High-end restaurant butcher Nicky USA is selling meat directly to consumers to make up for revenue and job losses from the COVID-19 pandemic.
PORTLAND, Ore. – On a long, winding drive home one night in March, Geoff Latham realized his life, and his business, could not go on as planned.
For Latham, shutting down wasn’t an option. Not only would his business fail to survive such a drastic move, but as the country plunged into the biggest crisis in nearly a century, he felt certain his work was essential to keeping Americans fed. Nicky USA churns out roughly 10,000 pounds of meat a day. Before the coronavirus shut down the U.S. economy, 85% of its sales, which usually total $16 million annually, were to high-end restaurants in Oregon and Washington.No clients but ... ‘I’ve got a plan’
Adding to the crisis: $250,000 worth of meat was on its way to the plant to be processed. Without restaurants, it would have nowhere to go. Overnight, their cash flow would evaporate. “My parents have poured their lives and their savings into this,” Gerick Latham says now. “If I was working for some giant company, maybe I’d just ride it out on unemployment. But in that moment all I could think was, ‘I can’t let this, or them, fall apart.’”Around 11 that night, Gerick Latham texted his mother: “I’ve got a plan. We’re going to do an online sale and sell everything in the freezer.
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