David Stidham - Compart Duroc Encore
This episode features an in-depth conversation with David Stidham, the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Compart Durock, who shares his extensive journey within the barbecue industry. The salient theme centers around the evolution of the Compart brand, which has significantly impacted the quality of pork production since its inception as a 4H project in 1949. Stidham elaborates on the innovative practices employed by Compart, including their unique feeding and breeding programs that have resulted in superior intermuscular fat scores, thereby enhancing flavor and quality. Furthermore, he discusses the recent developments in expanding their operations to include no antibiotic ever (NAE) pork, which aligns with changing consumer demands and regulatory standards. As we delve into these topics, we gain insight into the complexities of the pork industry and the importance of fostering relationships within the culinary community.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Turn It
- Culver's
- Compact Compart Durock
- Fine Swine Barbecue
- Heritage Steel
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Leanne's Pig Powder
- Compart Durock
Mentioned in this episode:
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This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt.
Speaker A:So fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.
Speaker B:Now from the Turn It, Don't Burn.
Speaker A:It studios in Portland.
Speaker B:Here's jt, everybody.
Speaker B:Welcome to the nation of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:I'm Jeff Casey along with hall of famer Ms. Leanne whipping there.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Congratulations.
Speaker B:She is.
Speaker B:Thank you, Hofer.
Speaker B:And she's coming to us from ours studio in Florida.
Speaker B:I'm in Portland or in the Portland area.
Speaker B:Today, we welcome you all to the show.
Speaker B:We've got a.
Speaker B:A really good guest this week, David Stidham from Compact Compart Durock.
Speaker B:I can't talk today, David, but forgive me for that.
Speaker B:He's the VPL as VP of sales and marketing, also formerly of a Fine swine barbecue.
Speaker B:Welcome to the show, bud.
Speaker A:Hey, thank you, Jeff.
Speaker A:I appreciate it.
Speaker A:Good to see both you and Leanne.
Speaker B:Nice to see you too.
Speaker A:Been a while.
Speaker B:So before we talk about the.
Speaker B:The Durock, the compart family Durock stuff, I want to talk to you about your barbecue experience, because that.
Speaker B:Hence, that's the name of the show.
Speaker B:But I'm always.
Speaker B:I'm always curious about how people kind of get into that, do it, compete in it, and then at some point or own restaurants like you did, or plural, and then move.
Speaker B:So once you.
Speaker B:Why don't you tell us about that?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Well, you know, it all started.
Speaker A:The barbecue scenes for me started when I was living in Wisconsin.
Speaker A:Of course, growing up in the south, you grow up grilling and cooking and doing all those things, but it was just expected.
Speaker A:It was not something that you really strove for when you were very young.
Speaker A:But I was in Wisconsin.
Speaker A:I was the VP of marketing for Culver's restaurants, and that's where the corporate offices were.
Speaker A:And me and.
Speaker A:And actually, Leanne, you'll.
Speaker A:You'll get amusement out of this.
Speaker A:Me and my youngest son, Jacob were actually watching Barbecue Pit Masters when it went in his heyday, when it came out, when it was actually really good.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And so we were watching that, and.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And Jacob's like, dad, you're a really good cook.
Speaker A:You should do that.
Speaker A:And I'm like, jacob, that's a whole different level.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:But he goes, yeah, but you can do it.
Speaker A:And so I thought about it, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna call my buddy Jason Cole.
Speaker A:I think you guys know Jason Cole with the hot coals, and he runs the big event in Nashville now.
Speaker A:But anyway, he and I Were very good friends because he used to work for me a long time ago in Nashville, Tennessee, where I lived most of my adult life.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And we just got on the phone that Saturday afternoon, We talked and we talked, and then we talked and we talked for, like, hours.
Speaker A:The next thing you know, I'm like, I'm going to order a smoker.
Speaker A:And so I ordered a smoker that night.
Speaker A:I just did some research, and I bought a really nice, blazing pellet grill.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And then Jason invited me to come down to Winchester, Tennessee, for a big high on the hog barbecue competition, one of the larger ones down in the.
Speaker A:That area of the country.
Speaker A:And he says, hey, come down here.
Speaker A:Me and my.
Speaker A:My, you know, father in law, we'll show you how we do everything.
Speaker A:And so I went down there, saw all the teams, saw.
Speaker A:Saw my first real barbecue experience, and.
Speaker A:And stayed with them and prepped and cooked and did a lot of cleaning and all that kind of this stuff.
Speaker A:And, you know, and.
Speaker A:And got to see a couple of calls.
Speaker A:It was a lot of fun.
Speaker A:And I just.
Speaker A:I was like, man, this is amazing.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And he.
Speaker A:He showed me a lot of stuff.
Speaker A:And so I went back to Wisconsin, and I started.
Speaker A:Started cooking, and I started getting really into it.
Speaker A:And then I did enter my first contest.
Speaker A:It was called Poor Q.
Speaker A:And it was kind of like, for teams that are just getting into it, it was only, like, you know, $10 to enter.
Speaker A:It was more of a this is a participation type thing.
Speaker A:But they had good teams there.
Speaker A:I mean, they were like, you know, ql and some of the other legendary teams were all cooking it.
Speaker A:And so I'm like, okay, well, I'm gonna come and see what I can do and have some fun with this thing.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And it was just the most insane thing ever when I got three calls and I finished third overall.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I was just blown away.
Speaker A:And so the proverbial hook was set.
Speaker A:And then I just started cooking more and more competitions, making my own sauce.
Speaker A:That's another thing, is I brought my own sauce to the thing.
Speaker A:I wanted to have my own flavor profile right off the bat.
Speaker A:I know a lot of you guys do that too.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And it just kind of.
Speaker A:It just kind of escalated.
Speaker A:And then I actually got pretty decent at it.
Speaker A:And I'm not.
Speaker A:It just took.
Speaker A:It takes a while, everybody.
Speaker A:It takes a while to figure out what the judges really want.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:And like I said, I went to that Westmont competition.
Speaker A:I have never won.
Speaker A:I've not won anything yet.
Speaker A:I Won.
Speaker A:I've gotten calls, but.
Speaker A:But I remember that one.
Speaker A:I got the first place brisket call and I lost my mind.
Speaker A:And Leanne, you were right there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And, and I went up and then in Timothy Shop with, you know, his group, Tim's Full Belly Deli, we were both Wisconsin teams.
Speaker A:I ended up getting Grant Reserve Grant, he ended up getting Granted.
Speaker A:We were both losing our minds.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:Yeah, but that was a pretty special moment.
Speaker A:And they say that once you hit your first like RGC or gc, then they start coming a little easier.
Speaker A:And they kind of did.
Speaker A:And so, so I developed my sauces for resale.
Speaker A:I had three different barbecue sauces.
Speaker A:My Original, my competition, My Sweet and my Texas Heat.
Speaker A:And then I developed the Bee Stink honeysuckle and they became very popular.
Speaker A:The Habanero Honey, the Apple Cinnamon Habanero Honey, and all those.
Speaker A:And so I was starting to develop this kind of brand and, and it was a lot of fun, but, you know, I still had this full time responsible, you know, corporate gig.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And, and so after several years and, and starting to win and getting, you know, top fives at the Jack and, and being at stage in Royal and Memphis and May and all this kind of stuff, I decided I wanted to try to do this full time somehow and kind of lead my kids to show them that, hey, you can, you can do more than just work for somebody else.
Speaker A:You can work for yourself and, and lead a path.
Speaker A:And So I, at 50 years old, I said, I'm retiring from Culver's and I'm going to, I'm going to move down to be close to my family.
Speaker A:My dad was ill in Southern Illinois and he was close to Scott Air Force Base.
Speaker A:My mom, my brother, my sister, cousins, nieces, they all live down there.
Speaker A:I've never lived close to my family as an adult.
Speaker A:And so I found a perfect opportunity down there.
Speaker A:Perfect building that had all the, the different things I wanted.
Speaker A:And we did it.
Speaker A:And so I retired from Culver's, went down there and opened up my first restaurant in New Baden, Illinois.
Speaker A:And, and it was amazing.
Speaker A:We had some.
Speaker A:We built a smokehouse up front so when people walk up the ramp to go into the place, the smoke is already right face.
Speaker A:They're seeing the wood piles and, and you know, we had so much fun inside the restaurant.
Speaker A:I went to Texas to go to a lot of restaurants in Texas to see what they're doing, to see how much success they're having and what people love about it.
Speaker A:And when I found in Texas what they Loved is they love to go to these places.
Speaker A:And they got the pits and the big cutting boards right in front of you, and you go through, and they're actually literally slicing and chopping and.
Speaker A:And doing everything right in front of you.
Speaker A:And I wanted to do that, but I couldn't in the state of Illinois, and especially for the codes for, for the building I was in.
Speaker A:And so I got this huge cutting board from an Amish guy in Pennsylvania.
Speaker A:It was like, I mean, four people to carry it.
Speaker A:And I put it in the kitchen on a stainless steel table.
Speaker A:I put a chairman over it, and it was big enough to where I could do brisket chopping and slicing on one side and rib slicing and glazing on the other side.
Speaker A:And we called it Carve Cam.
Speaker A:And when you walk into the restaurant, you look at the screens, you're seeing live, you know, meats being cut, and they say, oh, I want that.
Speaker A:I want that.
Speaker A:And so that was how I brought that immersion into my restaurant.
Speaker A:And we had a lot of fun and doing stuff like that.
Speaker A:And then, then the mistakes started happening.
Speaker A:Everything was going great.
Speaker A:And then I. I'll just say it.
Speaker A:Maybe I.
Speaker A:Maybe I got greedy.
Speaker A:My.
Speaker A:My accountants were saying, hey, we need to open up another place.
Speaker A:And, and you know, opening up another place is exciting, but it's also pulling you away from your place.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:But I wanted to do a.
Speaker A:In Mount Vernon.
Speaker A:It was a.
Speaker A:It was a.
Speaker A:An old Papa John's pizza place, and it was abandoned, so we built a smokehouse out there.
Speaker A:We were going to make it more of a to go type of place, barbecue place.
Speaker A:But since they left a pizza oven there, we said, well, maybe we could do barbecue and barbecue pizzas.
Speaker A:And so, so we built that out, had a lot of fun, did really well, but it did splinter me.
Speaker A:And I know Leanne, you know all too well how it is, how important it is to be absolutely.
Speaker A:With your people, leading, watching, understanding everything.
Speaker A:Yes, I get.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:So I was splintering and, and it wasn't.
Speaker A:It wasn't great for.
Speaker A:For the business because I. I wasn't where I needed to be as much as I needed to be.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:But we did well, and we were, we were.
Speaker A:We were bringing us some decent results.
Speaker A:And then I had an opportunity to do it again in my hometown in Carlisle, the golf club.
Speaker A:And so that was number three.
Speaker A:That was a year, four, I think.
Speaker A:But it's not like I did all this in one year or two years, but it was like, it took a few years but in year four, we went and did that.
Speaker A:And that made it even worse because now, because I didn't have the big smokers, like, I did a new Beta, like I had to.
Speaker A:I had a. I built.
Speaker A:I had a good sized smoker in, in Mount Vernon because we built a smokehouse there.
Speaker A:But the one in Carlisle, we just did a.
Speaker A:A decent sized smoker.
Speaker A:And so I was literally getting up in the big smokers, the really big ones in New Baden were cooking for the other restaurant, right.
Speaker A:And them.
Speaker A:And so I would actually go there.
Speaker A:They load me up, I take it over the big meats, briskets and the pork butts.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I do chicken and pork on site.
Speaker A:And so it became a management issue, a time issue.
Speaker A:And so if I could go back and do it again, I'd still have new bait and just new bait and be, you know, blowing it up.
Speaker A:But Covid hit, and that part of Illinois was particularly, particularly managed by the state.
Speaker A:When Covid hit, they wanted to make.
Speaker A:To send a message.
Speaker A:Pritzker did and he did.
Speaker A:And we were in small towns and so we didn't have a drive through and so.
Speaker A:And we were in small towns and they literally shut us down for quite a while.
Speaker A:And so that was a.
Speaker A:That was a tough spot to be in.
Speaker A:And then it just snowballed from that point on from not being.
Speaker C:It probably came to a point where you don't even reopen at that point.
Speaker A:It was that.
Speaker A:It was that.
Speaker A:It was that it was that bad.
Speaker A:And because, you know, people would only drive so far to buy something for them from their neighborhood because everybody's wearing masks and everybody has to stand in social distance.
Speaker A:And, you know, and if we did have people come in, they literally had to go into the parking lot and we had to take their food to them and they couldn't even come in the door.
Speaker A:And it was just.
Speaker A:It was crazy.
Speaker C:So was that the end of the three places then?
Speaker C:That was it, Pretty much.
Speaker B:Okay, we're going to take a break.
Speaker B:We're going to be back with David Stidham from Compart Direct.
Speaker B:Durock.
Speaker B:I don't know what's with the thing today.
Speaker B:I haven't my tongue.
Speaker B:I got to go take it out and put it back in.
Speaker B:Anyway.
Speaker B:We're going to be back in a minute here on the Nation.
Speaker B:Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
Speaker B:I want to tell you about something really cool.
Speaker B:Heritage steel cookware.
Speaker B:I just got mine.
Speaker B:I do a lot of cooking and it's got five ply construction.
Speaker B:Stay cool.
Speaker B:Handles it's titanium strengthened.
Speaker B:It's got all the great stuff.
Speaker B:Just go to HeritageSteel us and find out more.
Speaker B:You'll love it.
Speaker B:Guarantee it.
Speaker B:Welcome back to the Nation.
Speaker B:I'm J.T.
Speaker B:along with Ms. Whippen, and we've got David Stidham from Compart Durock.
Speaker B:There, I said it right for the first time.
Speaker B:I was going to tell you, David, I'm pretty sure that what you said at the top of the show when Pit Masters was a good show.
Speaker B:John Marcus is going to love you for that.
Speaker B:I'm gonna make sure it was amazing.
Speaker B:I'm gonna make sure he knows that.
Speaker B:You said that so well.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:That was.
Speaker A:That was the.
Speaker A:The stepping stone to it all.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And it was just.
Speaker A:It was just so authentic.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's what drew me in, is the.
Speaker A:How authentic it was.
Speaker A:It was real.
Speaker A:There was no.
Speaker A:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker A:It was just amazing.
Speaker A:And so, yeah, John did a great job, and.
Speaker A:And the cameras did a great job, and.
Speaker A:And, you know, we saw everybody at their best and we saw them at their worst, and it was just authentic.
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:David, I think you hit it, though.
Speaker B:I owned a restaurant a long time ago for a very short period of time, just for the fact that I had another business I was running, and I was traveling a lot in those days, and I put up the money for a friend to buy it for him because he had been in the restaurant business.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:And then after the first few days, he came over to where our retail store was, and he said, what shift are you going to work?
Speaker B:I mean, I was.
Speaker B:I was literally.
Speaker B:Literally 70 hours a week on my schedule at that point, and I just looked at him and I said, I can't do that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So we sold it a very short time later because.
Speaker B:And I did have a catering company later, but you can't do that.
Speaker B:I think.
Speaker B:I think you and Leanne nailed it both.
Speaker B:When you say, if you're gonna do something like that, that's where you got to focus and you're gonna be married to it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you build it up, and it's doing good.
Speaker B:And you're not the first person that ever said, well, if I've got one, two would be better, you know?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But there wasn't two Davids.
Speaker A:I had to learn, you know?
Speaker A:You know, and to be honest with you, there's a.
Speaker A:Having all the success I've had with business in.
Speaker A:In the restaurant industry, national, big national brands, and did a lot of good things, and Had a lot of great people around me.
Speaker A:I probably, probably thought I was better than I probably should have, if that makes sense.
Speaker C:So how did you make that transition to, to work with Jim over there?
Speaker A:Actually, yeah.
Speaker A:So when I, when I, when I sold the businesses, I got a, a contractor position with another, with a large franchisee of Culder's, and, and they hired me to, to come and help them build marketing programs for all of their restaurants.
Speaker A:And, and I did that for a while, but it just wasn't really what I, where I wanted to be.
Speaker A:And so I, I started going through this whole transition in life, in, in everything.
Speaker A:And so, and so then I, I had a friend of mine who was a, a recruiter, and he said, hey, I could find you something.
Speaker A:You know, I could find you a VP of marketing position, or I could find you this or I could find you that.
Speaker A:And, and you know, your, your resumes, you know, it's not going to be a hard thing to do at all.
Speaker A:But I got another thought for you and I said, what's that?
Speaker A:He goes, why don't you actually become a recruiter like me and I can show you the ropes and you can work on your own schedule.
Speaker A:You work from home and you don't have to move and uproot your family.
Speaker A:And because, because in the restaurant industry, you got to be at the restaurant and there's only so many corporate jobs in the town you're currently living in.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And so, so I was, I looked into it.
Speaker A:Next thing you know, I was like, yeah, let's just do that.
Speaker A:And then I moved into healthcare recruiting exclusively.
Speaker A:And you know, and I had quite a bit of success with it.
Speaker A:And then out of the blue, Jim calls me and, and, and because I've known Jim for a long time, because Jim sponsored me, we wanted, I won a lot, won a lot of trophies with Compart Durock.
Speaker A:And so I actually put a filler out there, said, I'm looking, I want to stay in the barbecue world, but I don't want to, you know, to work in a restaurant or do anything like that.
Speaker A:And I actually sent it to people I respected and people that I knew, people that sold barbecue trailers, who built barbecue pits and who did, you know, like, like, like comparts and so forth.
Speaker A:And he responded and he said, hey, let's, let's chat.
Speaker A:And so we got on the phone and we were on the phone for just a few hours talking about what they're doing at compart, what's going on, the growth projectile, and, and the way it's currently set up with from the east coast all the way to the west coast.
Speaker A:And, and he was looking for somebody to, to bring in to continue the trajectory of growth that they've got going.
Speaker A:And so one thing led to another and he and I flew to Vegas to meet with his rep out west and we spent some time together out there talking about the opportunities, my capabilities, all those kind of things.
Speaker A:And about a few weeks later, I'm on board and I'm kind of representing, you know, the, the marketing side as well as the, the Midwest.
Speaker A:And because we've got two amazing reps, Steve Countryman on the East Coast.
Speaker C:Say hi to Steve for me.
Speaker C:I miss him.
Speaker A:Steve Countryman?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, him and Steve Mulrein, we got the two Steves and they're both fantastic and they move a lot of product and, and I'm learning from them because it's kind of new for me.
Speaker A:But, but with my marketing skills that I bring and, and I do have sales skills, you know.
Speaker C:Well, you know, the proof is in the pudding.
Speaker C:I mean you use their product and you won things.
Speaker C:So I mean there's a story behind what you're doing.
Speaker C:It isn't just like you're a salesperson.
Speaker C:I mean you, the proof is there and so it adds credibility to it, which is fantastic.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:I agree.
Speaker A:I was in Omaha last week, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska and I'm with the district sales managers, his reps. And we're going into these clients and, and we went into this one client and a country club actually and we were showing them our dry aged chops and we're showing them all these pork bellies and all these fun things.
Speaker A:And he says, he has, he goes, and I brought in a rack of ribs just because I brought extra rack.
Speaker A:I had some baby back ribs.
Speaker A:And so I said, you know, if you're going to do catering, it's an easy way to do ribs and feed a lot of people, you know, pretty good price point.
Speaker A:And, and, and I, and I offered up, I said, you know what?
Speaker A:And if you want I will come up here and I will personally, as part of my service from Compart Family Farms is I will show you exactly what I do to cook competition quality ribs in a restaurant format.
Speaker A:And, and his eyes just lit up and I said, yeah, you can offer, you know, Compart Family Farm Durock pork championship caliber ribs for your catering group, your, your special or for whatever.
Speaker A:And, and that's one of the things that I can do because I've cooked thousands and thousands of those racks.
Speaker A:Same with all the other meats and proteins that I, that I've cooked.
Speaker A:And so, so that's another little thing that I can add to the, to the table.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's so important.
Speaker B:Like Leanne said, you know, the proof is in the pudding or it's actually in the smoker.
Speaker B:You might say that a lot of meat guys don't have that experience.
Speaker B:You know, they're good salesmen.
Speaker B:But when you add that little flavor profile to your resume, that's good.
Speaker B:We're going to take another break and we're going to be back with David Stidham from compart Durac and Ms. Whippen here on the nation.
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Speaker B:Hey, everybody, it's JT and I have eaten.
Speaker B:If you've ever looked at me, you know that.
Speaker B:But I have eaten seafood all over the world and I can tell you there's no place better than here in Oregon and our Dungeness crab.
Speaker B:If you want to learn more about Oregon Dungeness crab, just go to oregondungeness.org find out how to cook it, how to catch it, where to buy it, and the sustainability of what they're doing there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Speaker B:Check it out.
Speaker B:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:You can find us on any or most any podcast platform on the USA Radio networks out there.
Speaker B:If you can't find us, call Leanne and she will send you an autographed picture.
Speaker B:We, we want to thank, of course, Painted Hills Natural beef and Leanne's pig powder for helping with the show.
Speaker C:Here, Dad's pig powder.
Speaker C:And that is my dad's barbecue rub that has won best rub on the planet.
Speaker C:And you can get it@pigpowder.com it's sweet with a little back heat.
Speaker C:And I have a spicy pig powder coming out.
Speaker C:I've been saying that for a month or so, but you know how it's like trying to close on a house.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:So anyway, a lot of teams out there are winning with it still after all these years, and I actually use it on the circuit.
Speaker C:So, yeah, you should try it.
Speaker A:It's awesome.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker B:It's great stuff.
Speaker B:I was going to tell you Actually, the other day I did.
Speaker B:I can't even remember now.
Speaker B:I can't remember last week right now because it was kind of a blur.
Speaker B:But I used it on something that I thought, you know, I should call Leanne and tell her I used it on this.
Speaker B:And it was really good, as usual.
Speaker B:Brought out a great profile.
Speaker C:Very versatile.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, I think it was.
Speaker B:I think it was seafood of some sort.
Speaker B:Scallops.
Speaker B:It was scallops.
Speaker C:Scallops.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:That was cool.
Speaker B:Anyway, we're talking with David Stidham from Compart Durock today has the Compart product, the family, the whole thing.
Speaker B:You know, it's been a little tough in the beef business.
Speaker B:That's something I know a little bit about.
Speaker B:Okay, not too much, but a little bit.
Speaker B:But prices and, and the futures markets and everything of that has just gone kind of bat whack crazy there.
Speaker B:How's it in the.
Speaker B:In the pork business?
Speaker A:Well, it's.
Speaker A:It's actually not been so crazy since things have stabilized from.
Speaker A:From COVID of course, you know, and, but.
Speaker A:But we're always going to be on the higher end.
Speaker A:You know, we're premium.
Speaker A:We're premium work.
Speaker A:And a lot of people have, they know we're premium and they know we're durock, but they don't understand how we got there and what it really means.
Speaker A:And that's the story I tell each and every day when I'm talking to sales reps and distributors and restaurateurs and chefs and so forth.
Speaker A: H project in: Speaker A: been raising Duroc hogs since: Speaker A:They've developed their own vertically integrated feeding program, breeding program.
Speaker A:They literally register each swine into the registry in Illinois.
Speaker A:But the cool part is like, they, you know, premium pork, just like steak and beef, you know, it's all about marbling, right?
Speaker A:Intermuscular fat.
Speaker A:That's where the flavor is.
Speaker A: oing every to every hog since: Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:And that ultrasound machine literally measures the fat in that hog.
Speaker A:And they're able to give it an international score, intermuscular fat score.
Speaker A:And that's how they actually measure and breed based on the higher scores.
Speaker A:And they've been doing this every single year.
Speaker A:So when you think about it, all these new Durock programs coming on board, they're never going to catch up to the intermuscular fat scores that Compart has because they've been doing it for so long, and they've actually pretty much created that program, and they're the innovators of that program.
Speaker A:So they've got a unique feeding program.
Speaker A:They grow their own.
Speaker A:Their own food.
Speaker A:They got farms and farms and farms.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And so there's incredibly sophisticated.
Speaker A:When you see them at a barbecue competition, you see Jim walking around with Diana and.
Speaker A:And they're just having fun, having a cocktail, watching, watching their name get called all the time for these competitions.
Speaker A:The amount of dedication, heart and creativity and just hard work that.
Speaker A:That whole family, the whole entire family has evolved.
Speaker A:As a matter of fact, you go to the corporate office.
Speaker A:It's a house with offices.
Speaker A:And so that's how driven they are as a family.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And it's an honor to be part of that.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:But I've learned so much, and there's so many moving parts to an industry like that to, to have scale that large.
Speaker A:And I alluded earlier on the show, there's some new news coming out, and that new news is that we've partnered with several new ranches in Montana to allow us to raise no antibiotic ever pork.
Speaker A:And in.
Speaker A:One of the reasons we did that, and we'll just be straight up, is the state of California and the state of Massachusetts passed a proposition called Prop 12 a couple of years ago, ruling that if you are a business in California or Massachusetts, you cannot buy pork from a producer that doesn't have a certain size gestation crate.
Speaker A:And so we were no longer allowed to sell in California or Massachusetts.
Speaker A:So we did partner with some.
Speaker A:Some brand.
Speaker A:We built brand new wrenches with them.
Speaker A:Ranches.
Speaker A:I mean, they're incredible.
Speaker A:Incredibly beautiful.
Speaker A:As a matter of fact, when we went and toured it earlier last year, Jim said it's the best hog barn he's ever seen in his life.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And they're huge.
Speaker A:And so now we are now offering hogs raised without antibiotics ever.
Speaker A:And so, of course, you all know, in industry, we all know that there's a lot of marketing and a lot of gimmicks when it comes to how we label food products and chickens.
Speaker A:Hey, this is antibiotic free.
Speaker A:Well, you know what?
Speaker A:It has to be antibiotic free.
Speaker A:Chickens, pigs, hogs, cows.
Speaker A:They're not allowed to be processed if there's antibiotics in their system.
Speaker A:But that doesn't mean you can't use antibiotics if they're young and they get sick and then it runs through their system and then they no longer have it.
Speaker A:But the barns that we're building now are no antibiotics ever administered and they're doing very, very well.
Speaker A:And it's allowed us to produce a lot more product.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:But we are able to open that up now to not just California and Massachusetts.
Speaker A:We're now able to produce it nationwide for, you know, the high end butcher shops, retailers, those types of people where it's, they've got a discerning customer that kind of wants that kind of stuff.
Speaker B:You know, David, it's interesting you say that about the, the antibiotics.
Speaker B:I worked, I've worked with Painted Hills for a long time and they will, if an animal gets sick, they will treat them, but they pull them out of the program and sell them on the open market.
Speaker B:They don't keep them in, in their process because they have, they have their own feed yard, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But that's what they do.
Speaker B:Are you guys doing that same, similar type of action?
Speaker A:Yes, as a matter of fact.
Speaker A:In the antibiotic in the NAE ranches.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:If a pig does get sick, they're going to give it an antibiotic and then they're going to transport to a different facility.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And keep it separated from any other pigs in that facility.
Speaker A:And so that facility could remain an NAE facility.
Speaker A:And they'll, they'll, they'll instantly remove it and give it diminished, but they're not going to let the pig die.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so, and so they're going to take it to another facility.
Speaker A:But I will tell you this.
Speaker A:Our success rates for the first year and a half, first six months of producing are incredible.
Speaker A:They're.
Speaker A:The yield is way higher than we ever dreamed or imagined.
Speaker A:And I don't know if it's because the facilities are so high tech, so clean and so well managed, but it is surprisingly powerful in the numbers that we're seeing right now.
Speaker B:Oh, that's, that's very cool though, that you guys.
Speaker C:Internationally, or is it just the US we do internationally.
Speaker B:We, we.
Speaker A:This will blow your mind how many femur bones we sell to Japan and South Korea for, for broths and soups.
Speaker B:So where I live in Oregon, we don't see a lot of compart products all over the place.
Speaker B:And with the advent of the ranches in Montana, are you going to be able to fill in some parts of the country that maybe you haven't had a big footprint in yet?
Speaker A:That's what we're trying to do.
Speaker A:We're trying to do with both Our, our traditional pork and the new nae pork.
Speaker A:And so we're, we're working hard.
Speaker A:I know that right now Steve Mulryin is putting a lot of energy and effort into growing that business that he lost in California first.
Speaker A:He had a lot of distributors and a lot of great accounts that weren't allowed to buy from us anymore.
Speaker A:And that, that, that hurt.
Speaker A:And so, so he's putting a lot of energy on, on building that back up and of course growing, you know, the entire, entire country.
Speaker A:We're in, we're in pretty much all the states, but it all depends on, you know, at what level.
Speaker A:And so a lot of district, like a lot of distributors are, are just now getting wind of us in their, they're growing their businesses.
Speaker A:But it takes time.
Speaker A:There's three of us now, there's three of us reps, including Jim for but, but we're anticipating a lot of growth here the next few years.
Speaker B:I wanted to, I wanted to, I wanted to go back, David, just to second, just to kind of clarify for people that are listening what you've had to do with the hogs for California and Massachusetts.
Speaker B:Isn't that kind of on the same level as free range chickens?
Speaker B:Look, if people knew anything about growing large numbers of animals for human consumption, you can't have, you know, whatever we eat every day, a million and a half chickens in this country roaming around.
Speaker B:You know, it just doesn't work that way.
Speaker A:Well, what a lot of people don't understand, especially when you think about it at scale, the health of the animal, it's, it's critical that the health of the animal is safe.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And there's a lot of antibodies and a lot of things floating around out there that, that create sickness.
Speaker A:And as a matter of fact, when I was with Culver's, we would do a lot of our, our commercials for our chicken or for our beef on ranches and we would go down to Georgia because we used Springer Mountain Farm chicken and we would go to Georgia and we would literally tour the facility and you have to, you have to take a shower and you have to put on a hazmat suit to go into that facility to, to keep them safe and to keep certain temperatures and there's, and, and the same thing when you go to a compart family farm hog farm.
Speaker A:You know, we're protecting those hogs by giving these amazing filtration systems and temperature control facilities to, to make sure that they're able to have a very comfortable, stress free lifestyle.
Speaker A:But ultimately most responsible and ethical Producers and growers are trying to keep their animals as safe as possible in strong, good facilities where they can take care of them.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:We're going to take another break.
Speaker B:We're going to be back with David Stidham from Compart Durock.
Speaker B:We're going to wrap up this show and then we're going to abuse David after hours.
Speaker B:So please stay with us.
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Speaker A: -: Speaker B:Hey everybody, it's JT.
Speaker B:You know, I talk about Painted Hills all the time and we always say beef the way nature intended.
Speaker B:But it's more than that because each bite of Painted Hills will make your taste buds explode.
Speaker B:Put a big bright smile on your face and whoever's at your dinner table will have a big bright smile on their face.
Speaker B:And you can thank me for that later.
Speaker B:Just go to paintedhillsbeef.com and find out more.
Speaker B:You won't regret it.
Speaker B:Hey everybody, JT here.
Speaker B:I want to tell you about the Hammerstahl knives.
Speaker B:Hammerstahl combines German steel with beautiful and functioning designs.
Speaker B:They're part of the Heritage Steel group which also does their pots and pans.
Speaker B:So go to heritagesteel US check out the Hammer Stahl knives.
Speaker B:If you're really into cooking, I think you're really gonna like them.
Speaker A:Foreign.
Speaker B:Welcome back to the Nation.
Speaker B:I'm JT along with Leanne Whippen and David Stidham.
Speaker B:Stidham Today from Comp Park, Durock.
Speaker B:I'm sorry, I just did a, like a four day trade show talking to thousands of people literally.
Speaker B:And I was telling Leanne before we came on the air that yesterday I came home, we unpacked everything, put the studio back together and all that stuff.
Speaker A:Stuff.
Speaker B:And today I can't talk, I can't walk, I can't do anything like a, you know, six foot one mess here anyway, as far as, as the hogs and that, how many, I mean, how many hogs are you guys going through a day, a week, a month, that, that process?
Speaker B:Because it's a continual cycle.
Speaker A:Yes, it is.
Speaker A:And, and, and, and it's, it's, it's obviously varies on a lot of different factors and a lot of factors that I'M not even quite versed enough on.
Speaker A:But I do know that adding these two new hog barns in Montana is probably adding us another 2,000 head per month or a week or per month.
Speaker A:It depends on, you know, what the need and the growing demand is.
Speaker A:I mean, there's a lot of.
Speaker A:And so that's, but we were doing right around 3,000 a week.
Speaker A:And so we're probably in that 4 to 4, 500 per week range right now, depending on, on what's needed and where, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Where it's, where it's heading and, and so forth.
Speaker A:And we're.
Speaker B:David, what's the yield on a hog?
Speaker B:I mean, I, I, we raised them when I.
Speaker A:For us, it's all of it.
Speaker A:We, we actually have so many skus.
Speaker A:I mean, from, from snouts to, to, to femur bones to, you know, I mean, we really try to utilize the entire.
Speaker C:I heard, I heard that Mexico loves the snouts.
Speaker C:Is that true?
Speaker C:Is that where you ship most of them?
Speaker A:I know that right now we're trying to.
Speaker A:We're working on a deal with Mexico right now.
Speaker A:I don't think we're doing it yet.
Speaker A:We're getting close, but actually, he wants.
Speaker A:Mouths snoots.
Speaker A:Come to St. Louis.
Speaker A:East St. Louis.
Speaker C:Also the infamous pituitary gland.
Speaker C:I understand that that's probably by weight, the most expensive part of a hog because don't they buy it for medicinal reasons?
Speaker A:Leanne, you got me on that one.
Speaker A:I'm not there yet.
Speaker B:So, so, Leanne, speaking of that.
Speaker B:This doesn't have anything to do with hogs, but I was doing a. I do this little thing called Foodie Thursday for a couple of radio stations around here that I'm associated with.
Speaker B:I didn't know that.
Speaker B:That a big seller was gallstones from cattle.
Speaker B:It's like nuts.
Speaker B:And it's, again, it's like medicinal stuff in the east and all that.
Speaker B:And I was like, what?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So there's always seems to be a use for some body part.
Speaker B:I'll just put it that way.
Speaker A:Absolute.
Speaker A:And that's, that's, that's the incredible part about, you know, being in this type of business is because, you know, every part of that animal can be respectfully used, used, and, and, and not in vain.
Speaker B:Out of, out of all the parts of the, the carcass, are the ribs the number one seller or is it the, the butts or, you know, the loins?
Speaker A:It depends on region and, and, and, and so forth.
Speaker A:I mean, obviously our loins are very popular.
Speaker A:You know, one of the things I am proud to talk about.
Speaker A:And, and this is one of the things that does also separate us from many of our competitors is the fact that we have such high intermuscular fat scores that I, we talked about earlier.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And higher pH and higher marbling scores.
Speaker A:It allows us to, to dry age our loins.
Speaker A:And, and so we can offer a 21 day age ribeye chop from 12, 14 to 18 ounces.
Speaker A:We can do a 21 day age porterhouse chop.
Speaker A:We could do 11 bone rib chop, a rib roast where they can, where the restaurants can slice their own chops and french them out now, all with a draw, a 21 day dry age on them.
Speaker A:And we have a lot of celebrity chefs which you all know on tv.
Speaker A:I don't know if I can mention them on this show, but you all that they, they literally in Vegas and New Orleans and all these other places, Tavern on the Green in New York, they're all you, they're all buying this dry aged living bone rib rack and they're, they're cutting their own steaks and they're offering a, you know, a lot of them will offer a 16 ounce dry age rib eye steak and right below that they'll offer a 16 ounce dry aged ribeye chop for $30 less and still make more gross profit, not dollars.
Speaker A:And so, you know, it's all menu management at this point.
Speaker A:And that's what Steven, Steve and I are out there showing what we can do.
Speaker A:And so, but there's nobody else that can, can really offer that.
Speaker A:And that gives us an acute advantage over a lot of our competitors because once people see and taste the texture of our dry aged chops and how thick they are and how center the plate beautiful they are, they, they want them and, and it's a pretty cool product.
Speaker B:So can I tell you my pickled pig feet story real quick?
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:When I was a kid, we went to, I lived in, outside of a little town here in Oregon and we went up for some social deal and it was the first time I'd ever been through a buffet, right.
Speaker B:And I'm six, go down there and this, there's this big.
Speaker B:I thought they were shrimp.
Speaker B:I thought these were the biggest shrimp I had ever seen in my life.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:But they weren't, they were pickled and yeah, pig's feet.
Speaker B:And I took a little clump.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I took, I took a couple, three of them and I took a big bite of one that didn't work out.
Speaker B:Well, I'll just put it that way.
Speaker B:So, but that was my first experience with.
Speaker B:Other than, you know, loins and ribs and.
Speaker B:And hams or whatever.
Speaker A:So we sell a lot of hams as well.
Speaker A:We sell.
Speaker A:I mean, we.
Speaker C:Oh, my God, the hams are incredible.
Speaker C:We did those for Easter at a restaurant, and they are unbelievable.
Speaker C:Seriously, the best ham I've ever had.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I served Compart exclusively at the Deviled Pig in Florida.
Speaker C:And we put the name on the menu and we thought the story and everything, because you need to let the customers know that they're getting the finest pork there is, you know, and.
Speaker C:And they can tell the difference.
Speaker C:And so we were very proud to put the name on the menu.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And also.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And Steve Countryman, he would come and visit and he'd tell me about new cuts that are out there.
Speaker C:So, you know, things that are, like, cutting edge, and I'm always about that.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And it's the intimacy that we have and the relationship with your company that really adds not only to the fact that it's premium pork, but you're getting, you know, that relationship, which I think is so important in business.
Speaker A:That means a lot.
Speaker A:Thank you for saying that.
Speaker A:That's kind of what has made this company so successful is the fact that it is a family, it is a relationship, it is a what can we do to help you?
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And that's why I was attracted to it and why I'm so proud to be part of it.
Speaker B:That's awesome.
Speaker B:Do you guys have an online presence for a store or anything that people.
Speaker A:Okay, yes.
Speaker A:We sell a lot online.
Speaker A:Obviously, it's a small comparison of what we do with distributors and so forth.
Speaker A:But yeah, just.
Speaker A:Just go to compartment, you know, compartdirect.com and you can shop.
Speaker A:You can see where to buy our products on a local level.
Speaker B:Cool.
Speaker B:David Stidham from Compart Durock.
Speaker B:Thank you, buddy.
Speaker B:David's going to stick around for after hours, and so don't go away for that if you're listening online.
Speaker B:But, David, thank you.
Speaker B:Been a great guest.
Speaker B:I really appreciate it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And also I'm just going to add that Compart sponsored me along my competition years, and I won a lot of awards with them.
Speaker C:So any competitors that don't know about it, you got to use it.
Speaker A:Hey, if you know, you know, right?
Speaker B:Go out, have some fun, make some good food.
Speaker B:And don't forget our motto here.
Speaker B:Turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker B:Take care, everybody.
Speaker A:Barbecue Nation is produced by JTSD LLC Productions in association with Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserved.
