IBC2000-5 Marketing

Bison "The Original Red Meat"

Doug Woodall
General Partner - Big Sky Buffalo Ranch
PO Box 224
Granville, ND USA  58741

Angie Bachmeier
Store Manager - Big Sky Buffalo Ranch
PO Box 224
Granville, ND USA  58741

The following article was originally presented at the International Bison Conference in Edmonton, Alberta in August 2000.  The conference covered a wide array of bison topics including production, marketing, genetics, history and much more.  This article has been reprinted with the permission of the IBC2000 Chairman.

Abstract

Big Sky Buffalo Ranch is family owned and operated under  Woodall Family Limited Partnership.  They have based  their information on their own triumphs and mistakes made over the past 20 years.  This has resulted in a highly profitable and growing business.  They have met and exceeded all of  their goals to date.  And  are looking forward to a very prosperous future.  They are excited about being one of the top producers of North Dakota and are looking towards being one of the top producers in the United States.

Introduction

Big Sky Buffalo Ranch was started by Duane Woodall, father to Doug and grandfather to Angie, in 1981.  Doug is one of six children born to Duane and the late Beverly Woodall.  Doug and his wife, Darnell, have three children of their own.  Doug is very active in the Bison industry,  and has held various offices in State associations and at the North American Bison Cooperative in New Rockford, ND.

Angie, daughter of Cathy (Woodall) Ulland, is the store manager and sees to the every day operations at the store located on Main Street in Granville.  She is responsible for looking over monthly promotions and oversees the shipping of the products.  She is the wife of Chad Bachmeier.

Big Sky Buffalo Ranch is family owned and operated north of Granville, North Dakota.   We generally cater to the private individual looking for a healthier way of eating and living.  We pass on to them the best prices and highest quality of meat available. 

Body of Speech

Product marketing and promotion is a major part of the every day practices at Big Sky Buffalo.  We strive for the best looking products at the very best prices.  We boast with our slogan, "Home Grown Quality You Can Count On".  Our meat is in small proportions so that even the smallest of appetites can be satisfied.  All of our meat is Federally inspected and approved.  And we provide Safe Handling instructions on all of our labels.  We also vacuum pack our meat for freshness.

We butcher 18 - 24 month old bulls to insure the tenderness and tastiness of our meat.  We do not pump our animals with any types of growth hormones or stimulants.  Our animals are 100% organic and grass fed.

We market our products through  well put together brochures and price lists and by our own Internet site.  We have been very successful in marketing our products over the Internet by reaching a broader spectrum of customers.  Over 80% of our business is made through the Internet.  We have all of the information available on our site, whether you are looking to order product, find out the comparisons of Bison to other meats or to check out our featured recipe and sales for the month, it is all available at your finger tips through the Internet.   Our web site is very user friendly and the customer can order on our website, FAX: in their order or call our 1-800 number to place the order.

We ship all of our products out by United Parcel Service (UPS).  For the perishable meats we ship by Next Day or Second Day Air.  And the non-perishables go by UPS Ground.  We ship our meat hard froze in specially lined boxes with ice packs in it.  As you can see by this example we have brought with us here today.  The boxes are double lined with a reflective insulation then the meat, inside the insulation, is shrink wrapped in a plastic bag and  put back inside the cardboard box and taped closed.  On an average week we ship out approximately 20 - 25 boxes of product averaging about $100.00 per order. We have shipped our meat to every state in the US, including Alaska and Hawaii.  All of our shipping records and tags are computerized and go directly to UPS at the end of each day.   Our customers can also track their packages through the UPS site on the Internet. 

The foundation of our company is our customer service.  We guarantee 100% customer satisfaction, no questions asked.    We do not have any minimum orders with any of our meat.  We package our steaks in 6 - 12 oz cuts, our ground in 1 pound packages and our roasts in 2 - 6 pound packs.  We also offer pre-made assortments and can cater to larger orders as well.  We also sell our meat by the quarters and halves. 

Summary

In closing, I believe we have an obligation to keep a part of our heritage alive with keeping the Bison alive.  We must remember to strive for excellence in our production of Bison to offer our customers the highest quality of meat and the most reasonable prices, because with out our customers we have no business.