Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 687 | When God Tells You to Sell Meat, You Listen | Guests: Ben & Corley Spell (Good Ranchers)

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

Today we're joined by the founders of Good Ranchers, Ben and Corley Spell, who share their story of being called to start a meat company. From their beginnings in ministry and event planning, they hav...e been faithful to God's guidance and direction while growing their company. We discuss the history of lax standards in meat processing and packaging and how companies can get away with putting a "packaged in America" sticker on meat even when it's imported from other countries. Good Ranchers' goal was to raise these standards, sourcing meat solely from American ranches. Then, we talk about the "war on meat" and the politics surrounding militant veganism. We're surrounded by narratives claiming that meat is bad for us, but how true is that? We also talk about what "organic" really means when it comes to chicken and how Good Ranchers is adapting its products to avoid seed oils. We finish off with some advice on taking bold steps forward and trusting the Lord. Grab this special promo for Relatable listeners, good for the whole month of October! Get 2lbs of ground beef FREE along with $30 off your order. Go to https://www.goodranchers.com/shop and use code "ALLIE." --- Timecodes: [01:16] Intro [08:39] Interview with Ben & Corley Spell --- Today's Sponsors: Range Leather — highest quality leather, age old techniques and all backed up with a “forever guarantee." Go to rangeleather.com and use coupon code "ALLIE" to receive 15% off your first order. Good Ranchers — change the way you shop for meat today by visiting GoodRanchers.com/ALLIE and use promo code 'ALLIE' to save $30 off your order AND 2lbs of ground beef free! Annie's Kit Clubs — all subscriptions are month-to-month, and you can cancel anytime! Go to AnniesKitClubs.com/ALLIE and get your first month 75% off! EdenPURE — get 3 Thunderstorm Air Purifiers for under $200 at EdenPureDeals.com, use promo code 'ALLIE'! --- Episodes Mentioned: Ep 678 | Great Reset Update: Farm Shutdowns & Power Rationing | Guest: Justin Haskins https://apple.co/3URqNz6 Ep 344 | The Great Reset: Everything You Need to Know | Guest: Justin Haskins https://apple.co/3rlhjPf Ep 578 | Putin vs. the Great Reset? | Guest: Justin Haskins https://apple.co/3dZztTr --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.
Starting point is 00:00:19 We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Meet the faces behind the meat that you have been eating from Good Ranchers for the past couple of years since hearing about them on my show relatable. You guys know we talk about Good Ranchers all the time. And I just wanted to, I wanted you guys to know these people, to meet these people, and to hear the story of how God called them to start a meat company and the amazing difference that it's
Starting point is 00:01:06 making, not just in the lives of families to make our life better and easier by having high quality American meat on our tables, but how it's also revitalizing an industry that has been damaged and decimated thanks to policies in the United States over the past 10 years. that's the American farming and ranching industry. So you're going to be encouraged by this conversation. You're going to be informed by this conversation. And guess what? This conversation is brought to you by Good Ranchers. So before you even listen to the conversation, go to Good Ranchers.com slash Alley. Check them out for a discount. That's goodrangers.com slash alley. You know, before we even start this conversation, I just wanted to, I wanted to say something that I was thinking about that I hope encourages you, because we talk about a lot of crazy things, a lot of chaotic things that are going on in the world. I feel like especially this week with all the violence that we had to talk about against pro-lifers, against people that the Biden administration and Democrats see as their political opponents. As we talked yesterday about the vaccines and it's a fact.
Starting point is 00:02:24 on breast milk and then the Nord Stream pipeline and how all of this affects everything. And if you've listened to my conversations with Justin Haskins about the Great Reset, sometimes it just feels overwhelming like everything is out of our control and there's nothing that we can do about the bad and the chaos that's going on in the world. And part of that is true. We are not in control. We can't fix everything that we want to fix. We can't change all the things that we want to want to change, but something that I'm continually encouraged by. When I listen, I have the privilege on this podcast of listening to people's testimonies, of hearing their stories, of learning how God saved them, and all of the little ways that God planted seeds in their heart before fully
Starting point is 00:03:10 and finally bringing them to himself. And this is something that I mentioned earlier in the week too, and I wanted to add on to that about how when I traveled the country and meet all of these people, all these Christians doing amazing work for the most vulnerable, I realize that the headlines that we see on Twitter and in the news just don't tell the full story ever of what God is doing. When it looks like God is doing one thing, he's actually doing a million things. And while the things and the work that he is doing doesn't make it to the list of things that are trending on Twitter, he is still working in mighty and in powerful and in God glorifying ways. And he uses, and this is something that I love about him so much, he uses what seems like evil and what seems
Starting point is 00:04:00 irredeemable, what seems like a hopeless and destitute situation for his glory and the good of other people. Like I think back to Joseph, who was thrown into the pit, thrown into slavery, sold into slavery by his own brothers because his brothers were jealous when you think about that moment. I mean, How low can you get? How despairing of a circumstance can you be in thrown into a bottom of the pit only to be sold into slavery? How can anything good possibly come from that? And yet, of course, if you know the story of Joseph, you know that it did, that ultimately God used Joseph to then save God's people from famine. And that would not have happened had Joseph not been thrown into the pit. sold into slavery. So when I look at all the craziness that goes on in the world today, when I look at all the chaos and just all of the abject evil and I think, God, how can anything good come from this? How could you allow these things to happen? I have to remember that God, while we may not see it, while it may not be what pops up on our Instagram explorer page, God is doing
Starting point is 00:05:15 glorifying and good and redemptive and beautiful and healing and saving. things through that which looks hopeless. He's doing it every second of every day. He is changing hearts. He is softening them. He is changing minds. He is winning souls. And he is using the often unseen and unsung private seemingly small obedience and courage of Christians to do that. And so don't ever think that the things that you are doing in the way of obedience don't matter. Don't ever think that when you're listening to this podcast and you hear all the big things going on in the world that you simply being a godly wife, a joyful mother, a friendly and generous neighbor, a kind and compassionate friend, an involved and enthusiastic church member, a helper of the poor
Starting point is 00:06:15 and the most vulnerable, do not think that that's not enough. You do not think that God isn't using that to sow things that may not be reaped in the next year or in the next 50 years. You do not know how God is using your seemingly simple acts of obedience to accomplish great and beautiful and grand and redemptive things, not only in this life, but also in the next. And this story that you're about to hear also reminded me of that, reminded me of how God works, reminded me of how God uses people to accomplish the things that we cannot see and may not ever know on this side of eternity. And it might not seem like that's connected to a story of a meat company. And yet, I think that you'll see in this conversation that it very much is.
Starting point is 00:07:11 Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed,
Starting point is 00:07:50 you can watch this Steve Day show right here on Blaze TV. or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Okay, y'all, thank you so much for joining me. Can you first introduce yourselves who you are, what you do? Sure. My name is Ben Spell. I'm the founder and CEO of Good Ranchers.
Starting point is 00:08:13 Hi, I'm Corley Spell. I am the other half of Ben here. Thank you so much for having us today. Yeah, I'm so excited. People have heard me talk about Good Ranchers if they've listened to my podcast for 80 about of time at all. Once or twice. Yeah, once or twice.
Starting point is 00:08:26 for the past, I think I started in spring of last year. So it's been a little over a year. And it's just been, I mean, it's been great personally for our family because it makes our life so much easier. But I wanted people to get the opportunity to see the faces behind the product that I talk about the most, the company that I talk about the most. One thing I say is one great thing about supporting good ranchers is that the people behind it have the same values that we do, which a lot of people. don't. So if you could just give us a little color, I know we can't go through the whole story of how this started. But tell us, like, why did you start a meat company? Yeah, that's a, that's the million dollar question. Yeah. It had no plans on even really being an entrepreneur, having a own business. I come from a ministry background from my parents, my parents, my grandparents, my uncles, my cousins, It's almost like the family trade. Yeah. And but yeah, I heard God's voice say start a meat company, not, you know, in that tone.
Starting point is 00:09:31 But and I was getting ready for work. And I came out and I told Corley, I think God just told me to start a meat company. And she said, okay, let's do it. And that. And when was that? 2017, into 2017. And was it, I mean, was it truly random? Like you suddenly felt the conviction, okay, this is what do you want to do?
Starting point is 00:09:51 or now that you're looking back, do you see some things that kind of led up to that moment? Yeah. Well, so I had worked for a meat company very, very briefly, because I told you I was in ministry before. I took a sabbatical, took some time, and just to kind of figure out like life, what's next, that kind of thing. And worked for this meat company. And in the very short time that I worked for them, I was doing outside sales. I realized, man, there's not a lot of truth.
Starting point is 00:10:26 Like, there's so much, there's so many misleading claims. And even in like the way they, they would teach us and tell us what to say and all that stuff. And I just, the little bit I learned there was just a lot of misleading claims. You really can't trust anybody. And I thought, man, if this company is doing this, how many other companies are doing it? And so I just thought, I feel like this. could be done with morals and ethics and actually sell what you're saying, you're selling, and that kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:10:58 And so I stopped doing that and got back into doing ministry. I was a worship pastor, so I was leading worship from different churches around the Houston area. But, yeah, it was just kind of stirring inside of me. I was thinking someone should do it. It was one of those things. And then one day God just said, you do it. Yeah. Yeah. And you were in event planning and wedding planning, right, Corley?
Starting point is 00:11:23 Yes. And I still have that going on. I'm not so much involved with it, having all the babies, but that's still running. So we were doing that at the moment. And so I was already used to starting my own business. My parents have started their own business. So I feel like God really set me up to be able to respond in that way to him just laying that on. I'm like, hey, let's start a meet company. Sure, let's do it. Right. Entrepreneurship and like taking those risks. It's not something that's foreign to you. It's kind of exciting. But not everyone does have that kind of background in preparation. For sure, yeah. So I felt comfortable with it. You know, and all along the way, I mean, God has just gone before us in every step of it.
Starting point is 00:12:04 So it's been really easy. I mean, there's lots of hard work that goes into it, but it feels right. You know, it doesn't feel like we're doing the wrong thing. And also at that same time, we were having our first baby. So, and you know, with having kids, like you start thinking about what you're eating, what they're eating. You're the gatekeeper for your home, like what you're bringing in. And so I feel like that started. That was the beginning of my toxic, free, almost, you know, journey or as much as you can. Yes. So yeah, just questioning like what we're eating and going into all the claims for the
Starting point is 00:12:37 meat, making sure all that's clean. Like that kind of all happened at the same time. So I don't know anything about how you start this kind of business. So you decided to start this kind of business. So you decided to start a meat company, did you know right away that it was going to be a meat delivery service? Or did that kind of develop over time? Yeah, it all developed over time. And, you know, it's one of the things about, you know, when God speaks to you, like when God, there's a difference between God's promise and then God's like command, you know, because God's promise never changes. If he gives you a promise in your life, like you can hold on to that forever. But I personally believe that when when God speaks commands, you have to go.
Starting point is 00:13:33 And you just, you know, he never gives the full picture. But when you, you know, when you take the step and you start, you know, you start following, I love the quarterly said, God goes before us. It really just has been, you know, people ask me pretty regularly, like, because every business is supposed to have like a North Star, like, what's your North Star? And ours really is, I mean, not to like over spiritualize it, but it really is just following. the Holy Spirit and listening to God's voice. And so, yeah, we, we, we, we, what, who we are right now is nothing like where we started.
Starting point is 00:14:10 I mean, because we didn't know anything. We didn't have no connections. We had nothing. We didn't realize there was such a war on American agriculture. We didn't realize that American farmers, American ranchers, um, were hurting. Um, we had no idea of that when we started. Um, yet we named our company. good ranchers from the beginning. So God knew, you know, the plan. But yeah, we sure didn't.
Starting point is 00:14:38 So we started selling in parking lots out of a truck. It was me selling meat out of the back of a truck in a parking lot and a tent in a mall in Waco, Texas. And just and you advertised it as like this is meat from local ranchers? Not at first. Okay. Not at first because when we very first started, we weren't able to buy direct. Like, we had to go through suppliers, middlemen, you know, all that things. And, and as we learned and as we began to get buying power, we could start chipping away the middlemen and finally were able to get. And then, like, we didn't realize that when we started, we had no idea that in 2015, the country of origin labeling law was just completely removed on beef and pork in the U.S.
Starting point is 00:15:32 Prior to 2015, you had to report, you had to put the country of origin on every piece of meat that's sold in the grocery store. It's still on vegetables, fruits, all your food in the grocery store tell you where the country of origin is. But not beef. In 2015, the U.S. government was lobbied by the big powers that there are, which happened to be a Brazilian-owned company. and so South America, you know, has a lot of land for cattle. And they thought, well, they realized we can import that into the U.S. and sell it for way more money than we can sell it here. So paid a lot of money, had the country of origin labeling law just completely taken away.
Starting point is 00:16:18 But just on beef, or is it chicken too? Beef and pork. Beef and pork. Okay, gotcha. And so now beef can be imported into the U.S. U.S. and they can put an American flag sticker on it and call it product of the USA as long as it was packaged here. So they import the whole primals. I don't think I didn't know. I don't think I knew that. Yep, yep, yep. And since 2015, over 100,000 independent farms ranches in the U.S. have went
Starting point is 00:16:46 out of business. And these are ranches that over. Yeah, it's about 20,000 a year. Since then? Since 2015. Wow. Yep. And nobody's talking about this like in the average. agriculture community, they're all talking about it. But as far as a nation, like the, where, you know, we just go to the grocery store. We just buy what's sitting there. And especially if it says product of the USA, I'm thinking that this is from an American farmer range. And I have read in my, in my script before that about 80% of the beef is actually imported from overseas. And yet, whenever I go to the grocery store, all I'm seeing are stickers that say product of the USA. I'm like,
Starting point is 00:17:24 Huh, where is this like 80%. But now I know it's just if it's packaged, they can say product to the USA, but it's really from Nicaragua. That's right. That's right. If it, like when you buy beef from us, it says born, raised, and harvest it in the USA. If it says that, then it is. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:42 If it doesn't say born, raised, and harvested in the USA, most likely it's not because if they could make that claim, they would. But again, yeah, I mean, billions, billions and billions. billions of pounds of beef are imported into the U.S. every year. So tell me why is it important then for y'all because there are other meat subscription companies out there who get their beef from overseas. So why is it important for y'all to support specifically American farms and ranches? I mean, why not? This is where, I mean, this is our country.
Starting point is 00:18:18 This is where we live. And this is where we want to raise our family, where we are raising our family. and and we believe this is the, this is the greatest country in the world. And the backbone is agriculture. The farmers, the ranchers, they work really hard to put food on our table. To put food on, if you're listening to this, a farmer, a rancher somewhere worked to put the food that's in your refrigerator,
Starting point is 00:18:52 there. And yeah, they deserve better than what they're getting right now. And so, you know, we've, we drew a line in the sand about three years ago because early on, we didn't know that that was even a thing because it's just, it's, you just buy, you just source it where you can get the best price, right? Because that's what the grocery stores does. That's what everybody does. But when we started really diving into this and in exploring and looking into it we went oh man this is actually much bigger this is a much bigger issue and so yeah we we have had lots of opportunities to source from overseas to source i mean we're contacted it's probably cheaper to do that it's much cheaper you can get the the stuff that sells for way more money at whole foods and yeah and stuff
Starting point is 00:19:45 is the I mean it's so cheap like you could buy we could buy that for less than we could buy like USDA select which we don't we don't sell that but that's like the lowest grade in the grocery store so the stuff that you're paying a premium for at Whole Foods that says product of the USA and has all these claims it's actually cheaper to buy than the cheapest yeah meat you could you know get in the grocery store so isn't it strange how agriculture has become so political. Like we're looking at places like Sweden, how they're being shut down.
Starting point is 00:20:33 Some of their farms are being shut down. And the government is saying, well, it's because of methane emissions. And in order to save the climate, we apparently have to shut down these farms. But especially when it comes to meat. I mean, meat is becoming increasingly demonized. And we're told the,
Starting point is 00:20:49 not just the thing to do for the climate, but the thing to do for your health is to eat this fake meat that is filled with. with soy and all kinds of things. It does seem to me, though, that a lot of very natural people are waking up to the unhealthy ingredients in the fake meat kind of stuff and realizing that, like, meat is good for you. And it's something that carries the nutrients that we really need. So what has y'all been y'all's experience when it comes to the politics surrounding
Starting point is 00:21:22 meat in agriculture and also the politics surrounding like military? veganism. Yeah, I would say there's a war on tradition, really. It's, it's, it's, it's with meat and everything, but there's a, I mean, you know this. There's a war on just tradition, family. Truth. Yeah. Eating real food. Just like it's, it's self-reliance. All the things, all the things that somehow got us here as a people are all this, are now the things that are killing us, which is just, that they say is killing us. Yeah. Yeah. What do you think? Well, Well, I just, you look at the fake meat and you look at the packaging and I mean, how many ingredients do you see like 30 at least? A million, yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:03 And you compare it to like a nice piece of real beef. It's kind of a no-brainer. And I feel like not even with just like the meat industry, but every other industry, I feel like there's so much greenwashing that's happening. You know, all these claims. Organic, non-GMO, like all the things. And they're putting all of these claims on their products. but when you kind of like dig deeper, it doesn't mean that it's necessarily healthier. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:30 And I feel like they're tricking people. It's the same thing with the country of origin labeling that we see with the meat. They're doing it with everything else. So you're right. People are waking up to it. And I'm so glad to see that. But it's definitely happening. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:45 Yeah. When you all say that you have better than organic chicken, what does that mean? Yeah, let's talk about that. Yeah, well, what Corley was just saying, like the organic. label, it used to mean something. But when money gets involved, people have a way of manipulating things to be the most profitable. And when the industry realized, oh, people will pay more for organic than they, they, they, they's like, what's the cheapest way we can get the organic label on there? And just because it's organic, all that means is they were fed organic feed,
Starting point is 00:23:21 feed and they had access to outside. Doesn't mean that they're pasture raised. Doesn't mean that they were actually roaming. And so there's these massive commodity chicken farms that are just the huge warehouses full of chickens that never go outside. They have access to outside, which is a 18 inch little hole over on the side. So they have access if they want it to. But I mean, yeah, chicken's not really thinking. Yeah. And most of them have been stuffed. Often those cages for so long, they don't even know. That's right. That's right.
Starting point is 00:23:55 That's right. So that gets an organic label because they were fed organic feed and they had access to outside. So that's why we say better than organic because our chickens actually do go outside. They actually do roam. And you can taste the difference if people have started saying I came for the steak, but I stayed for the chicken. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the difference there.
Starting point is 00:24:22 And something that people have been concerned about lately is seed oils. And that includes things like canola oil. And you guys have recently made a big change when it comes to seed oils and the canola oil that was in the marinade for the chicken. So what was that? Yeah. So the reason we were using canola oil is because it has a higher heat, a hollow smoke point. Okay.
Starting point is 00:24:49 than olive oil. And so, and we were using an organic canola oil, non-GMO for that. But, yes, seed oils is definitely, I mean, it is a thing. Yeah. And so, yeah, we just completely removed it from the marinade. Yeah. And there still might be some in circulation right now that have it. So if someone got a box right now, it might say it on there.
Starting point is 00:25:18 but you have to get through the inventory that you currently have, which is awesome. So if you're looking to get rid of seed oils in your life, which I am, but it's really difficult, it's really difficult. Then you can at least know for sure that the marinade that you're getting from good ranchers doesn't have that in there, which is just a comfort for a lot of people. And that's just, I mean, that's not guaranteed when you're going to the grocery store and you're getting the pre-marinated chicken there. For sure. What I like about it is that it just makes my life easier. When I'm like, oh gosh, it's 5 o'clock and I haven't even thought about dinner, I don't have to worry about it because I've got a freezer full of meat that I know is good and that I can rely on. And it's super easy right there, just cook it. And I always, I don't have to wonder, oh, is this good? Because I got it from Kroger instead of Whole Foods or whatever. It's the same. And so that's what I like about it. I think that's what my audience likes about it too. I mean, you know, you're a mom of four and you're busy. And it's like the afternoon goes by like that and you just want it to be. easy. Yeah. So and it's nice to only have to worry about like what sides you're going to be
Starting point is 00:26:21 cooking that night. Yes. Because you already have your meat. You're like, the size are easy. Is it steak, chicken, seafood? And then you, you know, choose whatever side you have in the fridge. Yeah, Corley has been the R&D of Good Ranchers all along. So yeah. And our, and our kids. If they don't eat it. If, if she wouldn't, if she won't eat it, then we don't bring it into our house. Like we only sell everything we sell online. We bring into our home and we feed our own family. And if our kids don't like it, well, you know. Yeah. Well, that's hit or missed depending on their age. Okay, what would you tell? Give me, give me some advice, some wisdom for other Christians who are business owners who are thinking about starting a business. What are some
Starting point is 00:27:14 things that you've learned, some like challenges and triumphs that if you could just tell someone who is right in front of you who is kind of doing the same sort of entrepreneurial endeavor, like, that you wish someone would have told you at the beginning. I know that's a big question. Yeah. I'll let you lead that one. Yeah. So kind of what I said earlier is, you know, take the steps and go.
Starting point is 00:27:43 There's no playbook. Like we, early on was, was, was, was, I've read lots of books and I do encourage reading and studying and learning. but I for a long time I was looking for someone that could tell me what to do I was like and or a book that would just give me the the the information or the the idea or the strategy and it doesn't exist because if it did then you know if then everyone would read that book and everyone would just just do it and for us it really has it really has just been one we know we heard god's voice to do it um and then you know like after she said yeah let's do it let's go um one morning very shortly after that i was praying and ask god like how are we going to get favor with suppliers and and cities and
Starting point is 00:28:41 and all these things and um and he said give he put that he just spoke it very clear really and I'm like, well, of course you would say that, God. But, and so we kind of thought, well, what does that mean? And then we said, you know what, since we're going to be selling food, we're going to be going into these cities, let's make each of our location. Let's make our, you know, we started with one, but let's make that location a food drive. And so we set up, we made it a food drive. We told people to bring non-perishable food items.
Starting point is 00:29:10 We partnered with the food bank there in Waco, Texas at the time. And then, and we really felt like that was like something that we need to make a part of our business, of partnering with food banks everywhere we go. Well, when right from Waco, I felt like we were supposed to come and open up in Houston where we live, which is a much bigger market, much more expensive, a lot more overhead. And by the way, we had no money when we started. Like, we had no money to, like, actually start a business. I don't recommend this, but borrowed money from my mother-in-law. Thanks, Mom. And if she's listening, we actually paid her back, but she still thinks that we owe her a little bit.
Starting point is 00:29:59 Interest. I digress, yes. And but we did. We borrowed a little bit from her. We had a little bit in savings, but, I mean, not a lot. And we, again, we heard God's voice say to open up Houston, which was a lot more expensive. And so we did. We followed, you know, we started trying to do those things. And so we had everything. We had meat ordered. We had trucks. We had to do multiple locations. I have six brothers. So I was on the, like, I called all of them like, hey, come to Houston. We're going to do these sales.
Starting point is 00:30:35 and not all of them came, but a handful of them did. And so we had everything set up, ready to go. We had our permits and everything. And the health department called about two days before we were supposed to open. All the money's invested. All the meat's already bought. Radio advertising, everything's done and paid for non-refundable. And the health department called and said,
Starting point is 00:30:57 hey, we're not going to allow you to do any of this because we don't allow this in the city of Houston. you can't sell food unless you're, unless you're tied to an event. And I'm just quite crushed. I'm like, oh, gosh, what are we going to do? And I'm like, we just had our first child, um, bear. And I'm thinking, oh, man, I took, I took my mother-in-law's money. I've maxed out all of our credit cards. Wow.
Starting point is 00:31:22 You know, like, um, and I hang up the, you know, I try to go around and around with this, with the health department official, um, asking, is there anyways? What can we do? What can we? And she's like, absolutely not. We just don't allow it. Um, um. I hang up the phone, I'm scared, devastated, all these things.
Starting point is 00:31:40 And I go and I talk to Corley and she said, what did you, did you tell her about the food drive? And I was like, no, I didn't really think about it. But yeah, let me call her back. And I called her back and I said, hey, we're partnering with the Houston Food Bank and each of our locations is a food drive. Would that be considered an event? And she said, oh, yeah, absolutely. Oh, okay. So, yeah, the only way they would give the permit is if it was an event.
Starting point is 00:32:06 Yeah. So there you go. But I said that to say, you know, from the very beginning, God said to give and to partner with food, food banks. And we could have opened up in Waco with or without it. But when it came time to open up Houston, we wouldn't have been able to have been in business. And opening up in Houston is really what launched us and is really what launched good ranchers because it was, it was. It was extremely successful, thankfully, because, I mean, the day before we opened up, we went to the gas station. We were running around getting permits and getting signs and getting all the things.
Starting point is 00:32:44 And Coro was in the car with me. And I ran in to get like water and a protein drink. And every credit card was getting declined. Like we, I mean, all of our money. I mean, when I tell you, we went all in. Yeah. We went all in. And.
Starting point is 00:32:58 Yeah, there was no funding, no. Yeah. Nothing like that. Yeah. Well, that's amazing. Well, I'm so thankful for how much it's grown and for what you're doing also for American farms and families or American farms or ranches, but also for American families and bringing American meat to their house and making their life easier and doing it in a way that is
Starting point is 00:33:20 obedient to God. And the thing that I would say that I kept hearing in your story is simply doing the next right thing in faith and trusting that the Lord is going to take care of the unknowns when we walk with him in obedience. And so I'm thankful for that and everything that you guys are doing and for your family and that you're such a strong supporter of this show too. We will be here supporting Good Ranchers till the end, till the end, till Jesus comes back. That's right. All right. Thank you guys so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. Oh, and you have it, did you have a, oh, yeah. Yeah, we were going to do for your, for your listeners because we have been
Starting point is 00:33:57 with you for over a year now. Yeah. Yeah. So I was an alley fan before Good Ranchers came to Alley. So yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. She's like you should really look into this alley. Stuckick. I didn't know who you were. Yeah. That's okay. Sorry. But I do now. Yeah. We want to, for your listeners, we right now we're doing free ground beef, free Wagoo ground beef with every purchase. But we're going to do for your listeners, we'll just for the, um, um, for the, um, um, For the month of October, we're going to do the free ground beef plus the $30 off that you normally give. Awesome. Same link, same promo code. Yeah, for Alley. Good Rangers.com slash Alley promo code, Alley. Y'all should have it memorized by now. That's awesome. Thank you so much.
Starting point is 00:34:42 Month of October, that's great. And we'll do the link and all of that in the description of this episode. Well, thank you guys so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. We really appreciate you having us. Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith,
Starting point is 00:35:11 truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts.
Starting point is 00:35:34 I hope you'll join us.

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