FARM TO FORK
Cedar Meadow Meats offers locally grown beef to customers Joy Beam and Gareth Yoder started Cedar Meadow Meats in March.
Cedar Meadow Meats has an actual cedar meadow above the barn where the sows were first kept in 1956 when Joy Beam’s grandfather started the farm in Elverson, Chester County.
Back then, it was called Cedar Meadow Swine.
“The farm is now in its second generation and although it has grown, the concept stays the same,” said Beam, 25, who has a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Penn State University Park.
Beam and her boyfriend, Gareth Yoder, 27, had the idea of developing a real-time way of identifying cattle health.
They thought this application could be marketed to the cattle industry, and they approached the Penn State Berks Idea TestLab.
The TestLab helped them to attend the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association conference in San Antonio, Texas, which was an amazing experience.
They had gone through the TestLab boot camp and worked on their idea for about two months, then took “a deeper dive,” Yoder said.
But the logistics weren’t there, he said.
Beam agreed, saying, “With our original idea we had hoped to be cheaper than others. But we realized that we wouldn’t be cheaper.”
So they switched gears, and developed a new idea for a retail beef business emphasizing locally grown beef for the consumer.
In March, the couple launched Cedar Meadow Meats, with help from the Penn State Berks Idea TestLab.
“We got the idea in Texas; we had just toured a farm that sells beef to Walmart,” Beam said.
“We want to provide locally sourced food, right here, in Chester,” said Yoder, who has a bachelor’s degree in information sciences and technology from Penn State Berks. He also has an MBA from Penn State Great Valley.
“It was a new idea, using what we already have and capitalizing on it,” she said.
“I think buying locally sourced meat and supporting small businesses is always the way to go,” Yoder said. “It starts with the consumer.”
Cedar Meadow Meats sells quarters, halves and whole animals. The steer are on pasture in summer and grain finished, Yoder said.
Customers choose the amount of beef they want, and can customize specific cuts.
“If four different people want a quarter, we connect them and then four people can get quality of local beef without a huge quantity commitment,” Yoder said.
Cedar Meadow lines up the butchering, handles the details, provides the animal and hauling. Both Beam and Yoder work full time off the farm, she for an ag business in Lancaster and he as a software developer.
Beam’s dad, Nelson Beam, is the owner and manager of the farm. They have a few part-time workers and Beam and her siblings, along with Yoder, work on the farm evenings and weekends.
“Farm to fork flavor far outpaces that found in the grocery store. How the animal was fed, the quality of the cut, and even the butcher all make the difference,” according to cedarmeadowmeats.com.
Beam and Yoder believe beef consumers want to know the story behind where their food comes from.
“This type of traceability isn’t available in your box chain food stores or at the fast food restaurant down the street. In addition, our customers help support local agriculture and the local economy,” according to the website.
It’s going well, and they’ve sold more than six steers so far, Yoder said. Calculating two to three customers per steer, they have 18 retail beef customers.
“We’ve gotten way more phone calls, too,” Beam said.
However, the timing of their launch of cedarmeadowmeats.com was in March, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It definitely affected us,” Beam said, adding, “We definitely lost some money (but) we’ll be fine.”
They sell to JBS Souderton, a processor that was closed for two weeks during the quarantine.
“The earliest availability (for beef) is July, Yoder said, adding, “Even that is filling up.”
“It looks like it’s (COVID-19) past; you never know for sure,” Beam said. So what’s next? “We’re testing over the summer,” Yoder said. “From there, we’ll see what other areas we can market in.”
The Penn State Berks Idea TestLab by the Flemming Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED) Center offers startups free access to other entrepreneurs, faculty members, business owners and other resources.
Teams interested in the Fall 2020 CEED Idea TestLab session can check sites.psu.edu/ceed for updates.