![]() will focus on working with local ranchers to buy their animals at market prices to sell via e-commerce and directly to food service entities, wholesale, and retail grocery stores. Once the fair season is over, F1 Meat Co. Troutman expects the facility to handle an estimated 2,500 head of livestock this season - which is roughly 35 percent of the area’s fair animals.ĭuring the first four months of each year, the focus will be on processing livestock from the youth fair. The Frostproof operation, which is a professional, USDA-certified facility, is currently up and running, and the official grand opening/field day was held January 13. a full-service meat processing operation that will serve the 28 county fairs within the Central Florida region. This month, he opened Florida First Meats LLC - also called F1 Meat Co. Now, he’s building on that vision to better serve the ag community and those who have worked so hard to pass on their way of life to the youths. At the time, he processed roughly 500-600 head of livestock. He worked with eight fairs, including the Polk County Youth Fair and Florida Strawberry Festival, as well as fairs in Charlotte County, Kissimmee River Valley, Orange County, and two in DeSoto County. Troutman tried his hand at processing for fairs in a limited capacity in 2021 and then more extensively in 2022. He has a long history with citrus and cattle ranching, and in 2010 he opened Chop-N-Block, a Winter Haven custom meat-processing business that serves area hunters and farmers. ![]() The 56-year-old Frostproof native is no newcomer to the Florida agriculture scene. That shift, he says, could be a game-changer for the local agriculture industry and especially youth fair participants. That struggle prompted fourth-generation Florida farmer Baxter Troutman to evaluate how he could bring the meat-processing function closer to home. Interruptions at the nation’s largest meat-processing corporations - which handle an estimated 80 percent of the total supply - led to shortages and other supply-chain disruptions. If the pandemic proved anything, it was the need for more meat-processing facilities at the state and local levels. This year, fair participants and their families have a new opportunity once the fun wraps up. January marks the beginning of fair season throughout Central Florida, and Polk County’s Youth Fair kicks off the festivities. sorry I couldn't find a photo with all of us Candice, Steve and Uncle Steve.New Meat Processing Facility Aims to Rewire Supply Chain So stop by say hi and treat yourself to the best butcher shop around. This has merely been a snippet of the story but you can ask any of us and we all have stories about the butcher shop as do all of my predecessors. Just like before, we went and build it with our own hands. In 2019 Allyson, Craig, Candice, Steve, Shiloh and I ventured off to Deland to start our own chapter in this ever growing story of the butcher shop we call Gaff's Meat. To the customers enjoying, you can thank him for teaching that level of excellence. To those I am teaching, you can blame him for me being so hard on you. I can think of many times throughout the years him calling me to the side to inform me our standards or more directly how I failed to meet them as we all do when learning. From my uncle Steve I can say I learned how to present the steaks I cut and how to make sausage. from that time on I learned how to not just clock in and burn a clock but how to work. My father said to me "Brian, I can pay you per task or I can pay you per hour." I recall a remark along the lines of I was being paid per task until it was cheaper for him to pay me per hour. ![]() The days of half doing things as a child does were over. As I grew so did the task and I remember a pivotal moment growing up when It was time to be trained to actually work. I'd get tasks like go organize the shelfs or clean some dishes and I'd be paid a little bit. Like all young children I jumped at the opportunity to make some extra money. I can recall times where I was just a kid doing homework back in the office while my father worked, he asked me if I wanted to make some money. I learned how to cut meat, manage a staff and run a store no doubt things they learned of my grandfather. Between the two of them I learned my way around the business. ![]() I (his grandson) had the privilege to work along side our founder at our Port Orange store which is being ran by my father Bruce and my uncle Steve. He eventually migrated to Taylor, MI and then eventually all the way down to Florida. He was the father of five children who throughout the years all got involved with the family business one way or another. My grandfather Andrew Gaffka built the first Gaff's Quality Meat with his own hands along with some help from his family.
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