Black River expands into meat processing with new 50,000-square-foot plant

By Karen Zuppinger
SPRINGFIELD

Springfield based Black River Produce recently opened a meat processing plant to meet a growing demand. The 50,000-square-foot facility is located in the old Ben & Jerry’s building in North Springfield Industrial Park, a few miles down the road from the company’s headquarters.

The compound processes all natural beef, lamb and pork as well as seafood. “All natural” means the meat is guaranteed to be free of hormones and antibiotics, and that the livestock is raised and slaughtered in an ethical and humane manner.

Briton Laslow, left, and Dominic Barone are two of the newly hired meat cutters at Black River Produce’s new meat processing facility.                Photos by Karen Zuppinger. Click any photo to launch the gallery.

According to Mark Curran, a Chester resident and co-owner with Steve Birge of Black River Produce, the move to processing grew out of three things: demand, consistency and transparency. In the past, Black River, which distributes meats, seafood and produce to retailers and restaurants throughout Vermont, New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts, outsourced its meat processing needs. But as demand grew, the company ran up against two major challenges: the ability for the vendors to meet the surging demand and the consistency from product to product.

Business development manager Sean Buchanan, says, “I would deliver a product to a customer and he would love it. The next time, I might hear that the same product tasted nothing like the first.”

Curran added that just a few years ago this expansion was nothing more than a pipe dream. “I’d been thinking about natural beef distribution as early as 2005. But when I approached my customers, the idea of all natural hadn’t caught on, and the price wasn’t competitive. Here we are eight years later and they can’t get enough of the stuff.”

I’d been thinking about natural beef distribution as early as 2005. But when I approached my customers, the idea of all natural hadn’t caught on, and the price wasn’t competitive. Here we are eight years later and they can’t get enough of the stuff.
Mark Curran
co-owner
Black River

Once the company made the decision to move forward, owners and senior staff were committed to learning everything they could about meat processing business. They traveled to processing plants in Italy, South Carolina, Minnesota and several others in the United States watching learning, listening and asking questions.

Sean Buchanan, left, and Mark Curran in Black River Produce’s new meat processing.facility.

Buchanan said what surprised him most in Italy was the transparency of the processing industry. Expecting to find a dirty factory building tucked away down a back road, what Buchanan and company found instead was a state-of-the-art meat processing plant operating in a residential neighborhood. “We must have driven past the place two or three times before we realized we were in the right place. It was so different than what we are used to seeing here in the U.S.”

Armed with a wealth of knowledge, Black River Produce sought to first expand at its headquarters, but soon realized that it would outgrow the building in no time. The old Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory proved to be ideal. The updated building — modern, clean, state of the art — has plenty of room to grow.

On a recent tour, Buchanan points out two huge empty spaces. One he says has the possibility of becoming a smokehouse. He says they’ve already been approached by someone asking them to process beef jerky. The space makes that request a serious future possibility.

The other space has been dedicated as a slaughterhouse. Buchanan said that every building designer and architect they talked to said they would be remiss not to consider it.

Even though slaughter is not currently a part of the business model, it does play into the company’s narrative of giving the consumer the power to track food from field to plate.

Curran and Buchanan say they want to build a strong Vermont brand that carries with it a premium. Each farm vendor has to have paperwork that certifies where the livestock comes from and how it is raised; all of the meat processed in-house will now have uniformity in cut and taste. “If someone calls up and wants sausage with a particular blend of spices, the ingredients are on hand to meet that request,” says Buchanan.

Buchanan added that eventually he’d like to see QR codes on all their products so smartphone users can scan and track all of the information about where the meat came from right there in the store. And once the plant is up and fully operational the company intends to open it up for public visits. “If you have nothing to hide, why not let people in to see?” Buchanan says.

Black River is working with the Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury on a paid internship program to train and certify all of its employee processors.  It is also in negotiation for the same type of program with the Howard Dean Center in Springfield. The plant currently has six full-time employees and is expected to double that number in the next few years.