Butcher hub moves ahead after three years

ROCK CREEK – A planned food hub in the Kootenay Boundary region could be a reality this fall after three years of planning, supporting local meat processing capacity in the southern Interior.

“There have been a lot of changes since we first began discussions in the spring of 2020,” says Vicki Gee, who was formerly involved with the project as a Kootenay Boundary Regional District area rep and now serves as a volunteer with the food hub committee. “There were challenges with our original site, changes in potential clients and increased construction costs.”

The original site in Rock Creek next to the Riverside Centre wasn’t compatible with other property uses, Gee explains.

The Kootenay Boundary Regional District came to the rescue by purchasing a nine-acre property 10 km to the east and leasing one acre for the food hub.

“But it’s in the ALR and we had to apply for non-farm use,” Gee says. “We are still waiting to receive approval.”

Organizers expect that approval to come through this spring and are busy with finalizing a business plan and construction details.

“We had originally planned to have bakery facilities as part of the food hub, but those businesses have changed their plans,” says Gee. “We have settled on a butcher hub with two components, a dedicated space for cut-and-wrap with Magnum Meats as the tenant and a value-added meat processing area with a smokehouse and sausage-making equipment available for daily rental.”

While construction details are yet to be finalized, Gee says that they are considering a steel-frame building.

“Steel-framed buildings are relatively inexpensive. We can build the shell and develop areas inside as we need them. Services can be run down from the ceiling, and we could expand the building length if we needed more room,” Gee notes.

A not-for-profit society, Boundary Community Ventures Association, has been established to build and manage the food hub, which will be exclusively dedicated to processing.

“We have decided against any retail sales at the location,” Gee explains. “Local retailers already have that expertise and we don’t want to be competing with them. The purpose of food hubs is to be able to sell into retail and institutional markets, not just local or farmers markets.”

As a member of the BC Food Hub Network, the project received initial start-up funding in addition to the support from the regional district for the location. Support has also come from the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior, Boundary Economic Development Services, and Kootenay Boundary Regional District’s Area E gas tax.

Further support from KBRD’s economic development services division will fund a food testing lab as well as a half-time economic development manager for developing the project.

A lot has changed in the three years since the first community meeting for the hub.

Back then, Magnum Meats was the only meat processing facility along Hwy 3 from Osoyoos to Creston. Over the past year, Farmhouse Butchery opened a cut-and-wrap shop in Westbridge about 20 km away, and has since added an inspected abattoir to process its own animals. Granby Meat Co. is a new butcher shop that’s opened in Grand Forks, about 70 km east of Rock Creek.

Magnum Meats did not respond to requests for comment prior to deadline, but Dean Maynard of Farmhouse Butchery says government’s support of a facility for one of his competitors doesn’t sit well.

“Government and private working together, how fair is that?“ Maynard asks. “Why would they not support both our businesses?”

The three-year wait has changed producers’ plans as well.

Eric Moes was looking to organize a co-op to run the original facility.

“I’ve had to pivot my business plan completely,” he says from Little Fork Ranch in Greenwood. “We are doing more commercial cattle feeding and less direct meat sales. We simply couldn’t wait for the hub to get going.”

There was talk of a Boundary-area beef brand as well.

“That is something we are continuing to look into,” says Gee. “We had originally thought about grass-fed and finished, but that may not have the mainstream appeal that we want.”