Barham’s Ozark Beef is celebrating its five-year anniversary this month! The concept started with a random poster at a fast casual BBQ restaurant in Dallas, TX highlighting where the restaurant sourced their beef. Ed Linck saw the poster while waiting in line for food and immediately thought of Charlie Barham, his stepdad, who had been raising cattle since 1981 in Ozark, AR. At their next family dinner, Ed brought up the idea of starting a farm-to-table beef business to the family. Everyone was onboard to give it a shot. Little did they know this would be the beginning of something special.
Charlie was already an expert at raising cattle, but Ed knew nothing about beef except that he liked steaks and burgers. For the next six months, Ed researched the beef industry, visited local processors, established relationships with vendors and advisors, and eventually began selling bulk beef. In October of 2019, Charlie and Ed sold their first two whole beef at $4.00/LB on the hanging weight. The quarters and halves were purchased by family and friends. It was the perfect launch for Barham’s Ozark Beef.
Covid hit soon after the launch of Barham’s Ozark Beef. In the spring of 2020, the food industry was hit hard due to plant closures across the country. Fortunately, Cypress Valley Meat Company, a local meat processor in Pottsville, AR, never skipped a beat and was able to fulfill orders. Their effectiveness provided Barham’s Ozark Beef the ability to serve new customers who were desperate to find a beef source since the grocery store shelves were bare and other local ranchers were either sold out or couldn’t get a processing date with a processor. Cypress Valley Meat Company did an amazing job, even though they experienced a major loss of their own with the passing of their CEO, Andy Shaw, to Covid. Barham’s Ozark Beef owes a lot to Cypress Valley Meat Company, Andy Shaw, Chris Shaw, Benny, Mike, Brandon and the rest of their team.
After the first year, the business had picked up some steam. For Ed’s birthday in 2020, Mariana Linck, Ed’s smart and beautiful wife, approved the purchase of the company’s first freezer trailer. The 4’x8’ freezer on wheels would provide a differentiating factor that would prove valuable over the years. They could now deliver beef safely and guarantee it would be frozen upon arrival. Previously, Ed would load up his Ford Edge SUV with beef in Pottsville and then speed from one delivery to the next. As the customer base grew geographically, this became more and more of a risk. The trailer solved the problem. Plus, they now had adequate freezer storage, which came in handy when a few bulk beef orders were cancelled that December.
2021 launched a few new directions for the business. The beef from the cancelled orders in December were sitting in the freezer trailer. A recommendation from Mariana turned into one of the biggest sellers for Barham’s Ozark Beef – the Beef Snob Sampler. At roughly a third of a quarter beef, the Sampler allowed folks who didn’t have a ton of freezer space to purchase Barham’s Ozark Beef. The new product configuration opened a whole new customer base. This eventually led to the Mini Beef Snob Sampler, which is a third of the Beef Snob Sampler. Both have become favorites among customers. Mariana also suggested selling at a local farmers market, especially since there was a way to safely store the beef with the freezer trailer. In April 2021, Ed set up for the first time at the Conway Farmers Market at Antioch Baptist Church. This led to Ed getting involved at the board level and eventually leading their marketing efforts for four years. Barham’s Ozark Beef continues to participate in the market, which has introduced them to thousands of customers over the years.
“Beef Snob” is a term that has become synonymous with Barham’s Ozark Beef, but where did it come from? Sometime in 2020, their processor made a beautiful mistake. The ground beef from an order had a major error and was uneatable. To make it right, the processor offered ground beef from another rancher. Mariana and Ed had been eating Barham’s Ozark Beef for over a year at this point. When Mariana cooked a meal using the other rancher’s ground beef, she spit it out after one bite. “Yuck, our beef is so much better than this!” Mariana had a history of being a “wine snob” and a “cooking oil snob,” but she officially became a “beef snob” that day. Mariana and Ed thought the phrase “beef snob” sounded cool and Ed quickly began searching for the domain name. Soon after, customers could find Barham’s Ozark Beef at www.beefsnob.com, their Facebook handle became @beefsnobs, and the Instagram handle was now @beef.snob. Customers of Barham’s Ozark Beef were now called “Beef Snobs”, and Ed changed his title from Owner to Chief Beef Snob, which was brilliantly suggested by GT Hill from Titan Ranch in Conway. Customers quickly embraced their new Beef Snob title.
Fast forward to November 2023… Mariana and Ed were visiting one evening after their kids, Catalina and Luci, had gone to bed. Mariana suggested they needed something different in the company’s product offering. She asked if it was possible to make jerky. Ed didn’t know the answer but visited with Cypress Valley Meat Company the next day. He learned that Cypress Valley had a sister plant in Miami, OK that makes snack sticks. That same week, Ed visited the Oklahoma plant and discussed the process with their team. It just so happened that a gentleman named Doug McClain was also visiting the plant that day. Mr. McClain was one of the first snack stick customers when the plant began producing the product. Doug sat down with Ed for over an hour and shared all his knowledge about the snack stick business. He laid out his total cost to manufacture the sticks, how and where he sells them, and gave many lessons learned along the way. Between the information provided by Doug and the team at Cypress, the launch of the Beef Snob Snack Sticks was much more effective than it would have been without their advice and experience. The first round of snack sticks was a huge success. The first 100 boxes sold out in two days.
Feedback on the Beef Snob Snack Sticks was much more positive than Barham’s Ozark Beef could have ever imagined. By the summer of 2024, they had only sold to their existing customers through their website and in person. In July 2024, they began wholesaling in local farm, grocery, hardware, and liquor stores. Sales remain steady in the stores, but there was another opportunity that needed exploring – Amazon. In September 2024, Barham’s Ozark Beef shipped their first pallet of Beef Snob Snack Sticks to an Amazon Fulfillment Center. Ed had spent the past few months learning about being a seller on Amazon, tweaking the packaging, and building up enough inventory for a pallet. As of this five-year anniversary, the snack sticks are still on the loading dock at Amazon waiting to be checked in to their system. The hope is this new venture will be very successful.
The best part about this five-year run is the people they have met along the way. “Beef Snobs” are the best customers on earth! They are quick to claim they are a Beef Snob and remain committed to purchasing their beef from Barham’s Ozark Beef. The company’s vendors, most of whom have been with them since the beginning, are amazing and caring people. They continue to help Barham’s Ozark Beef on their journey. The Linck and Barham families continue to work seamlessly together as they navigate the challenges of running a small, agriculturally based business.
What does the next five years look like for Barham’s Ozark Beef? That is an impossible question to answer. What started as a random poster on a wall in a random restaurant has turned into a three headed beef monster with bulk beef, retail beef, and snack sticks. The initial plan was to sell a few quarters, halves, and wholes each month. The business has evolved so much since the early days. Where will Barham’s Ozark Beef be in five years? We can’t wait to find out!