Are You Cheaper Then The Grocery Stores

"Are you cheaper than the grocery store?"

🐮 Honestly, I ask myself the same thing. Like many small businesses, pricing my products sustainably is a challenge. I want to keep food affordable for you, but I also need to ensure I can continue operating year after year.

🐮 When I sell an animal to a restaurant, Kwik Trip, Walmart, or McDonald's, here’s how it works:
I decide it’s time for an animal to go, call a trucker, and schedule a Wednesday sale in Barron. The cow is loaded and my work with her is done. I pay the trucker, and Barron handles the sale, running her through the auction. Buyers bid, and I get a check—after fees are deducted—for whatever someone feels like paying that day.

🐮 But when I process an animal to sell directly to you, it’s a different story.
I schedule the processing date months in advance. Almena Meats picks it up (for a hauling fee), and I have to decide in advance which cuts customers might want—guessing wrong means extra storage costs.

About four weeks later, I pick up the meat and store it in my freezers, which hold about two cows at a time. Beyond the cost of the beef itself, I also cover:

Freezers, electricity, and multiple insurance policies (liability, product loss, etc.).

A $156 annual state permit for licensing and inspections.

Advertising costs—Facebook ads (since FB restricts direct meat sales), roadside banners ($100 each), and printed fliers.

Time spent managing the farm page, website, domain, business cards, and customer orders.

🐮 So my question is: Would you do all of this for free—or for less than the grocery store?

And that’s without even factoring in the quality of the product.

Next time you see a farm’s prices, consider everything that goes into them. Choose what works best for you, but please don’t judge our pricing—or ask for a discount just because you have a big order and will "go elsewhere" if I don’t meet your price.

Supporting small farms means supporting real people, real effort, and real quality.