Meat lovers have a new way to find high quality products from across the state

INTERVIEWER: If you're not a meat eater, do something else for the next few minutes. If you like to throw a little something on the grill, maybe you have a cabinet of meat rubs, this next interview is for you meat-thusiasts. There's a Mankato-based business called the Meatery MN.

That's a startup that just received a State Innovation grant, along with 43 other startups in the state. 25 of those businesses were created by entrepreneurs of color, veterans, women, or located in greater Minnesota. We thought we'd talk to one of them. Colette Drager is the president of the Meatery MN. Colette's on the line. Welcome to the show!

COLETTE DRAGER: Yes. Hi. Hi. Hello.

INTERVIEWER: Nice to have you with us.

COLETTE DRAGER: Thank you very much. We really appreciate the time. And thanks Launch Minnesota for the grant, as well.

INTERVIEWER: Say, you call yourselves an online platform for meat-thusiast, is that right?

COLETTE DRAGER: Yes. Yeah. I mean, the idea started a few years prior to the pandemic where it was just our-- two generations of our family were just thinking-- we wanted to do something together. And one of the things that we all share regularly is just great food.

So we were looking to build a community of people, which we started to coin meat-thusiasts, just people who like to prepare and share good foods together.

INTERVIEWER: So what kind of meats do you curate for your online consumers?

COLETTE DRAGER: Well, what we do is we developed an e-commerce site where it's a showcase of farmers and small meat markets across the state. And so it's what those partners provide. I mean, they're all just top producers that we've selected that offer foods such as beef, and pork, and chicken, and lamb.

And then we bundle them together to make great products and to ship to everyone's store. And then what we do is with each of those bundles, we try to develop that community to show people that these are certain quality meats, but here are some recipes, there's some things that you can do to help make good memories with families and friends.

INTERVIEWER: There are, of course, a lot of very interesting breeds out there-- breeds of hogs and beef cattle, that kind of thing. Do you go into more of the, shall I say, more exotic breeds?

COLETTE DRAGER: Well, what we do is-- the very first criteria we have with the partners that we select is that they're hidden gems in their local communities. So it's those that the locals turn to for their quality. So with that, then you are going to see variety across.

So we have partners that have heritage Angus beef. We have those that have a wagyu cross. Some that are wagyu on the side of beef. And all of them dry age through their process and offer top cuts such as beef tenderloin and briskets, and some of those top states like New York strips and the rib eyes.

And then with pork, we have-- we're fortunate to have Fisher Farms from Watseka that is a part of our network. They have restaurants throughout the state. You can find them in many of the farms tables restaurants. And they have a Duroc Berkshire cross. And then we also have a purebred Mangalits breed down in Blue Earth, offered by Blue Dirt, which is just a very well-marbled animal, along with general Duroc breeds as well.

So what we try to do is those hidden gems, as well as a variety of products, and certainly all from great families with strong practices. For the most part, many of the shops that you're going to find on the site are-- they also raise the crops and they produce the livestock. And then, really, it gets right down to when you place an order, they're the ones that are better boxing it and putting a note in the box for you when you receive it.

INTERVIEWER: You mentioned this at the beginning of our conversation about the pandemic. There was that issue during the early days of the pandemic when big processing meat processors shut down. How is being a smaller purveyor of meat working for you?

COLETTE DRAGER: Well, that's exactly why we took action on this. We had had a number of ideas prior to the pandemic, but with that, I mean, that really just-- in looking at the supply chain issues that occurred there, that was not-- all of the empty meat cases were not a result of not having meat, it was a supply chain issue. So that's where we set up the e-commerce site that directed, directly connected the farmers and the consumers together.

So as a small player, I mean the USDA is also out there providing grants and funds now to help the small and mid-sized meat processors to grow because, I mean, there does need to be balance. And all of us in the farming communities, during that time with the empty meat cases, we had excess because we couldn't get our livestock out. But we all were very, very busy in supporting our local meat eaters. And it really is top quality stuff.

INTERVIEWER: Say, what do you plan to do? The grant says something, right? I mean, the state of Minnesota handed out these innovation grants to about 40, some odd, small businesses. What does it mean to yours to get something like that?

COLETTE DRAGER: It really was a privilege for us. Because as a startup, I mean, anybody who is in a startup, any extra dollar you can get that helps you to move forward your strategy or accelerate that is so worthwhile. And what we intend to do is twofold.

I mean, one is, from a technology standpoint, to continue to develop our e-commerce site that helps us to become more scalable, provide a stronger customer experience, as well as developing greater, a better dashboard and analytics for our partner shops.

And then the other piece of that, what we want to do is start looking and doing some research around some products like some artisanal products, some small batch products and see if consumers would enjoy those as well.

INTERVIEWER: Say, do you remember your first sale?

COLETTE DRAGER: Oh, absolutely.

[GIGGLES]

Oh, it was exciting. And actually, it was quite a week. It was so much fun. Because, like I said, we're 12-- we're a team of 12. We're all family members. We're two generations. And everybody has their day job, except for myself, and we get together. This has been a fun project for us.

And that first sale was actually, as we learned, ended up it was a good friend of ours that. He set his alarm-- and actually, they're realtors in the South Metro. And they set their alarm and made sure that they were the very first ones, and just spoke to the great support they gave our business.

So that was energizing. And it was one after the other. I mean, even in terms of all the community's support, it's been fantastic across the [INAUDIBLE] the Rochester, and now the Metro. I knew that as well, one of the great, great, great fun things that's happening now-- I mean, it wasn't the very first sale but it's something that's happened since are these virtual parties where they'll send them a box of charcuterie and maybe a steak or something in there and then they have parties online.

INTERVIEWER: All right, it sounds like you're having a great time, Colette. And we wish you all the best. Thanks for telling us about your business.

COLETTE DRAGER: Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time, Cathy.

INTERVIEWER: Continued success. Colette Drage is the president of the Meatery MN which is located near Mankato. You can find them online at the meaterymn.com.