BUNDABERG beef producers Rob and Sarah Cook have closed their sprout fed beef butcher shop but say they will return with an even better business model.
The news the couple would close their Tender Sprouted Meats butcher shop on Watson St was announced on Facebook earlier this week after opening it in 2016.
Rob and Sarah, along with their two sons, own three properties including a backgrounding block, Cabbage Tree, which is 404 hectares, a breeding block Tandara, 1420 hectares and their final finishing block, Werribee, 120 hectares.
They have their own sprouted barley setup but made the tough decision to take out the “weak link in the chain” due to location, demographic and electricity costs.
Mr Cook said everything they stood for as a company, including sprout feeding, would remain the same.
“All we are doing is stepping back from the butcher shop to focus now more on the rebuild for the next phase of what we are going to do with our beef,” he said.
“We have got a lot of homework to do. We are not going to go again and do it half baked, we have got to have a suitable business plan in place and we have got to have a suitable outlet, if you will, for our product.
“We have still got an enormous following on social media with tender sprouted meats and at this stage I would say, watch this space.”
He said it wouldn’t be until the new year that they would return with a new business model.