Open for Business with Hannah Klitz, Oak Barn Beef (July 13, 2021)
Nebraska Women in Agriculture
Author
07/13/2021
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45
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Hannah Klitz is the owner of Oak Barn Beef. Oak Barn Beef ships Premium, Nebraska beef directly to consumers across the United States. Utilizing cattle DNA testing and dry-aging, the beef is said to be some of the best you'll ever try! Hannah started the business as a sophomore in college and now is the sole owner/operator of the business with her husband, Eric. She graduated from UNL in May 2020 with a degree in Animal Science and minors in the Nebraska Beef Industry Scholars and the Engler Entrepreneurship Program. Hannah also works full-time as the Communications Coordinator at The Combine, a program by Invest Nebraska which supports Nebraska Agricultural Technology Startups.
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- [00:00:03.300]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Good evening everyone i'm Brittany fulton the extension assistant for the nebraska women agriculture program and thanks for joining us tonight.
- [00:00:10.980]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: I couldn't have planned this more perfect it's like national cow day, I guess, and we have a special guest with us, who is going to discuss be with us in all things cattle so that's.
- [00:00:21.090]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: it's like I play on this, I guess right, but this is open for business webinar series that focuses on female agribusiness entrepreneurs, on the second Tuesday of the month.
- [00:00:30.330]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: We feature nebraska women agriculture to show their grit determination as they share their stories about how they've overcome business shocks during our time together, please use the chat box located in the bottom of your screen to ask questions.
- [00:00:44.490]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Today we have with us Hannah cliffs is and she's the owner of old barn beef or beef ships premium nebraska beef directly to consumers across the United States.
- [00:00:54.150]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: utilizing cal DNA testing and dry aging the beef is said to be some of the best show ever try.
- [00:00:59.670]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: And I started the business as a sophomore in college and is now the sole owner operator of the business with her husband Eric.
- [00:01:05.190]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: She graduated from ul in May of 2020 with a degree in animal science and minors and the nebraska beef industry scholars and angler entrepreneurship Program.
- [00:01:14.610]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: And also works full time as a communications coordinator at the combine a program by invest nebraska which supports nebraska agricultural technology startups thanks for joining us tonight Hannah.
- [00:01:27.510]Hannah Klitz: yeah Thank you and i'm happy it's national account a tues good coincidence.
- [00:01:33.390]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Like we planned it perfectly honestly.
- [00:01:35.460]Right.
- [00:01:37.110]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: But we'll just go ahead and get started here and let's start with you just telling us about yourself and your background.
- [00:01:43.170]Hannah Klitz: Sure, so I grew up in longmont Colorado until I was 13 actually so we had a eight acres kind of outside of a urban area in which me and my sisters show show cattle.
- [00:01:55.920]Hannah Klitz: And then I eventually showed goats and hogs are few years but we mainly focused on cattle, so I got into for each like at a really early age of pictures of me showing my bucket calves, and when I was there were a lot taller than me at that point to even as calves.
- [00:02:12.390]Hannah Klitz: But then when I was 13 my parents moved to nebraska to get closer to their parents and we move to a cow calf operation where.
- [00:02:22.470]Hannah Klitz: It was basically my dad's stream to have a cow calf operation, so it was really fun to move back and be like more hands on with the whole.
- [00:02:30.510]Hannah Klitz: Industry and more of like that production side of the beef industry and I just fell in love learning about like the current events.
- [00:02:38.910]Hannah Klitz: Like problems going on in the beef industry and, like just day to day practices to so.
- [00:02:44.490]Hannah Klitz: That led me to study animal science at the University of nebraska Lincoln and I had four really great years there with different organizations, but the angler entrepreneurship program was.
- [00:02:56.280]Hannah Klitz: One that I was extremely focused on and that's just really hands on entrepreneurship so there's professors and everything within the program but they really just act like mentors and kind of push you to start a business, if you want to so that led me to start a farm beef.
- [00:03:15.660]Hannah Klitz: Where I sell a family farm beef directly to people directly to households across the US online and so i've been growing that.
- [00:03:26.610]Hannah Klitz: For three years now, and I just graduated from you know, last May and moved to West point nebraska which is my husband's hometown and move the business up here with me and i'm just still chugging along on that so.
- [00:03:43.350]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Perfect let's talk a little bit more about barn beef and kind of like really dive into the nitty gritty of it, because you guys raise your own cattle and you get all the spots at the butcher shop like let's talk about that a little bit.
- [00:03:56.700]Hannah Klitz: yeah so I when we first started, I was just buying cattle from my parents, so they have like their cow calf operation and they actually.
- [00:04:05.460]Hannah Klitz: Like specialized in embryo transfer, so we would contract out our cows and put in other people's embryos and then raise those calves till weaning and they went back to the producers.
- [00:04:17.220]Hannah Klitz: At weaning time, so it was kind of a niche there, but all the cows that didn't take an embryo weird breed with our own genetics and then my dad was just selling like holes have some quarters of beef, like a lot of ranchers do and I started to get really interested in it and.
- [00:04:34.140]Hannah Klitz: Really decided, I wanted to help advocate for agriculture by just sharing our farm story so that led me to start a farm beef a separate entity than my parents, so I am the owner of it but work very closely, like with my parents by the cavs from that.
- [00:04:52.170]Hannah Klitz: And then we work with one other producer out of Miller nebraska who has the same priorities as us, so the whole process breakdown is that we.
- [00:05:02.520]Hannah Klitz: DNA test all of our cattle through neo gin and we can see a ton of their carcass treats, including their tenderness gene marbling gene ribeye area size average daily game like just a ton of.
- [00:05:16.530]Hannah Klitz: Those different traits to to choose which cattle are going to transition into our be programs so.
- [00:05:22.350]Hannah Klitz: I have like standards for which cattle can enter into over and be from those so their highest quality, from the beginning, so we really focus on the tenderness and marbling gene there.
- [00:05:34.020]Hannah Klitz: And then we raised the cattle we finish them out in West point and my in laws house right now we don't have a farm quite yet so lucky enough they left, let me.
- [00:05:44.280]Hannah Klitz: raise the cattle there and then we use a usda inspected butcher so mainly ASC locker and West point she was only five minutes away.
- [00:05:53.910]Hannah Klitz: And then have a walk in freezer on the farm so bring the beef back and then market it online and then shipped directly from our farm to people across the United States.
- [00:06:05.040]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Now that's super cool.
- [00:06:07.800]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: This is like becoming super popular all across not only nebraska but everywhere and so to actually get to talk to them about like that details and logistics and like what you have to go through, I think, is really important, and an asset for everyone that's listening.
- [00:06:24.660]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: But, for your your spots at the butcher you have to plan way in advance, I know here we've tried to get some things and it's like year a year out like, how do you go about making sure that you have enough spots throughout the year.
- [00:06:37.290]Hannah Klitz: Well, that wasn't really a problem pre coated it was I could call the locker two or three weeks in advance and get cattle and when they are finished, and so it was a big change having to book last year I think in March I booked out till.
- [00:06:53.280]Hannah Klitz: I think January of 2021 and then I heard in August that it was filling up again so called the locker and booked all the way till the end of the year for 2021 too.
- [00:07:02.880]Hannah Klitz: So it's really difficult though to plan for when cattle are going to be finish and how our operation works is we don't just like.
- [00:07:11.280]Hannah Klitz: Take a pin of cattle to the butcher all at once, like a lot of feeders or cattle producers do so, we have to make sure like they're finished at those different periods of time, so it's just really hard to plan for from that point.
- [00:07:26.430]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: On like you said, we were talking earlier before we started the webinar that you, you don't really know like this year's been so different because of lots of orders and.
- [00:07:37.350]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: yeah, how do you even go about planning for the year like, how do you know how much be actually put in the freezer to make sure you follow the orders like has additional.
- [00:07:46.440]Hannah Klitz: Yes, and it's always a fear of mine, too, I always joke that I always feel like I don't have enough before I feel like I have too much beef so.
- [00:07:54.120]Hannah Klitz: um I guess I just tried to set a goal, so we have to buy the cattle like that far in advance when we're when we're finishing them so.
- [00:08:03.390]Hannah Klitz: Like I know how many I need to sell and worst case scenario, I can take them to the to the like just sale barn instead of instead of selling it directly to consumers, but you just have to set that goal and kind of market the heck out of it as much as you can that's my philosophy.
- [00:08:23.640]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: kind of tagging on to that a little bit you know we talked about business shocks a lot, so what what kind of business shock, have you face, since you started a barn beef.
- [00:08:33.990]Hannah Klitz: I think the biggest one or biggest transition has been moving the business so not only like the cattle and that operation, but the actual like meat business too, so when I graduated from you know I.
- [00:08:47.880]Hannah Klitz: during those years I was at you know you and I had my cattle and my walk in freezer at my parents farm, which was just 45 minutes away from campus so very fortunate for that distance but.
- [00:09:01.230]Hannah Klitz: So then, when I moved to West point just transitioning the business was like it felt like starting the business over because they had to find all of these new resources and processes and and build a new freezer here and just some of those logistics so.
- [00:09:16.560]Hannah Klitz: That was a big change and i'm still getting used to some of the things and perfecting those practices.
- [00:09:24.360]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Do you see any other like future business shocks that you may run into.
- [00:09:29.460]Hannah Klitz: I think that I just with the coven situation and, like the huge demand increase we saw from that in a lot of direct to consumer operation soften that and people buying.
- [00:09:40.920]Hannah Klitz: Local I think that's such a great movement and there's a small fear in me that that's going to like go away at some point or people won't.
- [00:09:49.140]Hannah Klitz: buy, but I feel like the movements really there, but I think that we have to make sure that, like everything's.
- [00:09:56.280]Hannah Klitz: I this goes into the nitty gritty a little bit, but my biggest fear is like somebody gets sick from buying.
- [00:10:02.010]Hannah Klitz: Beef directly from a farmer and that whole like farm to table.
- [00:10:05.910]Hannah Klitz: Business that we've all like really worked on like it just goes out the window, because people don't trust buying from the farmers anymore, so I think just food safety is a top priority and should be for every direct to consumer.
- [00:10:17.850]Hannah Klitz: meet business because that could ruin it for everyone in the industry.
- [00:10:22.830]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: I think that is.
- [00:10:25.260]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: A very common fear right now is this food safety, but when you talk to consumers and, like you're shipping stuff to them, do you all, do you include food safety information or how do you go about that.
- [00:10:38.010]Hannah Klitz: yeah I was including like safe handling instructions and everyone.
- [00:10:43.830]Hannah Klitz: But people can send their boxes back to me, and they were always left in the box people weren't taking them out, so I thought that was interesting and I actually don't put those in the box anymore, maybe I do need to order them again.
- [00:10:57.120]Hannah Klitz: But I whenever I do recipes or anything like that to I try to put those food handling tips in the recipes like first wash your hands use different cutting boards for these things don't.
- [00:11:09.720]Hannah Klitz: Like test your temperature and all of that is something I tried to preach but it's it's hard when people don't know how.
- [00:11:18.900]Hannah Klitz: Critical it is to.
- [00:11:22.020]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: yeah I think that's lost a lot with consumers and then like you said, the farmer or whoever they got it from is blamed and it usually happens in the consumers kitchen.
- [00:11:33.480]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: yeah but you did say that people can send their boxes back to you, and so you kind of have a program where if they send it back they get something talk about that a little bit.
- [00:11:44.400]Hannah Klitz: yeah so they can so our big size boxes are biodegradable insulators so I try to stay away from styrofoam as much as I can, for shipping purposes, but our small boxes are styrofoam just because our during Kobe are insulator.
- [00:12:03.060]Hannah Klitz: maker sorry can't think of the right word right now, they actually started providing the shipping box.
- [00:12:09.090]Hannah Klitz: boxes for the covert vaccines companies, and so they were in such high demand and I couldn't get them for a little while, so we are using those but.
- [00:12:16.440]Hannah Klitz: anyways customers can send their boxes back and then, when they send five boxes, then we give them $50 of beef worth of beef in their next order so just kind of an incentive and we can use the boxes up to 10 different times so it's cool.
- [00:12:32.310]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: No, I think that's great I mean you're saving resources and not having so much waste at all.
- [00:12:39.810]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: We kind of talked about co but a little bit, but you had actually kind of good luck with coven talk about like how you've been successful because of it.
- [00:12:48.300]Hannah Klitz: yeah it brought a lot of new customers our way when the grocery stores were completely sold out of beef, which is just a scary.
- [00:12:56.040]Hannah Klitz: process or something to happen, so I remember getting a call from somebody in Maryland who.
- [00:13:01.830]Hannah Klitz: was like we can't I can't find ground beef anywhere, and I have nine kids at home to feed, and I was like that is terrifying to think about so it was really nice for.
- [00:13:11.670]Hannah Klitz: To not only like be able to provide for those ones, but the new customers to come our way too, so the way I.
- [00:13:19.290]Hannah Klitz: it's really hard to pre sell beef, because when you get it back from the butcher there's not like the exact same thing, every time.
- [00:13:26.040]Hannah Klitz: And so, instead of like just trying to do preorders I just only focused on our subscription programs subscription box program because we're I like just tailor that each month, based on inventory and there's like some variety there.
- [00:13:42.720]Hannah Klitz: And so we grew from the start of 2020 I had seven subscribers and by I believe it was may we had 97 subscribers so it was a huge increase which I was very thankful for, but we are sold out for a lot of.
- [00:14:01.860]Hannah Klitz: Because of that increase but.
- [00:14:05.070]Hannah Klitz: There were a lot of other things that came with the pandemic with like like we already talked about with butcher spots I couldn't get any more cattle in and just trying to book those in advance, like getting my insulators has been difficult and.
- [00:14:19.140]Hannah Klitz: Even just like small things like that, and I think we're still feeling the effects from like some of those supply chain issues, too, but yeah it definitely brought us new customers, which i'm very thankful for.
- [00:14:31.620]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: And that's awesome that's that's exciting for you guys for sure, for everyone that's on right now, if you've got questions and want to ask them go ahead and drop them in the chat box and we'll get to those.
- [00:14:43.200]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: But Hannah you talked about the subscriber program tell me more about that what, what do you get How much is it, how do you sign up.
- [00:14:50.850]Hannah Klitz: yeah we have two options on our website so people will just check out on those subscription boxes like they typically do when they buy beef, which is just like what credit card information, how you typically expect it online, but it's a reoccurring charged, so the first of each month.
- [00:15:10.470]Hannah Klitz: In customers can choose, we have two different options our family box and our couples box so.
- [00:15:16.920]Hannah Klitz: Just the couple's boxes usually, for I have some older customers who are retired and don't have kids at home anymore so that's a perfect fit for them, and that one is $100 and then our family box is.
- [00:15:30.630]Hannah Klitz: Just larger amount and that's $140 and customers can choose to have it to their doorstep every month every two months or three months so.
- [00:15:39.120]Hannah Klitz: It gives some variety and then you're free they can opt out anytime to so if their freezer school it's not like they're required to keep getting that box so.
- [00:15:48.540]Hannah Klitz: it's been really good for the direct consumer business just because you can predict your demand and like profitability and everything like that, just a little bit more.
- [00:15:59.670]Hannah Klitz: And I change the box options every month, so they're not getting the same thing, but I send them three selections that they can choose from every amounts, or they always have the option to customize so.
- [00:16:12.540]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: that's a very cool I like that a lot.
- [00:16:17.130]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: So, would you say that most of your your people are buying from you are all nebraskans you have a lot of out of State like kind of what your percentage of customers.
- [00:16:27.660]Hannah Klitz: i'd say 10% of our customers are in nebraska so really they mostly are out of state and we ship probably 95% of our orders not there's not too many that are local.
- [00:16:42.090]Hannah Klitz: But they.
- [00:16:44.310]Hannah Klitz: Sorry, read the question box and last night.
- [00:16:46.590]Hannah Klitz: train of thought they.
- [00:16:50.190]Hannah Klitz: We have shipped to all 50 states to which has been a really cool accomplishment to do Alaska and Hawaii too, so I was so excited when we hit that benchmark.
- [00:17:00.420]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Now that's awesome I never would have guessed that that was your percentage so that's really awesome but we'll we'll look at this question that's in the chat box here tell us how you got on the menu at shelling bridge and how you keep up with the demand.
- [00:17:15.360]Hannah Klitz: yeah so i'm schilling bridge I started providing to them when we we with the direct to consumer meet business or beef business, in particular, you get a lot of ground beef so that's like 50% of the carcass so it's really hard to control.
- [00:17:31.170]Hannah Klitz: inventory on with that much ground beef versus like the ribeye steaks and things that people really, really want.
- [00:17:39.030]Hannah Klitz: So we came up with the idea to do a wholesale to a restaurant in Lincoln and while I was in college there.
- [00:17:46.410]Hannah Klitz: We were still providing or I could take it in every week and it worked out really well, so when I moved to West point I actually stopped providing to schilling bridge and and now.
- [00:17:58.740]Hannah Klitz: i'm looking to pick up a restaurant again so i've talked to showing bridge or i've tried to contact them a few times so keeping up with the demand is just planning ahead of time, so you know if you.
- [00:18:11.730]Hannah Klitz: it's just trying to keep your freezer full is basically what it is and making sure that you have enough for further demand in it pretty good idea of what they would get every every week so that helped to.
- [00:18:25.200]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: that's pretty awesome I don't I don't think i've ever been to shelling branch but.
- [00:18:30.360]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: I think that's pretty cool to have your have your beef in any restaurant honestly.
- [00:18:35.190]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: sprinkle yeah let's kind of shift gears a little bit and talk to me about like some of the challenges that you maybe have faced as being a young female in our culture.
- [00:18:46.230]Hannah Klitz: I always struggle with this question a little bit because I feel like I everyone has been so supportive of that too, and just like.
- [00:18:54.930]Hannah Klitz: kind of encouraging about it, most of the time, I think the only differences some that I feel sometimes is that.
- [00:19:02.820]Hannah Klitz: Like they just don't expect stuff out of you, so I can like drive the truck and trailer and load cattle by myself, I take cattle to the butcher by myself, I pick up.
- [00:19:12.630]Hannah Klitz: ate beef and unload them all by myself things like that that they are just a little shocked by occasionally, so I think it's just kind of the shock value there, but just knowing that.
- [00:19:25.710]Hannah Klitz: I never I didn't have brothers, I had two older sisters and we always joke that my dad raised us like boys, and so I think I just never grew up realizing like there was a difference, or that I was an odd one out, so I I.
- [00:19:39.960]Hannah Klitz: haven't i'm realizing a little more, as I get older but it's definitely an empowering feeling that I can do a lot of those things that people think I can't.
- [00:19:50.580]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: that's great.
- [00:19:52.560]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: You know, talk about some of the things that helped you prepare to be a business owner like did you do a lot of research, how did you prepare yourself.
- [00:20:02.490]Hannah Klitz: So when I first started when I decided, I wanted to like do this business I started researching companies across the United States, who were doing the same thing, and there were as many as there are now because it was three years ago.
- [00:20:16.320]Hannah Klitz: And I found basically my dream business in northern California, so it was called five mary's farms and they ship their beef pork and lamb nationwide.
- [00:20:26.850]Hannah Klitz: directly from their farm they held retreats out on their ranch so people could experience branch life, and then they also just like really shared their farm story on social media.
- [00:20:39.000]Hannah Klitz: And so, when I found their business I, I decided that I wanted to intern with them, so I wrote them a letter asking if they would let me move out there for the summer and they didn't offer a formal internship program.
- [00:20:52.920]Hannah Klitz: But they allowed me to come out and live with them for the summer and I worked on the ranch I shipped beef out and.
- [00:21:00.180]Hannah Klitz: Mary was basically just an amazing mentor to me who like taught me the ins and outs of a farm to table business and so that was the best learning experience and researching experience I could have.
- [00:21:13.410]Hannah Klitz: And I always tell people it's the best time to start a business when you're a student because you're never going to get opportunities like that again like you get so many great opportunities with the student card is what we joke about it with the angler Program.
- [00:21:30.030]Hannah Klitz: And then I also just started listening to a lot of audiobooks podcast and YouTube specifically on marketing because that's such a big part of of this business and so that really helped.
- [00:21:44.430]Hannah Klitz: Just find those customers out of state and nationwide to so.
- [00:21:50.190]Hannah Klitz: And I see in the Q amp a somebody asked if I ship internationally, and I do not, so we just do the United States and I don't have any plans right now to expand that just because I think it's I can't figure out logistics nation or internationally quite yet, but we'll see.
- [00:22:09.480]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: there's another question here in the chat box to if you wouldn't mind explaining your shipping process.
- [00:22:15.720]Hannah Klitz: yeah so we use like I said a biodegradable insulator or like a styrofoam cooler inside of a cardboard box and.
- [00:22:25.800]Hannah Klitz: I do dry ice in.
- [00:22:29.460]Hannah Klitz: just put in, I have it like calculated out very much so we do ups ground shipping and so wherever that's going I know exactly how many days it will get there is predicted to get there, and so, then I put that much dry ice in the box.
- [00:22:44.040]Hannah Klitz: In order to make it last and we can ship all over the US with ground shipping so like to California takes four days to get there, so I make sure to put that much, and then I only ship on Mondays.
- [00:22:57.090]Hannah Klitz: To ensure that it gets there before the weekend, because if it gets stuck over ups for a weekend it's going to sit for two extra days and we don't want that so.
- [00:23:07.260]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: awesome um let's kind of jump back to two part of your answer and the last question here, you talked about marketing and you watch all listen to audiobooks and.
- [00:23:16.560]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: All that kind of stuff So what is your marketing like how, what is your marketing plan and how did you come about what works for you.
- [00:23:22.830]Hannah Klitz: yeah I focus on digital marketing so social media is the biggest avenue, but I also do email marketing, which I think is huge, I guess, I put the most effort into social media marketing to kind of capture.
- [00:23:39.660]Hannah Klitz: Like customers, just like into our marketing funnels what it's called and then I hope to convert them to our email list which I send out like our sales or specials to.
- [00:23:51.120]Hannah Klitz: Like a little farm information, like some recipes sometimes something like that, and then I hope to convert them from the email list to our.
- [00:23:59.340]Hannah Klitz: To have actually being a customer is kind of how our marketing funnel works, but one other thing that I really put a lot of emphasis into was our search engine optimization.
- [00:24:09.210]Hannah Klitz: And so, basically, what that is is just how to get found on Google So hopefully if somebody searches like nebraska be for sale over and beef pops up and it'll take them to our website.
- [00:24:20.040]Hannah Klitz: And there's a lot behind the seo and I had like a business coach for a little while and Lincoln who really, really helped me with that so that's a big part of it.
- [00:24:32.340]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: um.
- [00:24:33.090]Hannah Klitz: thing I forgot to say there I guess so it's just I always try to say yes to every like media opportunity to it is scary to have like people come to the farm or like just be interviewed and everything but it's really does get your name out there and goes a long way for no cost so.
- [00:24:51.000]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: that's a that's a great idea it's I feel like it's always terrifying to have a camera in front of your face.
- [00:24:58.050]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: it's definitely worth it for sure, but you're pretty involved in the Community to like you guys just did an event this this last weekend I think didn't you are, you have like your beef served.
- [00:25:08.940]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: yeah talk a little bit about that, and like why it's important for you guys to be involved in the Community.
- [00:25:13.800]Hannah Klitz: yeah So when I was in college, I really didn't want to do farmers markets like just dedicating like every Saturday to a farmers market was not something I could do in college, and so I came up with these other events called.
- [00:25:27.690]Hannah Klitz: Farm stands, is what I call them and five mary's mentored me in this to this is something they did when they started.
- [00:25:33.690]Hannah Klitz: But it's basically partnering with a local business to host an event and you promote it, the local business promotes it and then you can just create your own event so.
- [00:25:45.660]Hannah Klitz: like this past weekend, we are at glacial till then you're in palmyra, which is only like 15 minutes away from my family's farm, so it was really we were so close to it before so we've done this one other time with them.
- [00:25:59.280]Hannah Klitz: But I am friends with that local chef pork centric hector he is like a star Mexican food maker chef excuse me, I don't have all the right verbiage, should I apologize.
- [00:26:13.410]Hannah Klitz: But I provided like the skirt steak to him and he made skirt steak tacos that were available for purchase and then we brought beef in there with that was available for purchase and it just released like a fun event and you get involved with the Community that way too so yeah.
- [00:26:30.510]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Did you get some new customers from a value think.
- [00:26:33.570]Hannah Klitz: Yes, I hope so it's it's all too soon to tell, I think, but it's I think so so.
- [00:26:41.550]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: for everyone watching you can still drop questions into the chat box and we'll we'll get to them.
- [00:26:47.070]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: By hand what's some advice that you'd want to give to someone who wants to start a business like this.
- [00:26:52.320]Hannah Klitz: I think the biggest thing is just just start doing it so whether you're going to sell like three head.
- [00:26:59.910]Hannah Klitz: If you want to start selling meat directly to consumer like just start with three heads do it as like.
- [00:27:04.950]Hannah Klitz: A whole beef half before quarter of beef and that just gets you that, like first experience and a little taste of it so.
- [00:27:11.760]Hannah Klitz: I think the biggest thing is to just start doing it and take those first steps, because they seem scary but the only way you're going to learn is is from actually doing it.
- [00:27:21.570]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: And that's great advice um one other question I had for you is, you also have an in town job your husband also has a town job, where do you guys find the time to have time management make priorities, and all this stuff like it do it all.
- [00:27:38.310]Hannah Klitz: yeah um I think it's just looking at the priorities of each week so sometimes open beef takes a lot of time out or weeks, where we're prepping for everything and.
- [00:27:49.320]Hannah Klitz: stuff and then other times it's something that we have prepped before for so we can kind of focus on on other things in life too, but there's no way we do it all either, so I think that.
- [00:28:03.450]Hannah Klitz: Just it's fun to do it together to is another thing it's it's.
- [00:28:09.090]Hannah Klitz: I technically started the business but Eric and I had just started dating right when I had started it so he's been along and a partner of it for the whole time but we just got married on may 29, so now we can officially say that we're business partners.
- [00:28:24.840]Hannah Klitz: So I think it's just like quality time spending doing those things together, too.
- [00:28:31.140]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Well, congratulations on the on the recent marriage writing.
- [00:28:36.870]Hannah Klitz: writing a lot of Thank you notes, right now, which normally been after the day and those ones are a little bit of a struggle for priority list right now.
- [00:28:44.940]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: yeah understandable for sure So what do you see the future of barn beef looking like.
- [00:28:52.800]Hannah Klitz: I think, though, we just want to continue promoting beef is the biggest thing so we'll continue growing if we can but it's really just.
- [00:29:03.390]Hannah Klitz: I hope that we can have a farmer of our own soon and live out on the farm too so that's going to change, just like the dynamics and I really look forward to doing chores every day and some of that stuff.
- [00:29:15.270]Hannah Klitz: versus how it is now so very thankful for this phase of life, but I am looking forward to that and just.
- [00:29:22.980]Hannah Klitz: continue growing.
- [00:29:25.980]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: You learned a lot from mentors along the way, is, you see yourself having an intern program at some point or opening up to like having more workers with you, or anything like that.
- [00:29:36.630]Hannah Klitz: yeah I would love to that's.
- [00:29:39.750]Hannah Klitz: With my job i'm actually getting a little bit experience of like managing people and that's been one of my goals that i've been discussing with my boss to is to like learn some of those good traits during this job so that I can without Brian be but.
- [00:29:54.030]Hannah Klitz: Like going back to the mentorship to I think that.
- [00:29:57.210]Hannah Klitz: Just direct to consumer businesses are so popular right now and it's great for our economy and in other ranchers and everything, so I do have like a somewhat of an online course but they're basically just like.
- [00:30:09.030]Hannah Klitz: videos for sale that people can buy that I teach like what I do for shipping what we do for marketing and and some of those things too so just kind of help out other other people in the same field.
- [00:30:23.790]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Also i'm sure you have a lot of family that helps you along the way, and stuff.
- [00:30:28.350]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: How do you how do you kind of like divvy out the roles, like, I mean you, you are the owner So how do you say like you're doing this you're doing this you're doing this, without having any conflict in the family.
- [00:30:41.400]Hannah Klitz: yeah um, this is actually something i'm still learning a lot about so with when I was in college, it was really difficult just to not be home every day and.
- [00:30:53.310]Hannah Klitz: If somebody wanted to stop by and get a beef order, then I was calling my parents to see if they were able to do that or meet them in town or something and that just was a lot of stress and not something I think.
- [00:31:03.180]Hannah Klitz: That I communicated very clearly, or like asked them before asking them in the moment whether that was okay.
- [00:31:10.740]Hannah Klitz: So when I moved to West point something I really was intentional about was like.
- [00:31:16.290]Hannah Klitz: Making sure that I like asked my in laws that it's okay before and try to work out some of those logistical pieces before I actually like him doing it and then that way I just tried to set up clear communication is the bottom line there.
- [00:31:33.510]Hannah Klitz: As far as like day to day things my in laws husband parents, everyone is so helpful, so they like full boxes with me or my parents were both that the farm stand with me this past Saturday and.
- [00:31:45.540]Hannah Klitz: We actually have one at your springs winery this Saturday to so they're helping out there, too, so it's just really asking for it and then just try to test the like just check into and make sure that it's still Okay, I guess, but still learning for sure.
- [00:32:03.150]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: yeah I think that's a tough thing for anyone to learn to work with family that's just the fun part of family farms and family business I guess is navigating those waters for sure.
- [00:32:15.600]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: We have a question that came in here.
- [00:32:18.630]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Are you usda certified and, if so, walk us through that process.
- [00:32:23.880]Hannah Klitz: So we do use a usda inspected butcher so that we don't do the butchering on the farm ourselves, but we have Dev a usda inspected but you're in order to sell like we do so.
- [00:32:37.170]Hannah Klitz: Like individual cuts or across state lines or any of that we have to have that usda inspection so there's not a lot that I have to do with that other than.
- [00:32:47.640]Hannah Klitz: Working with a butcher who does, except for our private labels, have to be approved by a usda inspector, so it to make sure you don't have any like claims on there that are approved by the usda or any of that so we just have our logo.
- [00:33:03.720]Hannah Klitz: So, and this is our old logo, as it says it says dry aged beef on there, and because I didn't have that, like a claim.
- [00:33:11.310]Hannah Klitz: Through the usda, then I just took it off and just did like the steer in nebraska on there and then that way I didn't go through that process, so it is a learning process for sure.
- [00:33:26.100]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Is this something that like your logo and a lot and your packaging, do you have to get that approved every year every month like once it's approved is a good to go forever.
- [00:33:35.520]Hannah Klitz: At the locker it is so like the usda inspector at a locker will look it over, but you want to make sure that it's approved before you buy that many labels or anything like that so since ours is like and we're using the same.
- [00:33:49.650]Hannah Klitz: locker butcher than it's approved so if we wanted to make any changes but it's has to be approved again.
- [00:33:59.040]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Is there more than the butcher more than one so okay so out here like we don't really have any usda certified butchers here in the panel there's very few there's one in wyoming quite a few in Colorado, but do you have more than one option down Eastern nebraska.
- [00:34:16.740]Hannah Klitz: We do they're very spread apart, though, so luckily West point does have one which is a seven minute drive from the farm and so that is just extremely lucky and amazing but like.
- [00:34:31.260]Hannah Klitz: The locker I was using before, when I was at my family's operation was an hour and a half, away from us so they're in it we're actually going to them for August appointments to because the one in West point was full, so we are making a.
- [00:34:49.140]Hannah Klitz: it's two and a half hours from us now so like ideally you can get in at the other ones, but with Kobe you never know.
- [00:34:58.290]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: yeah that's definitely definitely been a challenge for everyone across the States, but it is super convenient that yours is only seven minutes away so hopefully they never go out of business or anything happens for any reason.
- [00:35:13.230]Right.
- [00:35:15.570]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: So tell us a little bit more about where we can find information about you about barbies, how do we subscribe, give us all the details.
- [00:35:22.980]Hannah Klitz: yeah so our website is oh corned beef calm.
- [00:35:26.700]Hannah Klitz: And if you want to subscribe to our email list there will be like a pop up that comes up on the page that you can put your email list in and then you also get a code for to free pounds of ground beef, if you do that.
- [00:35:37.740]Hannah Klitz: And if that pop up doesn't come up for some reason to scroll down to the bottom of the page and the footer and then you can put your email in there.
- [00:35:44.640]Hannah Klitz: But I do post a lot on social media to Sophia Twitter or Facebook our handle is at oak barn beef and then on instagram is actually my own name so it's Hannah kaulitz underscore So if you want to follow, along with us, then you could do that.
- [00:36:04.080]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: have been following for a while now and and you have some good content like it's it's good.
- [00:36:10.380]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: to watch you to do the whole shipping process.
- [00:36:13.650]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: Because I think that direct to consumer marketing and everything that you're doing is is really good so last thing to watch, I encourage everyone to go follow.
- [00:36:23.070]Hannah Klitz: I appreciate that I put a lot of effort into it so it's always great to hear that.
- [00:36:27.480]there's some good yeah.
- [00:36:30.060]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: If anyone has any more questions well we'll hang out a little bit drop them in the chat or in the Q amp a box and we'll get to them, but Hannah is there anything else that you want to share those kind of covered a lot and.
- [00:36:43.650]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: i'm sure there's other things, maybe that you that you've got you want to share.
- [00:36:47.730]Hannah Klitz: um I think the one thing I did talk about was the different ways we sell like or different options we have for buying beef, so I talked about the subscription box, but.
- [00:36:57.870]Hannah Klitz: customers can also buy like just individual cuts so like if they just want to purchase one ribeye steak and have it shipped to California, there is an option to do that.
- [00:37:06.930]Hannah Klitz: But our most popular items are be bundle So those are like variety packs which are, on average, like nine to.
- [00:37:16.080]Hannah Klitz: 25 pounds of me in there and there's like ground beef steaks roast like some different options there and then we also do beef shares to so holes halves and quarters.
- [00:37:27.390]Hannah Klitz: holes in have locally and then quarters locally to, but we also can ship quarters of beef so that's a question I get a lot, but other than that I can't think of anything.
- [00:37:39.000]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: What would you say is your most popular.
- [00:37:42.300]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: beef is a ground beef or is it.
- [00:37:45.390]Hannah Klitz: I think it's are rabbis are or philemon yawns it's probably our full is more so than just because there's a lot less than them, then, then the ribeye so our full laser.
- [00:37:57.390]Hannah Klitz: rabbis are my favorite though so.
- [00:38:00.330]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: My favorite to that's what I always always pick.
- [00:38:04.170]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: So if you've got people who are local can they stop by and by before do they need to buy on website.
- [00:38:10.710]Hannah Klitz: They can just contact me so we do have a contact form on our website or Hannah or beef calm and I just have to coordinate a time for them to pick up because they.
- [00:38:23.370]Hannah Klitz: They i'm not out there all the time, so I just have to beat them so that's all but they can definitely just let me know.
- [00:38:30.480]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: We didn't get another question in on your website and says chat with us and how do you do that.
- [00:38:37.350]Hannah Klitz: um there is an integration, so I host my website on shopify so they are really great for e commerce, so I recommend going with them and then they just have an APP that allows you to have.
- [00:38:50.640]Hannah Klitz: That chat feature there, and so, if somebody was to type in the chat it would Ping my phone on an APP and then I can kind of text back and forth with them without actually like showing my number or any of that too so.
- [00:39:04.170]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: yeah perfect well haley you've shared a lot of great information with us, I know I really enjoyed it I think it's super fun what you're doing and really freedom.
- [00:39:16.290]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: So I appreciate you you being here with us for sure.
- [00:39:19.950]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: But thank you to everyone that's joined us tonight I know it's a busy time of the year and everyone's outside enjoying sunshine and doing all the busy things of summer so I appreciate you guys joining us.
- [00:39:31.050]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: But you will be receiving receiving a short survey in your email, and we really appreciate that feedback that you provide it helps us with more webinars and and what we can do in the future for everyone so make sure you fill those out when you get them.
- [00:39:46.140]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: You can find out more information at our website, do you I love you I hate you and tell you about the next open for business and any other information that we have kind of going on with the women in our Program.
- [00:39:58.050]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: But we are always looking for other people to participate in these kind of webinars So if you know someone or you yourself as interested in being a guest.
- [00:40:06.840]brittany.fulton@unl.edu: send us an email at wi at you and i'll dot EDU and just include your name your business name and just a short description and we'll we'll get back to you, but again, thank you for joining us and we really appreciate it, but have a good night everyone, and thanks again deanna.
- [00:40:25.800]Hannah Klitz: Thank you, and thanks everyone for listening to me talk to you, I appreciate it.
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