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Business World |
April 2015
136
of-the-art slaughter house with a feed line,
so they could control the quality of the beef
they sold."
The 1960s saw another passing of the torch
for Owens Meats. As business continued to
boom, Richard Sr called it a career and his
sons took over the family establishment.This
development brought about another era of
change for Owens Meats' business model.
"In 1968, Richard decided to retire, so the
meat market and meat ranch were divided
between Rich Jr and Ray," said Doug. "Ray
ended up with the meat market, and he de-
cided to do away with the retail side of the
business and focus on locker beef and cus-
tom kill and cutting.The retail counters were
taken down and covered until 1982."
Ray Owens and his wife Janet ended up hav-
ing five children who all worked in the shop
until they made their career choices. Twin
brothers Don and Doug were the youngest
of the fourth generation, and even early on,
the pair had a strong influence on the busi-
ness.
"We worked the shop steady since we were
children, and in 1982, we talked dad into
putting up a retail counter again," Doug ex-
plains. "We bought a smoker and a stuffer,