Post by Christine on Aug 20, 2008 4:07:55 GMT -5
After a loss, a business still thrives
Grass-fed local meat draws repeat customers
By Alison Arnett, Globe Correspondent | August 20, 2008
LEXINGTON - While growers at the farmers' market here are arranging colorful boxes of tomatoes, squash, blueberries, and baked goods for the afternoon opening, Tom Moriarty is standing under a canopy with only closed coolers around him, answering questions about River Rock naturally raised beef tenderloin, tri-tip, and flat iron steaks. Not much to see except white freezer-paper wrappers inside large coolers.
But customers know this meat. River Rock Farm in Brimfield has been selling to farmers' markets in and around Boston for five years. Its beef was a dream that might have died with its founder in 2006, when a truck rollover killed Jonathan Konove. He began his small cattle operation with the belief that consumers would pay more for grass-fed local meat. And on this sultry Tuesday, they're waiting in line. River Rock fans have proven so devoted that the spring after Konove died, a North Shore man drove out to Brimfield to help the family in any way he could. He ended up spending long days fixing fences.
Moriarty was hired last year by the Konove family to run the beef operation, and against all odds, the endeavor is making money. "People are looking for things that they would go to a butcher shop for," says the 27-year-old Moriarty, a culinary school-trained chef. He says that beyond popular steak cuts and hamburger meat, other lesser-known cuts are sought after: hanger steaks, oxtail, even tongue. It reminds him of his years in Spain, first as a high school exchange student, then in college, and later in culinary school, where the butchers gave out recipes and cooking tips along with the sausages and cuts of meat.
Moriarty has grown to love raising 40 head of cattle on the Brimfield farm; there are 25 more on another piece of land that Moriarty also tends. The business, he says, "still runs 100 percent on Jon Konove's reputation for quality and care in handling his animals and meat products."
After his son's death, Ron Konove had planned to wrap up the meat business. Another son and daughter stepped in for several months each but both had other careers and plans. Then Moriarty, whose older brother had been a friend of Jon's, entered the picture. "When Jon died, I was still in school," Moriarty says. "I'd told my brother I was interested in the meat business." The Konove family needed help, so Moriarty, a Dennison University graduate who had just finished culinary school near Bilbao, Spain, signed on. He knew how to cook meat, but he knew nothing about it on the hoof.
It's been "a steep learning curve," admits Moriarty. "Every day, there's usually something surprising." The cattle are raised on grass for about 15 months, with some grain supplements. They reach about 1,200 pounds before being slaughtered and processed at Blood Farm in Groton, a small USDA-inspected facility.
To Ron Konove, finding Moriarty was "incredibly lucky." Konove, a lawyer in New York, who bought the farm with his wife, Kay, as a country retreat, had wanted to keep the beef operation going as a tribute to their son, who was killed at age 29. That it has survived is testimony to Jon's work, his father says. "Whatever he put into place, we didn't manage to screw up."
The Konoves' younger son, Drew, showed Moriarty the ropes last year. Since the start of this year, Moriarty has been running the operation alone. Although he had no livestock experience, says Ron Konove, "he can answer all the chefs' questions." In addition to selling at farmers' markets, River Rock goes to more than a dozen restaurants. Customers can order the beef online and have it delivered, and some specialty markets carry it.
Although the senior Konove found it necessary to dramatically raise prices this year because of fuel and grain costs, the business is holding steady, he says. "The retail customers don't even blink." At about $19 a pound for bone-in strip steak or rib-eye, $13.50 a pound for flank or skirt steak, and $7.25 a pound for hamburger, the prices are substantially above those at area markets.
Attracting customers isn't a problem, says Konove. "I'm absolutely convinced that in locally grown . . . demand exceeds supply." In the case of his beef, customers are buying it even though they can't see it through the white paper wrappers - much less taste it. Jon Konove set up a grill and handed out samples in the early days of the enterprise. Today, customers buy the beef "on faith," the senior Konove says, then "they all come back the next week."
The biggest business problems are finding quality steers and staff to work at the farmers' markets. "We'd be in more markets if we had the help," he says.
To Moriarty, there are times when being a brand-new farmer is lonely. And the work doesn't encourage a social life. "I'm 27," he says. "Sometimes spending a Saturday night on the farm is trying." He doesn't ride horses, though he tends two that live on the premises. "Tending cattle on horseback," he says with a wistful smile, "that would be too romantic."
Yet he's upbeat: "It's fun to be selling something you enjoy working with yourself."
River Rock beef is sold at City Feed and Supply, 66 Boylston St., Jamaica Plain, 617-524-1657, and at farmers' markets in Marblehead and Harvard on Saturdays; Newton and Lexington on Tuesdays; Brookline on Thursdays; and Davis Square, Somerville on Wednesdays. For more information go to www.riverrockfarm.com.
Grass-fed local meat draws repeat customers
By Alison Arnett, Globe Correspondent | August 20, 2008
LEXINGTON - While growers at the farmers' market here are arranging colorful boxes of tomatoes, squash, blueberries, and baked goods for the afternoon opening, Tom Moriarty is standing under a canopy with only closed coolers around him, answering questions about River Rock naturally raised beef tenderloin, tri-tip, and flat iron steaks. Not much to see except white freezer-paper wrappers inside large coolers.
But customers know this meat. River Rock Farm in Brimfield has been selling to farmers' markets in and around Boston for five years. Its beef was a dream that might have died with its founder in 2006, when a truck rollover killed Jonathan Konove. He began his small cattle operation with the belief that consumers would pay more for grass-fed local meat. And on this sultry Tuesday, they're waiting in line. River Rock fans have proven so devoted that the spring after Konove died, a North Shore man drove out to Brimfield to help the family in any way he could. He ended up spending long days fixing fences.
Moriarty was hired last year by the Konove family to run the beef operation, and against all odds, the endeavor is making money. "People are looking for things that they would go to a butcher shop for," says the 27-year-old Moriarty, a culinary school-trained chef. He says that beyond popular steak cuts and hamburger meat, other lesser-known cuts are sought after: hanger steaks, oxtail, even tongue. It reminds him of his years in Spain, first as a high school exchange student, then in college, and later in culinary school, where the butchers gave out recipes and cooking tips along with the sausages and cuts of meat.
Moriarty has grown to love raising 40 head of cattle on the Brimfield farm; there are 25 more on another piece of land that Moriarty also tends. The business, he says, "still runs 100 percent on Jon Konove's reputation for quality and care in handling his animals and meat products."
After his son's death, Ron Konove had planned to wrap up the meat business. Another son and daughter stepped in for several months each but both had other careers and plans. Then Moriarty, whose older brother had been a friend of Jon's, entered the picture. "When Jon died, I was still in school," Moriarty says. "I'd told my brother I was interested in the meat business." The Konove family needed help, so Moriarty, a Dennison University graduate who had just finished culinary school near Bilbao, Spain, signed on. He knew how to cook meat, but he knew nothing about it on the hoof.
It's been "a steep learning curve," admits Moriarty. "Every day, there's usually something surprising." The cattle are raised on grass for about 15 months, with some grain supplements. They reach about 1,200 pounds before being slaughtered and processed at Blood Farm in Groton, a small USDA-inspected facility.
To Ron Konove, finding Moriarty was "incredibly lucky." Konove, a lawyer in New York, who bought the farm with his wife, Kay, as a country retreat, had wanted to keep the beef operation going as a tribute to their son, who was killed at age 29. That it has survived is testimony to Jon's work, his father says. "Whatever he put into place, we didn't manage to screw up."
The Konoves' younger son, Drew, showed Moriarty the ropes last year. Since the start of this year, Moriarty has been running the operation alone. Although he had no livestock experience, says Ron Konove, "he can answer all the chefs' questions." In addition to selling at farmers' markets, River Rock goes to more than a dozen restaurants. Customers can order the beef online and have it delivered, and some specialty markets carry it.
Although the senior Konove found it necessary to dramatically raise prices this year because of fuel and grain costs, the business is holding steady, he says. "The retail customers don't even blink." At about $19 a pound for bone-in strip steak or rib-eye, $13.50 a pound for flank or skirt steak, and $7.25 a pound for hamburger, the prices are substantially above those at area markets.
Attracting customers isn't a problem, says Konove. "I'm absolutely convinced that in locally grown . . . demand exceeds supply." In the case of his beef, customers are buying it even though they can't see it through the white paper wrappers - much less taste it. Jon Konove set up a grill and handed out samples in the early days of the enterprise. Today, customers buy the beef "on faith," the senior Konove says, then "they all come back the next week."
The biggest business problems are finding quality steers and staff to work at the farmers' markets. "We'd be in more markets if we had the help," he says.
To Moriarty, there are times when being a brand-new farmer is lonely. And the work doesn't encourage a social life. "I'm 27," he says. "Sometimes spending a Saturday night on the farm is trying." He doesn't ride horses, though he tends two that live on the premises. "Tending cattle on horseback," he says with a wistful smile, "that would be too romantic."
Yet he's upbeat: "It's fun to be selling something you enjoy working with yourself."
River Rock beef is sold at City Feed and Supply, 66 Boylston St., Jamaica Plain, 617-524-1657, and at farmers' markets in Marblehead and Harvard on Saturdays; Newton and Lexington on Tuesdays; Brookline on Thursdays; and Davis Square, Somerville on Wednesdays. For more information go to www.riverrockfarm.com.