Wholesale / Bulk Discount Pricing

Short answer: No, we do not currently have a wholesale / bulk discount pricing system. We are a small family sized farm and don’t have the economies of scale necessary at this time. We will however never limit the amount of retail product that any customer wants to purchase at one of our retail locations, so the quantity is usually not the problem as long as the customer is willing to pay retail prices.

Goal: It is our goal to first satisfy the demand with consistent supply for our medium-sized retail operation. We have produced the bison and hogs, then added value through our small artisan custom meat fabricators, handlers and processors for sale to our retail customer base. As we continue to expand our live animal production operation, our second goal will aim to sell wholesale / bulk discounted bison and hog carcasses (quarter bison and half hog) to any wholesale / bulk discount customer that wants to add their own value to the raw product.

Delivery: This is another question that is often raised. We will deliver any quantity requested to a farmer’s market for pick-up, but that is the extent of our “delivery” options. As we evolve into carcass marketing, we will plan to establish a delivery option to support this marketing plan.

The industrial complex world that we all live in seems to have confused some people in terms of how the wholesale / bulk discount market works. Also, given that we market value added products (steaks, sausages, etc.) on a retail basis, it is fully understandable that this confusion is magnified by our marketing scheme. As the percentage share to the farmer for each food dollar spent by consumers has steadily dropped to record low levels, we have elected to build a business plan that seeks to hold onto a sustainable portion of that dollar to keep our small business operation afloat and healthy. We have done this by figuring out ways to tap into a local direct-marketing retail customer base and formulating a product line that moves the entire carcass at an equal rate. No sense in selling easy-to-cook steaks and letting the more complicated roasts or vast amounts of trim pile up in cold storage, so we got creative and worked it out.

The business model mentioned above does not support other retail / restaurant operations that want to purchase boxed meats (defined as a box full of the same cut of meat), because then we have to tell our retail customers to take a hike on those cuts as we sell out (which of course is not sustainable). As mentioned above, if another retailer / restaurant wants to purchase bulk quantities at full retail cost, they are always welcome to pick up at any of our retail locations. The future plan to market carcass meat is consistent with the business model mentioned above, but would of course require that the buyer figure out their own way to add value (which is what we are all in the business doing anyway…right?). Before the industrialization of America, retailers and restaurants would add value to a carcass by figuring out how to cut, package, cook and serve all of the parts of that carcass.

In effect, Cibola Farms is actually two different businesses, which is what throws many people off. The first is our production operation of the live animal. The second is a small retail meat business that takes carcasses from the production operation and figures out how to fabricate, process, package and market every ounce of the entire carcass at a consistent rate and that moves the whole carcass at the same time. The retail meat business side of Cibola Farms is not tooled or equipped to get into the packaging, storing, brokering and distribution businesses that are required for wholesale marketing in the region (think Sysco and AM Briggs).

We have evolved into this potion after years of experience, and we seek to maintain our holistic approach to remaining a sustainable and healthy business. We realize that there are a million or more ways to build a business plan and many small farms have creatively sorted all this out.

If you are a retailer / restaurateur, please do consider the fundamental elements here. Buying from a distributor like Sysco puts you at their mercy of quality, consistency, product supply and pricing. If you roll the calendar back a hair to the time when retailers and restaurateurs did buy and handle whole carcasses of beef, chicken, pork, fish, rabbits, etc., then you would be able to inject the artistic creativity that defines one business from another. Many chefs are chasing us down for stock bones, or pork bellies, or jowls, or a whole host of other cuts that have disappeared from the industrial food supply list in America because nobody is working with the whole animal anymore. What is wrong with tenderloin for the Friday night special, then flank, flat iron and hanger steak for the Saturday night special, then stew, meatloaf and brisket for the remaining weekdays. Smoked back rib one day and a braised short rib another day? What happened to cooking up what was available and fresh?

HOME PRODUCTS markets STORE visit contact