Meat+Poultry - March 2021 - 73

F

rom humble beginnings in a Canadian town of 250 people, Drake Meats
is poised to continue its growth across Canada and is on the cusp of
launching its meat products in the international marketplace.
With its roots dating back to 1949 as a co-op local frozen food locker
and custom processing shop, the facility was bought by Mennonite farmer
Norm Ediger in 1958 in the community of Drake, Saskatchewan. The
fledgling enterprise experienced a major setback when a gas fire burned
the entire plant in 1982. Norm's son Kelly Ediger, who spent time at the
facility since the age of 2 to be with his parents and grandparents, reflected
on how the family dealt with that disaster.
" We lost it all but took on a new mandate to rebuild Drake Meats and
expand our lineup of craft recipes beyond our small town, " Kelly Ediger
said. " I had just bought the business from my father two years earlier. We
replaced the old 4,000-square-foot facility with one 2,000 square feet larger.
It was a year and a half to construct the new building. We had only eight
employees. Through our new product lines, reliance on quality and our
good name, we set about taking our meats to other small towns, then into
larger cities.
" I guess you could say I was our marketing department taking product
samples store to store. Sales was not my gift, so we brought on Greg Jantz
to handle the marketing. He's been with us nearly 30 years, with about 20
of them in the marketing area. "
Ediger, 63, now regarded as both chief executive officer and patriarch
of the company, said a decision was made to give up the custom and game
processing work to focus on value-added processing for grocery chains.
To keep up with increasing demand, Drake Meats leased a processing suite
under Canadian federal inspection at the Agri-Food Innovation Centre
in Saskatoon, enabling the growing brand to ship its meats throughout
Western Canada.
The company's array of featured products saw manifold growth and
through a network of distributors and Drake Meats' own delivery system,
which they later subcontracted out, they eventually had their meats in
several major supermarkets and chain stores across Western Canada.
When normally strong foodservice sales - that accounted for nearly 20%
of the company's volume - fell off during the COVID pandemic, it became
imperative that flexibility in products and markets was taken into account.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Three generations of the
Ediger family - (from
left) Tyson, Norm and
Kelly Ediger - have
kept Drake Meats
running since 1949.

Growth didn't come easily, he explained. In challenging times, financing
was a major problem for new equipment and modernization. That was
" until we found some financial partners who believed in us during those
chilling years. "
New product introductions are thought through in the research and
development department that Jantz oversees. He explained that perhaps
80 different products being considered for production and marketing
resulted in only five actually being introduced.
Drake Meats features beef and pork products that are hardwood
smoked. They range from hams, bacons, wieners, deli meats, pizza
toppings, smokies, sausages and snack sausage items, burgers and jerky.
Their new Jerky In A Box program, a monthly subscription e-commerce
store, was launched in an effort to adapt to the COVID pandemic, quickly
becoming another successful arm of the company. Most of the products
are described on the company website, drakemeats.com.
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