DENVER — One of the largest bison producers in Colorado is feeling the impacts of COVID-19 after several of its workers contracted the virus in March.
Rocky Mountain Natural Meats said 17 of its employees tested positive for COVID-19. The first case was reported on March 20.
Chief Operating Officer Ace Ward said since then meat processing has slowed down at its facilities to about 60 percent of capacity.
"We've had some employees who have been quarantined and gone home," Ward said. "And we have been trying to work through that. So our capacity is down quite a bit."
Rocky Mountain Natural Meats said it has brought in social distancing protocols and other employee safety checks to keep production going.
The company is still processing about 100 head of bison a day from 30 affiliated ranches. Rocky Mountain Natural Meats supplies product to more than 500 grocery stores in Colorado including Costco, King Soopers, Target, and Whole Foods. So far, they have been keeping pace with demand.
Some of their employees are still off the job recovering from COVID-19. Two workers who contracted the virus were hospitalized but there have been no fatalities. More than half of the employees who got sick are back on the job.
Rocky Mountain Natural Meats has more than 200 employees who work between two meat processing facilities.
Chief Executive Officer of Rocky Mountain Natural Meats Bob Dineen said retail sales have increase at grocery stores but restaurant sales are down 25 percent due to the virus and most places being closed.
"There is some positiveness in it but the restaurant trade was important to us too. Until that gets opened back up, it's going to be a real problem for us to move the more expensive steaks," Dineen said.
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Rocky Mountain Natural Meats said there are lots of animals in the market but plant production slowed at its facilities with less employees. Major beef producers at some of the larger operations are also feeling the impact.
"They're only killing half the cattle they were killing historically," Dineen said. "So there is a backlog of animals and there is a lack of pounds coming out of those plants. That's the break."
This comes after the chairman of Tyson Foods warned that "millions of pounds of meat will disappear" from the national food supply chain as the coronavirus outbreak forces food processing plants to shutter.
Rocky Mountain Natural Meats said while production is important, food and worker safety comes first.
"Everything we do revolves around food safety and on the same note, worker safety. We had to separate people, move people further apart," Dineen said.
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