Just a few short years ago Donovan and Chelsie Gross had a dream of one day providing beef from their own ranch in southcentral North Dakota to family and friends across the state. This dream quickly gained traction as they faced the devastating effects of covid lockdowns in the spring and summer of 2020. While consumers were being gouged with insanely high prices for a limited supply of meat at the grocery store, the four massive packing plants that control 80% of the U.S. beef industry were raking in record amounts of profit. This, mind you, while the rancher and cattle feeder was struggling to survive the chokehold of an economic bottleneck that punished them with plummeting market prices and an inability to even sell cattle for harvest. As Chelsie later reflected, “We couldn’t stomach what was happening. We knew it would be a long process, but we made up our minds that it was time to take action on our dream.”

When Chelsie returned home in January of 2022 after a year-long military deployment, they hit the ground running. With all the necessary licensing and certifications completed, they initially began selling locally at farmers markets and simply by word of mouth. Not surprisingly, they were met with incredible demand as consumers everywhere are eager to find more reliable sources of nutritious and great-tasting beef to feed their families.

Eager to expand access to high quality, locally raised beef to as many people as possible, the Gross’ decided to team up with the Bitz families who share their passion for the cattle industry. Paul and Shauna Bitz together with Dylan and Mariah Bitz are active in nearly every phase of raising cattle. Having endured the economic rollercoaster of feeding cattle at the mercy of giant packing plant corporations, they see the opportunity to sell meat directly to consumers as a clear win-win for everyone involved. As the acclaimed chef for her family of nine, Shauna feels compelled to share with other families the same source of high quality beef that she has prepared for her own family over the past 30 years. And with a husband who lives off a nearly all-meat diet (only a slight exaggeration), Mariah can’t overemphasize the importance of having a deep freeze full of steaks and burger!

Raising cattle is a 24/7/365 job. There are no weekends, holidays, or snow days. It’s tough work, and to be honest, our husbands don’t have time to be developing a website, hitting up farmers markets, and delivering product. So when the idea was floated of creating a partnership between the Gross and Bitz families, it was quickly and unanimously agreed that it would be a rancher’s wife endeavor.

And so was born…LEGENDARY STEAKS.