Dining Around with Gene Burns - Saturdays, 10 a.m to 1 p.m. on KGO Radio, AM 810
So THAT's What Happened to Niman Ranch
Back in the early 90s, I commuted every morning at 4 a.m. from Bolinas to downtown San Francisco, where I made my living playing yuppie jazz on the radio.
I would roll out of bed at an ungodly hour, get in my old Dodge van, and do my best to make it over Mount Tam without hitting a deer. At the bottom of the hill on the Mill Valley side, I would always stop at the Tam Valley 7-11. There's a whole story there, or three, about the Tam Valley 7-11. But today's story is about a guy who drove his white delivery van over the hill at the same time every morning on the same timetable.
I'd see this guy at the 7-11 every morning, regular as clockwork. We'd nod, sip our coffee, and go on our way into the city. Then one day we struck up a conversation, one that turned into a job offer. Turns out Bill Niman was looking for somebody reliable to deliver meat over the hill, and had decided, after seeing me every morning at dawn, that I might be a reliable sort.
I probably should have taken the job. But the yuppie jazz won out. I did, however, go our of my way to find and taste some of Bill's beef, and became a loyal customer and fan of Niman-Schell and later Niman ranch.
Later, when I moved to Oakland, we were neighbors again, when Niman Ranch opened a processing plant in Oakland. And I remained a loyal customer, and an advocate of Bill's humane animal husbandry practices (and delicious meat).
So what is Bill Niman up to now? Reading between the lines of a few recent articles, he apparently got pushed out of Niman Ranch by corporate greed-heads. Do I sound a little biased there? Probably. I'm tired of corporate greed-heads messing up things I care about. But Bill landed on his feet, if this recent article in the New York Times is any indication. He is in the goat business now, living on his ranch in Bolinas, doing business as BN Ranch. Good luck Bill!
I would roll out of bed at an ungodly hour, get in my old Dodge van, and do my best to make it over Mount Tam without hitting a deer. At the bottom of the hill on the Mill Valley side, I would always stop at the Tam Valley 7-11. There's a whole story there, or three, about the Tam Valley 7-11. But today's story is about a guy who drove his white delivery van over the hill at the same time every morning on the same timetable.
I'd see this guy at the 7-11 every morning, regular as clockwork. We'd nod, sip our coffee, and go on our way into the city. Then one day we struck up a conversation, one that turned into a job offer. Turns out Bill Niman was looking for somebody reliable to deliver meat over the hill, and had decided, after seeing me every morning at dawn, that I might be a reliable sort.
I probably should have taken the job. But the yuppie jazz won out. I did, however, go our of my way to find and taste some of Bill's beef, and became a loyal customer and fan of Niman-Schell and later Niman ranch.
Later, when I moved to Oakland, we were neighbors again, when Niman Ranch opened a processing plant in Oakland. And I remained a loyal customer, and an advocate of Bill's humane animal husbandry practices (and delicious meat).
So what is Bill Niman up to now? Reading between the lines of a few recent articles, he apparently got pushed out of Niman Ranch by corporate greed-heads. Do I sound a little biased there? Probably. I'm tired of corporate greed-heads messing up things I care about. But Bill landed on his feet, if this recent article in the New York Times is any indication. He is in the goat business now, living on his ranch in Bolinas, doing business as BN Ranch. Good luck Bill!
Comment
-
Comment by Roger Coryell, Editor on November 20, 2008 at 11:38am - Hi John. I'm glad to hear that. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
-
Comment by John Peterson on November 20, 2008 at 10:23am -
As a long time employee of Niman Ranch, I can assure you that we have *not* gone the way of factory farms. We maintain the highest standards of animal welfare, environmental stewardship, and meat quality in the industry, all on family farms in the midwest (speaking for pork, which is my bailiwick).
We miss Bill and his vision, but we have not forgotten our roots. I keep our original mission statement (it has not changed) taped right below my monitor so that I can see it every day, and it continues to inform and guide the decisions that we make as a company.
"Niman Ranch and it's family farmers raise livestock traditionally, humanely and sustainably to deliver the finest tasting meat in the world."
I cannot speak further to the reasons that Bill left (nor can he) due to legal constraints, but please be assured that there remain many stewards of the original vision of the company. "Big, corporate and driven by the dollar" is far from what we are...though it increasingly describes our competition.
Keep the faith.
John Peterson - Vice President of Pork and Prepared Foods- Niman Ranch
-
Comment by Roger Coryell, Editor on November 4, 2008 at 6:02am
- I feel the same way exactly. I am an unabashed omnivore, I *like* meat, but I'd like to know where it came from . . . and big corporate "natural" purveyors driven by nothing by the dollar are often just factory farmers with a "natural" mask on.
-
Comment by Mary Eisenhart on November 3, 2008 at 4:42pm - I'm really distressed to learn there's no Niman at Niman Ranch; it causes me to wonder how much the humane standards are being sacrificed to the almighty buck. Guess I'll have to stick to the farmers' market guys, since Niman's accountability seems to be out the window.
© 2010 Created by Roger Coryell, Editor.
You need to be a member of DiningAround.com to add comments!
Join DiningAround.com