SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KGTV) - A San Diego-based rancher says their business has grown as the corporate meat industry struggles.
In the past months, Doug Lindamood, of SonRise Ranch, says they've seen their ranch experience a surge in business.
“Surprisingly, in an odd set of circumstances, we’ve had a ranch that’s been very successful during these times,” he said.
He said their business has easily tripled since the beginning of the pandemic. They’ve seen more people seeking food safety, so they’re buying meat in bulk. The ranch typically sells about 10-12 half or full cows a year, but that’s recently increased to 10-12 a week.
This boost comes as the industrial meat industry is hurting across the country.
Lindamood said a handful of companies produce a majority of the meat in the U.S. and the big players have been hit with sick employees, causing closures and less supply.
“Highly consolidated plants being affected by basically a pandemic which then has the potential to shut down a vast portion of our production,” he said.
Lindamood adds this has been a ticking time bomb that needs to be addressed.
“For every one of those small plants that shut down over the last 20 or 30 years, we lost a small piece of our soul with respect to connecting to our consumers,” Lindamood said. “We need not one or 10 of me — which there are maybe five or six of us in the Southern California region. We need 50 or 60 or 200 of us.”