04/07/2024
DENVER — Superior Farms is the last packing plant standing in the city limits of Denver.
Decades ago, several livestock production facilities operated just across the river from the Denver Stockyards where cattle and lamb were fed and then walked over the bridges into the packing plant.
The city of Denver changed dramatically during that time as its population surged. It continues to try to attract people from around the United States into the existing agriculture community.
In November, the processing plant’s fate will be decided by voters as an initiative that would prohibit slaughtering inside the city limits by 2026 will be on the ballot. Pro-Animal Future, an animal rights activist group, introduced the measure. The group’s proposed ordinance would eliminate slaughtering operations in Denver and “promote community awareness of animal welfare, bolster the city’s stance against animal cruelty, and, in turn, foster a more humane environment in Denver.”
Currently, that initiative would affect one business: Superior Farms’ lamb processing plant, which has been owned by the company for more than 40 years.
Rick Stott, chief executive officer of Superior Farms, discussed the proposed initiative with MEAT+POULTRY during last month’s Annual Meat Conference. He made it clear that activist groups are looking to disrupt the existing meat business.
“The people that are proposing this, their goal is to eliminate animal ag in the state of Colorado. That’s their stated goal. They took that off their website for now, but that’s what they want to do,” Stott said.
The company’s Denver plant is the largest lamb packing facility in the United States, processing about 1,500 head per day.
The facility functions as both a harvest and fabrication facility that breaks lamb down to primals. It also has case-ready production. Following final packaging, the products are shipped all over the East Coast. Stott added that the plant brings in lambs from most farms west of Iowa. Superior Farms is the only lamb company with a nationwide footprint that services national retailers.
Plant details
The Denver plant employs 160 people, with nearly 80% of the employees being residents of Denver, according to Superior Farms.
After the ballot initiative was proposed, Stott and others stakeholders at Superior Farms knew they needed to get out and educate the public about the plant.
A consulting group hired by Superior Farms conducted a poll of 800 Denver voters to gauge what the public was thinking about this issue.
The consultants read the initiative and asked people how they would vote without any background. Stott said the poll results showed that voters were evenly divided about the issue, and he did not know whether Superior would win or lose.
Stott realizes the importance of explaining Superior’s position so voters can make informed decisions.
Stott believes that liberal voters and liberal council members will resonate with their message because the ballot initiative threatens to eliminate 160 good-paying jobs and the many benefits the employee-owned business provides to the community.
“I think the voters will resonate with the message of saying it’s not fair to target a particular business,” Stott said.
Superior Farms has functioned as an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) company since 1981. Stott explained that many of the employees at the company have been there for more than 15 years.
Other than the plant in Denver, Superior Farms’ only designated lamb facility is in Dixon, Calif., which it remodeled in 2016. Superior also operates a small fabrication facility in Boston and a small warehouse in Los Angeles.
If the plant shuts down, Stott said not only would 160 jobs be eliminated, but about half of Superior’s lamb suppliers would have to find another packing plant to go to, making it devastating for the American lamb industry.
Stott said their employees are the most compelling people convey the benefits of keeping the plant operating. He highlighted two people in the plant who are well suited to share the message: Gustavo Fernandez, the plant manager and Isabel Bautista, assistant general manager. The two longtime employees started working at the plant sweeping floors decades ago and now help run the operations in Denver.
“Although they are not political at all, they’re very uncomfortable doing that, they are very passionate about that plant, very passionate about their employees, the fellow owners of this plant,” Stott said.
Superior Farms prides itself on the retention rate of its workers. Stott himself has been there for 10 years and barely broke into the top 50% of longevity at Superior Farms.
“We have a very low turnover rate,” he said. “We have people lined up wanting to come to work for us. It’s a great environment. Most of the people who want to work for us come from family, friends and neighbors.”
Working on the Campaign
In an initial poll of local residents, Stott said 70% of the people from Denver did not even know that Superior Farms existed within the city limits.
“That’s a big part of what we discovered is we need to communicate who we are,” Stott said.
One way Superior recently engaged with the community was to sponsor Denver Restaurant Week in 2024, so the brand’s partnerships with area restaurant operators would be promoted to public.
“We wanted to show that we are the local lamb supplier in Denver and that was a big deal,” Stott said. “That really was a very positive thing to get who we are out in our name and recognition. Those are the kind of things that we’ve got to do.”
But with a political season ahead, Stott and Superior Farms knows the company needs to raise capital to finance the campaigning ahead of the November vote.
Stott also explained that this is the first ballot initiative that targets an existing packing plant, which he calls a big concern for all interested meat companies.
“This is not just about us,” Stott said of the lamb market. “This is about the entire protein industry. If they can do this in the Cowtown of Denver. Then they can probably do it in Omaha. They can do it in Philadelphia, Chicago, LA, Portland, etc. All these towns that are very liberal and have packing plants in those cities.”
Since March, Stott and others have started fundraising and discuss the initiative at national conventions of meat industry stakeholders.
“So much of our industry oftentimes say, ‘well that’s a pig problem, or that’s a dairy problem, or that’s a beef problem,” Stott said. “But I’ve been very encouraged to see that when I am in front of these executive committees and these associations, that they recognize that this is not just a sheep problem. This is not just a Superior Farms problem. This is really a protein problem that we’ve got to send a signal to these animal liberation groups that this is not a pathway they can take and win.”
According to Stott, if the initiative passes, the Denver City Council has six months to overturn the decision. However, that would be six months of uncertainty for employees, customers and suppliers.
“That’s pretty damaging to any business to have that uncertainty in place,” Stott said.
Throughout that early process, the Meat Institute helped Superior Farms organize others in the industry to recognize the threat this ballot initiative could pose for other processors around the country and change how many protein companies do business near large population centers.
“The resources that they provide, particularly to a company like ours which is relatively small, was phenomenal,” Stott said of the Meat Institute.
Superior was able to access legal opinions, marketing tools and other coalition resources that will help the company in the long term as it broadens its message in Denver and the United States.
“They’ve made introductions for me to go and speak at executive committees and different association meetings. They are on every call that we have about this and provide great guidance and direction of perceptions and guidance,” Stott said of Meat Institute. “The success we’re having would not be there without them.”
Stott pointed out that work on the initiative has to be done early in Colorado. Every registered voter automatically receives a ballot by mail in the state. Those votes can then be sent back or put into drop boxes around their city or county.
With that set up, Stott believes their campaigning needs to be nearly finished by mid-October, knowing some residents will also vote in person on Election Day in November.
“Our challenge now is to communicate who we are, to make sure people know that we exist, make sure that we communicate, that we tell truth, not lies,” Stott said.
