Great Plains Beef chalks its success up to the quality of its product as well as the experience it provides consumers. Steaks can be dry-aged for 30 days to maximize the leanness of the beef.
Great Plains Beef's 75-seat restaurant, Casa Bovina, features a chef's table, top-end kitchen and bar.
The state-of-the-art grinding room at Great Plains Beef can produce up to 55,000 pounds of ground beef daily.
There's a high bar when it comes to the Beef State's No. 1 export.
Nebraska beef is in demand in countries across the world, including China, Japan, South Korea and the European Union, driving more than $1.3 billion in exports in 2019.
But a locally raised, finished and processed beef product is also finding a growing niche at restaurants and dining room tables coast to coast.
Certified Piedmontese routinely recorded 10% to 15% annual growth when Great Plains Beef started as a boxed beef seller a little more than a decade ago.
Over the last three years, the Lincoln-based company has seen "leaps and bounds" in its sales -- 20% to 30% annually -- to retail stores as well as food service providers, said Billy Swain, Great Plains Beef's director of business development.
Swain said the company anticipates that will continue: "We expect to see at least 30% growth in 2021."
Great Plains Beef chalks its success up to the quality of its product as well as the experience it provides consumers.
Unlike other breeds, Piedmontese cattle carry a unique gene that causes the animals to develop extra muscle in place of fat.
Originating in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy before being brought to North America about a half century ago and purchased by the Peed family in the early 2000s, the result is a leaner meat source without the marbling of muscle and fat demonstrated in other cattle breeds.
Great Plains Beef's job is to ensure all of its Certified Piedmontese products meet the high standard of a tender beef low in cholesterol and saturated fat, Swain said.
It does that by being directly involved in nearly every step of the process from birth-to-plate, he added, which is often of interest to consumers.
"Every calf that hits the ground is developed by one of our bulls and we DNA test to make sure they all have that one genetic marker to qualify for our program," Swain said.
The company develops bulls at a facility near Broken Bow for breeding, raises calves on five family ranches scattered across central and western Nebraska, and processes carcasses into cuts of steak and ground beef in a recently opened facility in Lincoln.
Transformed from the former Sunwest Farms near 84th Street and Havelock Avenue, the multibuilding campus employs 150 people and houses cold storage, room for grinding and hand-cut portioning of steaks, e-commerce, retail sales and even a by-reservation-only restaurant.
Swain said since moving from its original home at Sandhills Publishing in Lincoln into the new facility in August, Great Plains Beef has begun to ramp up its production to meet demand across all 50 states, particularly the East and West coasts.
A state-of-the-art grinding room can produce up to 55,000 pounds of ground beef daily -- made in smaller 700-pound batches as opposed to the 20,000 to 40,000 pounds by larger meat packers -- as well as nearly 15,000 pounds of hand-cut sirloins, New York strips and flatiron steaks each week.
Great Plains Beef has also opened the Mercato, roughly 900 square feet of butcher shop space with dry-aged steaks, hand-cut portions, house-made sausages, burgers and seafood, as well as Casa Bovina, a 75-seat restaurant featuring a chef's table, top-end kitchen and bar.
Being involved "in every aspect of that cattle's life" has led Great Plains Beef to get its foot in the door at restaurants and retail stores, particularly as more consumers, whether they are dining at a 5-star Michelin restaurant or hosting a backyard cookout, aim for a high-end product, Swain said.
"More and more people want to know where their food comes from and how it's produced," he said. "That's how we began to get our foot in the door."
The tender product has now become the beef of choice for Honest Abe's Burgers and Freedom, a Lincoln landmark, as well as Hopdoddy Burger Bar, a chain of restaurants originating in Texas.
Great Plains Beef products are also featured at the Nebraska Athletic Department's training table, along with other college and professional sports programs.
Swain said the company aims to continue to scale up its production without compromising the ethics it was founded on.
"For us, it's not a trend, it's a way of life," he said, "which is to provide a tender-eating experience in every single cut."
Progress Certified Piedmontese
A wide range of steaks and beef products are available in The Mercato at Great Plains Beef.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
Great Plains Beef has begun to ramp up its production to meet demand across all 50 states, particularly the East and West coasts.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
Steaks are stacked by cut in the freezer at Great Plains Beef.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
Great Plains Beef has ample room for expansion to its cold storage.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
The shipping area at Great Plains Beef.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
Great Plains Beef's 75-seat restaurant, Casa Bovina, features a chef's table, top-end kitchen and bar.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
Great Plains Beef can hand-cut 15,000 pounds of sirloins for its Certified Piedmontese brand in its cutting room.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
The Mercato, roughly 900 square feet of butcher shop space at Great Plains Beef, offers a variety of products along with its Certified Piedmontese beef.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
Great Plains Beef chalks its success up to the quality of its product as well as the experience it provides consumers. Steaks can be dry-aged for 30 days to maximize the leanness of the beef.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
Certified Piedmontese is the beef of choice for Hopdoddy Burger Bar, a chain of restaurants originating in Texas, as well as Honest Abe's Burgers and Freedom in Lincoln.
Progress Certified Piedmontese
The state-of-the-art grinding room at Great Plains Beef can produce up to 55,000 pounds of ground beef daily.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS
February 28, 2021 at 12:00PM
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