“They are the easiest company to do business with,” she
said. “They are very understanding with us and we have
very few complaints.”
MEETING DEMANDS
Simmons noted that many of their seasonal customers on
the Treasure Coast have been clamoring to get home deliveries
of meat to their homes up north.
“These are people who visit and enjoy the ranch,” Simmons
explained. “We have no minimum quantities required
35
here. Local delivery is $20, free for orders over $200.”
Simmons is actively working on setting up out-of-state
shipping for the natural beef products.
Considering the crème-de-la-crème quality of their beef,
prices are relatively affordable. Best sellers include 8-ounce
filet mignons for $21 and 14-ounce rib eye steaks at $17.33,
before the delivery charge.
Simmons said
she tries to accommodate
customers’
special requests,
even for unfamiliar
cuts of meat, such
as the teres major
a beef tenderloin
product that comes
only in a single
one-pound portion
per cow or picanha,
a cut that is
very popular with
Brazilian customers.
She said they
have also been selling
large quantities
of beef bones for
broth-making and for dogs.
The natural beef program cannot be described as organic
because cattle may receive small amounts of antibiotics if
they become sick, Simmons explained.
GRANDFATHER’S IDEA
The program originated with her grandfather.
“We were talking about it 10 to 15 years ago,” she recalled.
“My dad had a contact with a pork producer up in Madison
County and he put us in touch with Whole Foods.
“We have very strict animal welfare rules. Every step of the
calf-raising process is documented and we’re audited every
15 months. There’s a lot of recordkeeping, especially for how
we medically treat the animals.
“After Bud’s death, his sons pushed the natural beef
programs further along. It’s definitely a more sustainable operation
nowadays with the lack of travel and gas costs. And
there are plenty of potential new customers for us in Florida
— 22 million of them!”
Even though Adams Ranch Natural Beef is not a huge
operation, Simmons said they sell about 2,000 head of cattle a
year, which equates to almost 1 million pounds of meat.
Simmons and her family are managing to make the sustainable
farming practices pioneered by her grandfather still
relevant today, while also extending an iconic brand into new
areas over time.
The future for Adams Ranch looks very bright indeed.
Another big customer for Adams beef hamburger patties
is the Bokampers chain of sports bars in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale
area and on the west coast of Florida.
Recently, the ranch purchased its own refrigerated truck
to expand direct-to-the-public sales. The ranch has a regular
booth at the Fort Pierce Farmers Market and also offers doorto
door service to private homes in St. Lucie and Indian River
counties. It plans on expanding into Martin County, too,
Simmons said.
GOING ONLINE
Eventually, Simmons hopes to be able to ship beef all over
Florida using a new website now under development to
track orders.
Simmons said the calf-raising process at the ranch has pivoted
away from raising whole cattle to a more nuanced system.
Calves born on the Orange Avenue and Osceola County
ranches are raised there until they are between 6 and 9 months
old. Then they are sent to Quincey Cattle Co. in Chiefland for
fattening before being shipped to FM Meat Products in nearby
Fort McCoy for final processing and packaging.
This process has the advantage of allowing direct quality
control of the meat and also boosts ranch profits by eliminating
the middleman, Simmons explained.
The latest wrinkle in this established pattern is for Mike
Adams’ son, Caleb, to drive the new refrigerated truck to the
processing plant once a week to load up with beef for local
deliveries on the Treasure Coast.
For a while in recent years, the ranch supplied beef directly
to the Braford Steakhouse in downtown Fort Pierce, a restaurant
owned by the Adams family. However, that arrangement
no longer exists. The Braford was taken over by another
operator who does not use Adams beef, Simmons said. The
business is now known as The Fort Steakhouse.
“First there was COVID and we felt very uncomfortable,”
Simmons said in explaining the decision to sever ties with
the steakhouse. “Owning a restaurant was not the right fit
for us,” she said. “It was stretching our resources and we
preferred to concentrate on our cattle-raising operations. We
want to primarily improve our product.”
RETAIL STORE PLANNED
Simmons sees the next step in the evolution of Adams
Ranch Natural Beef in selling direct to consumers using the
new truck and by establishing a dedicated retail store at the
Orange Avenue ranch.
For a while, Simmons said, they used wholesale food
distributer Cheney Brothers to handle their deliveries. Simmons
is married to Cheney Brothers’ executive vice president
Cheney Simmons.
But, she said, they realized that deliveries of their small
quantities of meat were being delayed using large delivery
trucks servicing larger clients.
“It was quicker for us to use our own truck,” Simmons
said. “There were too many stops. This way our meat is delivered
super-fresh.”
The natural beef program contributes one-third of ranch
revenues, she confirmed.
“We still breed bulls and heifers, but the majority of calves go
into this program,” which is running very smoothly, she said.
The ranch maintains 26 Whole Foods stores in Florida as a
major customer, Simmons said. They have worked together
seamlessly for six years now.
BUSINESS
PELICAN SEAFOOD
Adams Ranch natural beef, grown locally, meets
natural certifications from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Cattle are pasture-raised and do not
receive growth hormones, antibiotics or steroids.