Ranch Foods Direct opened the Peak to Plains Food Hub in June of 2017 to house the existing ranch-to-retail Callicrate Beef business, incubate other new food-related enterprises, and serve as a connecting point and pollination center for the growth and expansion of a dynamic, regenerative, regional food system.

Key components of the food hub include:

  • Meat processing and packaging for Ranch Foods Direct and other farmers and ranchers who need custom processing services to market their livestock;
  • Commercial kitchen space for new food entrepreneurs, such as Mountain Pie Co., a local business that transforms meat from Ranch Foods Direct into savory meat pies;
  • A shipping and fulfillment center for online sales;
  • Cold storage space for area food enterprises such as Goat Patch Brewing, a local brewery in Colorado Springs;
  • Pick-up and drop-off location for a regional virtual farmers market and local CSA farm, with plenty of parking, truck docks and produce storage.
  • A connection point for other regional food hubs such as Valley Roots Food Cooperative in the San Luis Valley;
  • A community gathering place with environmentally adapted landscaping, outdoor tables, raised beds, walking trails and an on-site food truck.

A FOOD HUB NEEDS MEAT PROCESSING

Integrating meat processing with produce distribution is the foundation for fulfilling Mike Callicrate’s vision of revitalizing local food systems and the quest to Save Our Interdependent Livelihoods (SOIL). Meat production is critical to sustaining the health of the land, but it’s also critical to sustaining a food hub by generating year-round processing and sales activity. Ranch Foods Direct pioneered the concept of on-site processing of animals where they are raised to reduce stress and improve meat quality. Those innovations have also created pathways to the marketplace for farmers and ranchers across the region who want to sell direct to consumers. The Peak to Plains Food Hub is a key component that ties all of these efforts together.

CALLICRATE BEEF AND PORK

Callicrate Beef and Callicrate Pork are humanely raised, without antibiotics or hormones, at Callicrate Cattle Company, three hours northeast of Colorado Springs near St. Francis, Kansas. The livestock are processed on-site at the ranch, and carcasses are shipped by company truck to the Peak to Plains facility for cutting and retail packaging. To learn more, visit www.ranchfoodsdirect.com.

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Colorado Springs Food Hub Partners