As the Illinois-based company prepares to turn 30 next year, its name changed from Stampede Meat to Stampede Culinary Partners to better reflect its capabilities. The culinary solutions provider manufactures over 300 million pounds of high-quality retail and menu food products each year.

Stampede manufactures both ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook poultry, pork, and beef products with further processing capabilities that go beyond slicing and dicing to sous vide cooking, natural smoking, 360-degree searing and include products such as prepared meals, gourmet sous vide pet food and alternative proteins for leading restaurants, retailers, food service distributors, airlines, convenience stores, military channels and home delivery customers.

President and CEO Brock Furlong has been in the food industry for more than 25 years, working for The Quaker Oats Company, Pillsbury and Maple Leaf Meats, before joining Stampede in 2010 as executive vice president.

What are some of the challenges and opportunities facing cold foods processors and manufacturers? How do you see the culinary landscape evolving over the next five years?

The number one challenge in the food industry we are seeing is in labor - managing the quality, quantity and cost of labor. We see and hear about all types of issues playing out in every sector of the food channels that we support and our customers continue to express that they need culinary solutions that will eliminate their labor challenges by easing or minimizing the preparation time and the skills required to serve food, while making sure that the final product solution is perfect, every time.

Of course, they also need a price point that works for them on the menu, in the deli, on the grocery shelf or in the cafeteria. The expectations on performance have never been higher, while the margin of error is getting narrower. Stampede Culinary Partners is excited by this challenge, and we believe we can, will and are solving these opportunities with one custom food solution at a time for both existing and new customers.

Stampede has a focus on sous vide cooking technology, releasing a commercial industry research report earlier this year. What were some of the key findings from that study and how do you see sous vide cooking changing the foodservice industry?

The major finding from our benchmark study on commercial sous vide is the impact of labor and time challenges in the food industry in all channels, including consumers in their own homes. In the midst of the pandemic, consumers felt they had more time than ever to manage food and other at home tasks. With the return of office life, travel and life's many activities back on the calendar, that open time has evaporated and we are back to intense, time-crunched schedules.

The study we completed validated this wave of opportunity as customers are striving to serve better food and consumers want to enjoy better food, with more economical and consistent protein offerings. We were surprised at how strong the affinity was to the sous vide cooking style and how many sectors have already been shifting to and exploring how to adopt sous vide food solutions. This cooking method offers the potential to alleviate labor challenges in all types of sectors including: education, healthcare, convenience stores, delis and every type of restaurant. We look forward to continuing our research on the potential in commercial sous vide and sharing more about what we learn.

Prepared foods and “dinner helpers” are becoming key drivers in supermarkets for their convenience factors. How does Stampede approach research and development for new products, both in retail and foodservice segments?

First and most importantly, every single solution we create is fully customized. By that, I mean that our team sits down with an existing or prospective customer to really understand the issue, the problem and the opportunity. Once we have a full understanding of the nature of the challenge, our culinary and product development team goes to work to find a solution — seared, rubbed, smoked, portioned, sous vide cooked, etc. — whatever the best fit is, Stampede Culinary Partners will pursue.

We have been very surprised by the willingness of customers in retail, foodservice and other segments to invest in quality, and not just cost, in order to solve their business challenges and fully explore their opportunities. The right solution has a significant appeal to the consumer and people are increasingly willing to pay for unique, high flavor, quality products.

In 2018, Stampede spent $36 million to renovate a former Tyson manufacturing plant. How does Stampede produce its products today?

There are currently over 2,300 families that call Stampede Culinary Partners home today. We are intensely proud of each and every one of these families and the passion they have to serve our customers. Today, we operate in two countries and three different states. With over 500,000 square feet of production space, we have the largest network for producing sous vide product solutions in North America.

While sous vide is a remarkably excellent tool for cooking, it is not a silver bullet (or the only way to solve a food challenge). We have invested continuously in our team to become masters in the art of butchery from start to finish.  As such, our team excels in butchering, portioning, sears, rubs, marinades, natural smoke and also, sous vide cooking. Most often, our skilled team uses many of our capabilities to prepare the perfect product long before it gets to the oven and our attention to fine-tuning the details is what creates success for our customers.

With a name change and your 30th anniversary approaching, what’s on the horizon for Stampede Culinary Partners?

I think the key to our future lies in the word "partners.” We are actively seeking like-minded companies to join in our quest to engage in innovative food solutions that drive success for our customers. Surprisingly, as we have become more vocal with what we do and how we do it … partners are finding us on their own to discuss how we can connect and provide greater value to their businesses. I firmly believe that we can use this relationship-centered, custom-solution approach to rapidly expand our capabilities and become a more meaningful and high impact supplier for both existing and new customers.

As we approach our 30th year in business, I want to give a huge shout out to our customers. They are the source of our inspiration, passion and growth. It is through their success and our ability to play a small role in supporting that success, that we will soon surpass $1 billion in sales. You just can't do this on your own. Our customers have been amazing partners and great friends of ours for decades. We are genuinely grateful for all of them and we look forward to adding in even more great friends over the course of the next 30 years!