lot of people that are e-commerce right now, they're
16:56
struggling to find a butcher that's going to process the
16:59
animals the way that their customers are wanting to buy.
17:01
You know, they're going to do give out a standard cut sheet,
17:04
but they won't go above and beyond because they're just a, a
17:08
small number in a giant operation, right?
17:11
Where the small regional guys, they know they're farmers.
17:13
They're, you know, they're friends, They work together in
17:16
the community. They see each other at dinner,
17:18
their kids see each other at soccer games, right?
17:20
So you're going to be a lot more committed to one another, You
17:23
know, the producers going to find a butcher that they're
17:25
happy to work with. They're getting their processing
17:28
done the way that they want it. And in return, the processors
17:30
going to do everything they can to make it right for the
17:32
producer. So those producers keep filling,
17:35
keep filling those coolers up, you know, and it's a symbiotic
17:37
relationship. I just think anytime, you know,
17:39
people are working together, it it always benefits everybody in
17:43
the long run. And I think the small producers
17:45
are going to do a lot better at getting all of these secondary
17:48
cuts that people are wanting nowadays as well.
17:50
You know, I don't think that the cuts sheets and get as much
17:53
explanation as they can. I feel like producers are
17:55
leaving a lot of money on the table when they don't get a lot
17:58
of cuts that they can create more value out of as well.
18:01
So working with a smaller producer is going to make that
18:03
more possible because you're going to have a little bit more
18:05
time to do those value driven cuts like, you know, the Denver
18:08
stakes and and pulling all of the little secondary stuff.
18:11
Yeah. Can you talk about that a little
18:13
bit more of just like some other ways processes that we can take
18:17
as producers to kind of improve that side of our business,
18:21
Especially I think with the boom of e-commerce, I'm sure that
18:24
that is a major reason that a lot of these processors are
18:27
starting to get booked out or a lot of people just in
18:30
communities are like, hey, I know a rancher down the road and
18:33
I just buy half a beef from him or different things like that
18:35
have really, really taken off since COVID.
18:38
I think, I mean, it was already there, but it's really taken
18:40
off. And so I think there's so much
18:41
opportunity there, but I'd love to hear kind of both sides of
18:44
that conversation. I call it the the Traeger
18:47
effect. And what I mean by that is once
18:49
people got these pellet smokers in their backyard and it became
18:52
easy, easy for everybody to cook really good food and people
18:55
started wanting to get a little bit more creative, right?
18:57
So we've found that there's ways where we can take a standard,
19:02
what was a 7 bone Chuck pot roast, you know, in Mama,
19:05
grandma seared it, slow cooked it and you ate it shredded over
19:08
a bed of mashed potatoes. Everybody loved the standard
19:10
Chuck roast. But now we know if we pull those
19:12
muscles apart and cut them in different directions, we can get
19:15
a lot of really great steaks that work good on on the grill
19:18
and on the smoker. Chuck I steaks, Denver steaks,
19:22
Sierra steaks, just as an example, versus a just a
19:25
standard Chuck roll. And the producers able to create
19:27
more value out of those cuts. And that's really what meat
19:30
science has done over the last, you know, 10 or 15 years is
19:33
they've taken a lot of these cuts that used to go just one
19:35
standard way. And they've learned that there's
19:37
other ways to cook them in a break them down and to do more
19:40
stuff out of, I mean, making sure that you're always getting
19:42
your pecanas, making sure that you're always getting all of
19:46
your skirt steak options, your outside skirt, your inside skirt
19:49
and your sirloin flap meat, right?
19:51
Not everybody's getting all of those all the time.
19:54
Making sure that you're getting your Tri tip, awesome cut that
19:57
can be pulled off of a shake called the Merlot stake.
19:59
Very few people are getting Merlot stakes, but those are an
20:02
opportunity to drive value. And then even customizing your
20:06
cuts on your rib eyes, you know, getting really beautifully
20:09
frenched longbone Tomahawks are going to drive value for that
20:13
e-commerce producer, right? Getting beautifully cut
20:16
porterhouses in the right size range and trimmed is going to be
20:20
able to produce value for the producers on those sides.
20:22
So working with a small butcher is going to lead to a lot more
20:26
opportunities. Opportunity making custom
20:28
patties, right, not just getting the standard, you know, smash
20:31
burger or 8 oz Patty stamped out.
20:33
You know, we can we can send you out with, you know, jalapeno
20:36
cheddar burgers. We can send you out with bacon
20:38
blue cheeseburgers. We can send you out with custom
20:41
made beef broths. Maybe you know, Oregon blends
20:43
are very popular right now, like ancestral blends with heart and
20:46
liver in them. You can do ancestral blend
20:48
patties, you can do ancestral blend sausages, but you have to
20:52
be willing to work with somebody that can do that, and it's going
20:54
to be a smaller niche producer for sure.
20:57
Yeah, absolutely. So knowing everything that you
20:59
know now, if you were a cattle producer yourself and you had
21:02
150 head in your backyard, what would you be doing as a
21:06
producer? I would definitely be working
21:09
hard to market my cattle to the general public and sell them
21:13
through myself. And I would be trying to keep
21:15
production as local as I can because there's a few keywords
21:20
in the industry that people really tend to be drawn to, and
21:23
locally produced is one of them, right?
21:25
So it will just use us, the Hill Country, Texas, again, if you
21:28
can say Hill Country beef born and raised and processed right
21:32
here in the Hill Country for Hill Country families, it has
21:35
value and has a story behind it. You know, if you can say, you
21:39
know, Kansas beef, you know, raised right outside of Kansas
21:42
City, which is obviously famous for beef, it's forever.
21:46
But if you can say born, raised, harvested and sold to Kansas
21:50
City steakhouses, right? And then that's going to give
21:53
value to the steakhouse and it's going to give value to the
21:55
producer and it's going to give a reputation.
21:57
And people are going to come back looking for those because,
21:59
hey, you know, I went down and I visited Von Good in Kansas City
22:03
at night, got barbecue. And he cooked up this short rib
22:06
and it was outstanding. It came from your beef.
22:08
And although I don't go to the restaurant all the time, I'm
22:10
happy to put half of your beef in my freezer because it was
22:12
that good, you know? So I think keeping things local
22:16
and regional is a very important piece of the process that
22:18
everybody respects. And honestly, it's better for
22:21
the animals, right? The last time those animals are
22:23
on the trailer, the the less stressed that they're having to
22:26
endure. Also, I mean, shipping times,
22:29
fuel costs, it helps keep the prices down, which is just going
22:33
to put a few more bucks back into the pocket of the producer.
22:36
What's going to allow them to keep the family ranch going?
22:38
What's going to allow them to remain profitable and keep them
22:41
passionate to grow and be better in the industry?
22:43
Yeah, I think you said it perfectly there.
22:45
It also rewards well raised and well produced beef.
22:49
Like if you are raising a really high quality product by doing
22:53
things like that and really just focusing on that community
22:57
aspect in the product from absolutely like the moment that
23:00
that animal is born to the time that it is on that consumers
23:03
plate. Like if you have that
23:05
perspective as a producer, I think it makes you care about
23:08
your phase in the process a little bit more because you know
23:12
that that end product that you're producing is in a
23:15
steakhouse in Kansas City and it is doing this and it has this
23:19
story and your name and your brand is behind it.
23:21
That's right. And I was listening to a thing
23:24
put out by Gary Vee a couple weeks back and he basically said
23:28
the growth of e-commerce and social media businesses are
23:32
going to be based off of facial recognition, right?
23:35
OK. I know the rancher that's
23:37
raising this beef and I trust that rancher because I've had
23:40
their beef before. I know the butcher that's
23:43
processing this beef because I've had beef processed by that
23:45
guy before. And I know it was really good
23:48
where some of the larger, you know, the larger corporate
23:51
brands, they're owned by entities outside of the United
23:54
States. There's no relationship there.
23:56
And when there's no relationship, there's hard to
23:59
build a trust factor, even though they're absolutely
24:01
producing healthy, clean, safe eating beef and taking care of a
24:06
lot of the producers across the country, they're not taking it
24:09
as far as it can. And I'll be honest with you
24:11
also, when money has became tight with some of those big
24:14
producers, they've just scaled back what they're doing right.
24:18
And that is not a benefit to the to the producer like yourself.
24:21
If you, if you're booked to take 100 head of beef to them and
24:25
they say, hey, I'm only taking 50 right now because we've had
24:28
to scale back because we're losing money right now in the on
24:31
the processor side of things. What are you going to do with
24:34
that other 50 head of beef? Now you have to find an exit
24:36
strategy after you've been booked 12 months out to get them
24:39
in, in the 1st place. So that relationship locally
24:42
there, you know, would help eliminate some of those
24:43
hardships as well. Yeah, absolutely.
24:45
So when you're looking like out on the industry over the next
24:49
few years, what are kind of your thoughts of the future of the
24:53
industry, especially on the independent processor side, the
24:57
butchery side, like things like that, just like some positives
25:00
or also maybe some things that kind of concern you and you're
25:03
kind of looking out for too? I think the positives is that I
25:07
think a lot more people are going to continue to grow
25:11
cooking at home and having great food in their own backyard
25:14
barbecues. You know, there's so much
25:16
information available via YouTube and via social media
25:20
nowadays on how to cook really great products that people are
25:23
excited to cook at home, right? And that's a really good thing.
25:26
And the restaurant industry is, is tight as prices are high and
25:30
labor is is tough right now. So I think that we're going to
25:34
unfortunately see some, you know, some of the smaller
25:37
restaurants kind of fade away over the next couple of years
25:41
because margins are slim and work is tough.
25:44
And when the restaurants aren't as available as available, you
25:47
know, that's also going to keep more people cooking great food
25:50
at home. So if I was a producer right
25:52
now, I would want to produce as much great beef as I possibly
25:56
can. I'd put a full, I would throw
25:58
all my cards into making sure my beef is as good as it can be.
26:02
And if you're raising, you know, if you're a grass fed beef
26:04
operation, you'll make sure that you're honest and you're
26:07
truthful in what you're doing and produce great grass fed beef
26:10
marketed accordingly and you will have your customers that
26:13
want to buy from you. If you're a grain finish
26:15
operation, you know, I would strive to produce as much high
26:19
choice and prime beef as you can.
26:20
That's going to create a lot of value.
26:22
And then I would just really work the e-commerce side of
26:25
things and encourage people to, you know, cook at home.
26:29
And I would get really, really creative as well on the ground
26:32
beef side of things because it's such a large percentage of that
26:35
animal. I think the butcher shops and
26:37
the producers can do a really good job with all of the ground
26:40
meat items. And then that's going to create
26:42
value for them and it's going to make the grill in at home easier
26:46
for the consumers and they respond very well to it.
26:49
Yeah, you were talking about those custom patties and
26:51
everything earlier and my mouth was just watering thinking about
26:54
it, especially as someone who, I mean, six times out of 10, TC,
26:59
I'm probably forgetting to put out the meat the day before and
27:02
let it thaw out in the fridge anyway and things like that.
27:05
So if I have it all completely prepared for me and ready to
27:08
just throw on in different ways that you can take a ground beef
27:11
product and really elevate it. I think that there's just like
27:14
you said earlier, so many value added ways that we can kind of
27:17
rethink this industry and look at it as well.
27:21
So I love all of that. When you're looking at like kind
27:24
of talking to a producer, maybe what's a hard truth or something
27:30
that producers don't really want to hear right now, but from your
27:32
side of the industry, this is what you're seeing and what kind
27:35
of really needs to be communicated to our producer
27:38
population right now. I think there's, I think
27:41
there's, there's two things that are very important.
27:43
I think one from a butcher standpoint is it's very easy to
27:48
tell a good processor from a group, a good producer from a
27:53
great producer. We see some carcasses come in
27:56
consistently from producers and we're like, you know what,
28:00
they're selling a lot of beef, but this probably not the steaks
28:03
that I would be putting in my freezer.
28:05
So I think the hard truth is some producers just need to work
28:08
on doing a better job. And I know it's I know it's not
28:11
an easy change. I know genetics cost a lot of
28:13
money these days and I know that the feeding programs cost a lot
28:16
of money these days. But I do believe that there is
28:19
ROI in the long run from producing great quality beef.
28:23
And also, I tell the tell the producers, communicate, you
28:27
know, communicate with the processors.
28:30
Things always happen when you have slots, you know, there's
28:32
going to be rainy days, there's going to be muddy days, there's
28:35
going to be flat tires on the side of the road.
28:37
There's going to be family issues that come up.
28:39
But communicate, you know, don't be last minute, be quick and be
28:42
head of the game. Communicate with your producers
28:44
and then with your processors. And on the other side, the
28:47
processors need to communicate with the producers.
28:50
You know what I'm saying? They need to, they need to give
28:53
them appropriate feedback on, on the animals that are coming in,
28:57
you know, and they need to tell them, hey, you know what, you,
29:00
you might have overfed, you know, your, your, your fat
29:03
percentage was a little bit high, especially your outside
29:05
fat percentage on your loins and stuff.
29:07
So maybe you can cut back a little bit on that, you know, or
29:10
you could tell them, hey, you know, you rated out really high,
29:13
your beef is beautiful. Whatever you did, you'll keep it
29:16
up. That was working really well.
29:18
And they need to communicate and build that relationship between
29:21
one another to where there is a trust, you know.
29:23
So if you take your take your animals to a meat processor, you
29:26
know that the stuff that you're getting back is going to be in
29:29
the perfect condition for your consumers.
29:31
And also if you're taking animals to the processor that
29:34
you're breaking in an animal that fits their rail, that hangs
29:38
in their cooler, you know, and that they're able to handle
29:41
really well. So.
29:42
Yeah. For sure.
29:43
I, I could not agree more. And I think it goes back to a
29:46
lot of just husbandry practices too and good stewardship of what
29:49
we're doing, whether it be like having that conversation of,
29:52
hey, you've got some room to improve here.
29:55
This is what we were seeing or maybe it was foreign objects or
29:59
some other issues that kind of go into things, which I know is
30:01
a big concern from your guys's standpoint as well.
30:05
Yeah, it is. And that that's a responsibility
30:07
of the, of the butcher's to really to keep an eye out when
30:11
they're going through everything.
30:12
You know, you have. So look, we don't want foreign
30:14
objects getting into our grind. You know, we, we can't be
30:16
putting that sort of stuff out. And we got to make sure that we
30:18
have, you know, healthy animals that are coming in.
30:20
And it's just all about communication.
30:22
I think so many things in our, our life will always come down
30:25
to great communication. And the better that the two
30:28
entities are communicating with each other and working, the
30:30
better, you know, obviously the better it's going to.
30:31
Be yeah, for sure. I could not agree more.
30:34
On a little bit of a lighter note, I have to hear favorite
30:38
cut and favorite way to prepare it maybe all time or maybe just
30:43
right now. Your favorite thing to do right
30:45
now? All right, I'm going to give you
30:46
2 things because it's going to kind of blow your mind, but it
30:49
might be what we talked about. Hands down my favorite steak
30:52
right now is a well marbled Denver steak for two reasons.
30:55
So obviously you know the Denver's coming off the chalk
30:58
off of the ribs right there. It's rich in flavor.
31:02
It's it has the right tenderness that I like.
31:05
So I like to take a Denver steak.
31:07
I like to put it on the smoker, season it with salt and coarse
31:10
black pepper. I like to bring it to about 110°
31:14
on my smoker, take it off, let it rest.
31:17
Then I go to a pan and give it a good reverse sear butter with a
31:21
little bit of thyme, little bit of Rosemary, some garlic, you
31:23
know, butter based finish those steaks.
31:26
It's rich, it's delicious every single time.
31:28
Like if you if you love beef and you want just that poncha beef,
31:31
the Denver steak is going to do it for you every single time at
31:34
a good value point price. But ultimately my favorite cut
31:38
of meat to work with is ground beef.
31:40
And I tell people this on podcast and like really ground
31:43
beef. And I'm like, yes, because think
31:45
about the things that you can do with ground beef, right?
31:48
We can do our burgers. We can do all of our pasta
31:51
dishes. We can do our sausages, we can
31:53
do our stuffed Peppers. You know, we can do Salisbury
31:55
steaks. We can do meatballs.
31:57
We can do, you know, like skewered seasoned meats.
32:01
I mean we can go on and on. The amount of products that I
32:04
can fill up a meat case without of ground meat products far
32:08
exceeds anything I can do with the rib eye or a New York strip.
32:12
And it's approachable and attainable for everybody, right?
32:15
I'm not a fan of a lot of meat that's not attainable for all
32:18
families. You know, I, I grew up with
32:20
three sisters and a brother. My dad was a butcher.
32:23
So there was five of us in our family.
32:24
And the reality of eating rib eyes every night just wasn't
32:27
there for us. So there's not a lot of rib eyes
32:29
to go around on a cow. We need to sell ground beef as
32:32
an industry to keep the cattle moving through that plant to
32:35
produce those rib eyes and strips.
32:37
And I just want to see people put a lot of effort and energy
32:40
into doing ground beef better in their restaurants and in their
32:43
butcher shops, because I think everybody wins when that
32:45
happens. Oh my gosh, I love all that.
32:47
Also, I am a major fan of a Denver steak.
32:51
Like if I have a choice, if I'm going to a counter somewhere, we
32:54
have a specialty shop here in Manhattan that every once in a
32:57
while they sell Wagyu. And I like going in every once
33:01
in a while and getting myself like a little crossbred, like
33:04
when it's a Angus cow on a Wagyu bowl or a Wagyu cow on an Angus
33:08
bowl or something like that. Because it gives the best of
33:11
both worlds for me, someone who loves the flavor of beef but
33:14
also can really appreciate a well marbled Denver steak.
33:19
It's one of my favorite things to do and it's just always such
33:23
a treat. And when it's done right, it's
33:28
chefs kiss. And I hope that people listening
33:31
to this podcast have 8 recently, because if you haven't, I can
33:35
guarantee you that you're probably having a grumbling
33:38
stomach right now because yeah. That's what we want to do.
33:42
Yes, for sure. And I also love the take on
33:44
ground beef because I like the thought of it needs to be
33:47
accessible to so many people and ground beef is what's accessible
33:51
to most families right now. And finding ways to dress that
33:54
up like it doesn't always have to be just a plain schmo
33:58
hamburger on the grill. It can be something really
34:02
elegant and still using a piece of meat that is really
34:06
accessible to a lot of our population as well.
34:09
Yeah, 100%. You know, and I, I love to do
34:12
one thing to, I love to do in the butcher shops that I love,
34:14
like making meatball skewers and everybody's like meatball
34:18
skewer. What are you talking about?
34:19
Well, you know what, we've, we've all had the hamburger done
34:21
a traditional hamburger, you know, but if you take like your
34:24
ground beef, you season it, your salt, pepper, garlic, little bit
34:27
of breadcrumb, throw an egg in there, you know, hit it with a
34:30
little bit of Worcestershire and mix it up.
34:32
Make yourself like a good simple little meatball, right is skewer
34:35
3 or 4 of them, go to your grill with them, you know, grill them
34:38
up nice and hot, Get a great char on the outside, brush them
34:41
with your favorite. It's a BBQ sauce.
34:44
And then just take like a brat bun, right?
34:46
Take a brat bun, throw that stick right into the bun, pull
34:48
the stick out. You got like a great little
34:50
meatball sub, right? But it's like a grilled steak
34:53
version or a grilled burger version instead of like your
34:55
traditional Italian. And then you can throw, you
34:58
know, cheese on top of it. You can hit it with some pickled
35:00
jalapenos, some pickled onions, and you got a brand new twist on
35:04
like a burger slash broth that nobody's doing.
35:06
It's one of my absolute favorite things.
35:08
It's always a hit every time I do it.
35:10
Wow, I love that. Any other like we're kind of
35:12
going to spring grilling season right now.
35:14
Any other kind of pieces of advice or thoughts that you have
35:17
for people that you're like, hey, you got to get out and try
35:20
this? Yeah, I mean, just go into the
35:22
butcher shops and ask what they have that's available.
35:26
And that's unique, right? Ask them if they're making any
35:29
of their sausages in house. Ask them what different blends
35:32
they can do on burgers. Not blends with meats, blends
35:35
with flavors. You know, I'm a I'm a huge fan
35:38
of taking ground beef, throwing a nice blue cheese crumbled up
35:41
in there, some diced red onion, mix it up, make yourself like an
35:45
8 oz Patty, right, a nice big, thick, juicy burger.
35:49
And then I take the edges and I put some coarse black pepper
35:52
down and I roll the Patty to have like a black pepper crusted
35:55
rim around the burger. Let's, you know, ask, ask your
35:58
butchers if they can make you some gourmet burgers.
36:00
Ask them if they have those Denver cuts.
36:02
Ask them if they have any, any of the Chuck eyes.
36:04
You know, ask them if they have any of the, the bavette steaks
36:06
that are coming off of the sirloin flap.
36:08
You know, just a really big fan of those.
36:10
So look for the secondary cuts, look for the various majors you
36:13
know, and give yourself some new experiences, some new ways to
36:16
cook and some new flavor profiles.
36:18
And that's just I love doing that stuff.
36:21
Wow, I love it. Well, to round out the podcast,
36:23
I want to hear more about kind of what you were doing in
36:26
Nashville, a little bit more of this next phase of your life and
36:30
your experience in this new place that you're kind of
36:33
running behind the scenes right now.
36:35
Yep. So in in Nashville the
36:37
restaurant prime and proper. We opened about 3 or 4 weeks
36:40
ago. We have an amazing dry age room.
36:42
We're selling like the top 1% of prime beef in the country.
36:46
Like probably 95% of our beef is getting aged.
36:49
So we're actually aging Japanese olive Fed A5 Wagyu.
36:53
We have Miyazaki Wagyu. We're doing a locally produced
36:57
Hereford Wagyu cross for a local American Wagyu product.
37:03
Everything is getting aged out, you know, and we're just trying
37:06
to produce the best steakhouse experience as far as chef driven
37:10
quality and service. So yeah, you can come visit us
37:13
at Primer Proper, 1000 Broadway. We're just just down the street
37:17
from downtown Broadway where everybody knows that's where all
37:19
the fun happens. It's so, so popular and crazy.
37:22
If you haven't been there, you probably need to go a few times
37:24
and check it out. So it's just a ton of fun and
37:26
it's really exciting to be on the culinary side of things
37:29
instead of the retail side of things.
37:31
And we we have some travel plan for the year.
37:33
We're going to be hitting some cities, working with more chefs,
37:36
talking about beef and training. So I think I have two or three
37:39
of those coming up already planned for the year.
37:42
So there's going to be a little bit of travel, probably not as
37:44
much as I had last year. And I invite everybody down.
37:47
You know, if you're in Nashville and you want to come tour and
37:50
take a look at an amazing, amazing dry age room.
37:53
And you can always find me on Instagram at Redbeard Butcher
37:56
and just send me a message. I'll be happy to set time as
37:59
time aside, show you through the dry aging room, talk to you
38:02
about the process and you know, the flavor profiles that you get
38:05
out of dry aging, show you all of the really unique beef that
38:07
we have. And then we can give you a great
38:09
experience in the steakhouse, too.
38:10
Absolutely. I cannot wait to make my way
38:13
back to Nashville and be able to actually come try your
38:16
restaurant out because when I was in Nashville, you guys were
38:19
gearing up for your grand opening and doing all of the
38:21
things. So didn't get the opportunity
38:23
this time around, but I know I'll be back soon enough and you
38:27
know, we're we're we're going to have a lot of fun with it.
38:30
So to all of our listeners out there, I will have all of T CS
38:34
links down below. So if you enjoyed today's
38:36
podcast, go follow him on Instagram, check out his
38:38
website, check out what he's doing on all of those platforms.
38:41
It's it's a lot of fun. And if you had fun today, like I
38:44
did, like his social media is just as fun.
38:46
And so you'll definitely get some good experience onto a
38:50
different side of the industry and see some really cool and
38:52
interesting things. But TC, I cannot thank you
38:55
enough for coming on and just sharing your thoughts and your
38:58
experience and your wealth of knowledge with all of us today.
39:01
I really appreciate it. Is there anything else that you
39:04
would like to leave with the audience today as we wrap it up?
39:06
No, I just, I appreciate you for having me on.
39:09
I appreciate the invitation and the opportunity to speak to
39:11
everybody. And yeah, just reach out if you
39:14
have any questions. And just I want everybody to
39:15
know that I'm passionate about the industry from, you know, a
39:18
live animal in the field to a Michelin star chef plate.
39:22
You know, I love to talk about the entire process.
39:24
I've been fortunate to be able to work and see the entire
39:26
process. So all I have left is to to
39:29
communicate and train to everybody.
39:30
So man, just hit me up if you get any questions.
39:32
I really appreciate. It TC Thank you to all.
39:34
Make sure you check out those show notes down below and we'll
39:37
see you all next time on another episode of the Cattle USA Daily
39:41
podcast. Have a good one y'all.
39:42
Cheers.