They are no strangers to the spotlight at Hunter Cattle Company. I jokingly referred to the patriarch of the family, Del Ferguson as the ‘Unofficial Mayor of Brooklet”. That could have a lot to do with the fact that I don’t know anyone outside of the Ferguson family from Brooklet. The reality is, a lot of people-from some pretty far off places-are coming to know Del and his family. More importantly, they are coming to know their grass-fed beef products. In fact, they are becoming famouser and famouser every time I see any of them at any number of events across the area. Not a word? Ok, it is now.
It’s not uncommon at all to see Del and his wife, Debra, at countless food festivals within driving distance of their Brooklet farm. Atlanta, Jekyll Island, Hilton Head Island and of course, Savannah, all have a spot for Hunter Cattle Company. Lately though, they’ve needed a little more gas money. The road trips have taken them as far as Miami.
When Del told me he was participating in demos in Miami, I “lol’d”. Literally. I mean, really? There are plenty of people in Miami that speak perfect English. Not everyone sounds like Al Pacino’s version of Scarface. However, picturing Del’s drippy Southern drawl in the heart of Little Havana gets your attention. Especially for me, knowing South Floridians like I do and knowing the Ferguson family like I do. I mean, Miami is so far South that you end up North. You know, Yankees with a tan. Well, it just so happens that the Fergusons are very likely to meet a group of real card-carrying Yankees. Maybe even some Mets, Cardinals, Brewers or Royals. They’ve been invited to demo Hunter Cattle Products at Marlins Park, Miami’s Major League Baseball stadium.
“We were doing a demo somewhere”, Del says. “He liked it. Got some right off the bat” (no pun intended). The “he” Del refers to is Vince Navarette, Executive Chef for Marlins Park. Navarette invited them to provide samples and talk about their products to season ticket holders in one of those hoity-toity stadium lounges, in this case behind home plate. “We found out he was already using our stuff, so we really didn’t have to sell him on it”, Del adds.
Navarette is in charge of feeding the entire stadium. No, he doesn’t grill the brats or pop the corn, he feeds the suites. The high-level eats at the stadium every night. When you dish out five figures for a suite at a major league ball park, regardless of the sport, you get plenty to drink of course, but you will also eat well. In this case, some of it comes from Hunter Cattle Company. “We’ve gotten a lot of compliments from those season ticket holders”, Del says. “Some have told us they already used our stuff because some grocery stores down there already carry it. We’ve even had some people order directly from the farm. We started mail order over the holidays”, he says.
It’s one thing to talk about how good you think your product is, but it’s another thing altogether to be able to prepare it in front of them so they can taste it. I’ve witnessed it myself when I’ve done demos at farmers markets. If you cook some sausage and let someone taste it, for example, they are far more likely to want to buy it. Human nature, I suppose. Same principle working wonders for the Fergusons in Florida. “We brought them some pork loin”, Del says. “We frenched it here, then Vince stuffed it with sausage.” A variation, actually, of one of my Cuban Dad’s favorite dishes, Boliche Mechado. Look it up. It is spectacular.
The demos are good for business. It appears to be working for the Miami Marlins as well. “We may be going down there about once a month between now and the end of the season. I’m not exactly sure yet”, Del confesses. “We have to put their home schedule up against our availability and see when we can get down there.” The Marlins fan in me told him he’d likely be in the clear come October. Miami has two World Series rings, and lately they have been playing better, but I wouldn’t count on any post season dates in their immediate future. That’s just fine with Del. They have actually already discussed demos in 2017, including a spot at Major League Baseball’s All Star Game, which Miami will host next year. “Nothing is definite, but he did ask me if we’d be interested”, Del says, knowing full well what the magnitude of exposure like that can mean. “It’s one thing to show off our products to season ticket holders, but the All Star Game is national coverage”, he says.
The demand is clearly through the roof. The first question you need to ask is how in the world can one tiny family run farm keep up with it? “We have co-growers who provide with us”, Del says. “Independent farmers who prefer to stay behind the scenes. They can sell to whoever they want, but they prefer to work with us. Auditors come out and visit us and them as well”, he says, making sure that we understand that Hunter Cattle beef is ‘grass fed and finished’. “There are some farmers out there who say they are grass-fed but still give them corn”, he adds. “Ours is 100% grass fed.” The popularity will tell you its also 100% delicious.
We’ve reported before that Hunter Cattle sends a truck to the Governor’s Mansion in Atlanta twice a month or so. They’ve filled orders for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League and they have even been transported all the way to New York City to be served at the James Beard House by chefs in the Georgia Grown program. A win-win for everyone. Recently they took an order from the Atlanta Braves who are going to be rolling out a ‘Farm to Field’ program when they get in to their new stadium in Cobb County just north of Atlanta. You’d better leave now if you want to get there for opening day. Traffic is expected to be snarly at best.
Plenty of business to keep the Fergusons busy, as they have for the last six years or so. Hard to believe it has only been six short years. But if the crowds continue to eat it and like it, they’ll be glad to make some more. “I never put a ceiling on anything I attempt”, Del tells me. “But not having a business plan when we started, getting into sports stadiums and such wasn’t really part of the equation.” Root root root for the home team? Absolutely.
See you on TV,
Jesse
