Barham’s Ozark Beef had existed for only a year before Ed and Mariana Linck started discussing the need for more freezer space. The business was focused solely on selling quarters, halves, and wholes at that time. During the early days, Ed would load up the back of his Ford Edge SUV and drive straight from the processor to the customer’s home. As the client list grew, he had more stops at distances further away from Pottsville, Arkansas, the location of Cypress Valley Meat Company. Ed could have been caught speeding a hundred times as he zipped from one customer to the next in hopes of delivering the beef before it began to thaw. There was no time for small talk at delivery! He would drop off the beef and then on to the next, quickly!
After looking at the numbers and seeing the demand, Mariana surprised Ed for his birthday. Mariana gave the thumbs up to purchasing a 4’x8′ Polar Temp Freezer Trailer. In the Beef Snob world, that’s the equivalent to receiving an all-expense paid trip to Europe for a week! Ed was excited because he knew the business now had room to grow. The trailer was ready in December 2020. Ed would drive to Atlanta, Georgia in his dad’s Ram 1500 truck. He picked up the trailer at the manufacturer’s facility and off he went. It just so happened that Barham’s Ozark Beef had a few cancellations that same month, so it became the first time they had to store inventory. Talk about timing! The next month, January 2021, the Beef Snob Sampler was born out of necessity. They were a hit! The Conway Farmers Market jumped on the radar soon after. With the ability to store inventory came the ability to sell individual cuts. This allowed folks who had been wanting to taste Barham’s Ozark Beef and chance to do so without purchasing a large amount of beef. Business was good.
Fast forward to 2023… The beef business has quadrupled in size (not hard to do when you start so small!). Due to customer demand, Barham’s Ozark Beef completely outgrew the original freezer trailer. In January 2023, a 7’x12′ Kingtec Freezer Trailer was purchased. This allowed the storage of up to 15 whole beef at one time versus only 4 or 5 in the little trailer! It became obvious the 4’x8′ Polar Temp was not needed anymore. It wasn’t even a good back up plan due to the volume of beef being produced each month. Ed and Mariana made the tough decision to sell the original trailer. They put it up for sale on Facebook Marketplace and waited.
A few months later, Ed receives a call from a young man out of Mississippi. The gentleman and his wife were looking for a freezer trailer so they could launch their new food-based business. They traveled to Arkansas in March 2024 to inspect the trailer. The new entrepreneurs showed the same excitement and nervousness Ed and Mariana felt when they originally purchased the trailer in 2020. Ed spent a few hours with them to answer every question and share his own experience getting started in the frozen food business. By noon that day, the freezer trailer belonged to a new family who is getting their start in the business world. They drove off with high hopes of creating a new path, one the Ed and Mariana had ventured only a few short years ago. From the team at Barham’s Ozark Beef, we wish them all the best! We hope that “little trailer” helps fulfil their big dreams.