Sunnyside Farms Market soon to relocate inside the new Nature’s Oasis

DURANGO, Colo. – When Holly Zink first opened Sunnyside Farms Market in June 2002, she spent much of her time educating customers about the benefits of eating natural and/or locally raised meats, often answering the question, “Why spend twice as much when I can walk next door to Wal-Mart?”

Six years later, in Sunnyside’s fairly new albeit temporary location across the highway from Office Depot, she’s somewhat beyond that, as an increasing number of local consumers recognize the health and economic benefits offered by Sunnyside. She has, however been explaining the shift in what had appeared to be the original business model.

“Soon it will all make sense to everybody,” said Zink, a multi-generational Durangoan whose business is also often confused with her father Jerry’s meat processing plant, Sunnyside Meats. “It’ll be real nice to feel that it’s our final home. Now we’ll be able to really work on forward progress. I think creative juices flow a lot better when you feel settled.”

That “final home” will be inside the new Nature’s Oasis, slated to open in late September at the corner of the frontage road and Hwy 550/160, just west of Sunnyside’s present location. Sunnyside Farms Market will become the in-store butcher/meat market.

What it won’t be is a deli – Nature’s Oasis will handle that aspect for customers.

“Originally in the concept of the business, I thought that the deli would be a side item to the main business, which was fresh meat and seafoods,” said Zink, who initially leased some 3600 square feet of space in the Wal-Mart center and garnered a reputation for great sandwiches. “The deli part of the business grew so wildly that it was like owning and operating two separate businesses… and it felt like instead of doing what I really wanted to be doing – focusing on locally grown meats and fresh hand-cut seafood – we were making sandwiches.”

Though she knew she would be disappointing a segment of the population that patronized Sunnyside for deli foods, Zink is quick to note that she didn’t study “Meat Sciences” in college to make sandwiches. When, in 2007, the lease was up on her original location, she already knew Sunnyside would be moving into Nature’s O. She didn’t want to close completely during construction, so took the opportunity to downsize, streamline and do away with the deli when moving to the temporary location – with only 1,000 square feet.

“It’s been hard for people,” she admits. “We’ve been here over a year and people still come in and stop, and look around for a minute, and we whisper ‘sandwich.’ Then they say, ‘Do you make sandwiches?’”

Zink, though raised on the family farm south of town from which she took the meat market’s name, never envisioned herself as a butcher as she pursued her initial degree in psychology at CU Boulder. She did, however, work through her college years at a natural foods store that was eventually acquired by Wild Oats. She rose through the ranks, eventually promoted to a manager on duty where she was required to learn all the departments.

“And I really enjoyed working in the meat and seafood department. I didn’t think that was going to happen,” said Zink, who subsequently returned to school to study Meat Sciences, and interned at a meat processing facility.

Just coincidentally, and without Zink’s knowledge, her father, in an effort to help local ranchers as well as preserve open space, had made the move to open the much needed USDA inspected processing facility in La Plata County. Statistics indicate that approximately 30,000 head of cattle are raised each year in the county. Most leave as “feeders” or calves that are sold at auction for finishing and slaughtering elsewhere, only to possibly return to local markets in a Styrofoam tray with cellophane over the top.

At the time Jerry Zink noted of the endeavor, “It’s not going to change the face of animal production, but it is a niche that can be very important to the sustainability of our agriculture.”

“It was hard to turn back the clock on generations worth of training in ranching and farming,” said Holly Zink, who now does carry a great deal of local beef and lamb harvested at Sunnyside Meats. “I also think as far as food safety is concerned, that it really is very sensible to be eating close to home. We really get into trouble when we try to make food fast and cheap and portable.”

Indeed, hamburger coming from a large meat processing plant could include as many as 1000 animals in the mix. In contrast, at Sunnyside, every piece of meat and ground can be traced back to the animal.

Plus the Sunnyside processing plant is immaculate, and the USDA inspector has an office on site. Zink tells the story of an intern at the plant who needed to culture e-coli to complete a class project.

“E-coli is naturally existing, so it’s around,” said Zink. “So she was going around the plant swabbing carcasses and surfaces and she couldn’t find an e-coli sample. It was awesome.”

Zink does need to supplement some beef – particularly steaks – but she purchases from a Colorado Springs-based cattlemen’s cooperative made up of family farmers who take care of the animals in similar fashion to Sunnyside. Over the years Zink has sourced her poultry, pork and fish as well, and is confident that the meat market is offering products that have been raised naturally (without added chemicals) and are of high quality.

“And ours is fresh-cut. It’s not pre-packaged,” said Zink, referencing the pre-packaged products on the commercial grocery store shelves. “It doesn’t have the gas injects to keep it pink.”

At commercial operations, where meat is required to sit packaged on the shelf for any period of time, the cuts lose their pink or red color because they oxidize, turning more brown or gray. To try to avoid that, carbon dioxide is injected into the packaging.

“I had a customer once ask, ‘What’s wrong with your meat?’ and it kind of offended me,” said Zink until she realized the customer wasn’t accustomed to seeing fresh, unpackaged meat. “I explained to her that this is what it should look like… She wasn’t aware that there was something wrong elsewhere.”

Though it took time for some customers to find the interim location, and the rough winter did impact Sunnyside’s bottomline in January and February, the economic downturn appears to have had little if any impact. Consumers are cutting back, but not when it comes to the quality of the food they consume. Sunnyside’s meats are comparable in price to the natural meats in the large grocery stores.

“People are making some choices to purchase less expensive things at the grocery store,” said Zink. “They might be abandoning their choice to have a recyclable paper towel because it makes more monetary sense to them, but in terms of produce and meat, people are typically still going with the organic or natural brands.”

Thus, it does make good business sense to co-operate with Nature’s Oasis, adding an aspect to the natural foods market that owners Jeff and Sherri Watson hadn’t been able to offer. The store is being designed as a full-service operation, and will include additional tenants such as The Wine Merchant (liquor) and Serious Delights (breads, pastries).

Moving into the store will also streamline Sunnyside’s operation, eliminating the need for a separate cash register and retail space. To be located in the rear corner of the store – the traditional location for a meat section – Sunnyside’s space will include a cooled cutting room and walk-in cooler, as well as additional meat cases, plus a smoker and rotisserie. Value-added products – such as pre-packaged fajita mix, marinated chicken breasts or stuffed pork chops – are also planned.

“We’ve done a lot of good work here (at the interim location) because we’ve gotten rid of some of the extraneous mind clutter of running a deli, so we’ve been able to take our meat to another level,” said Zink. “I think that’s going to be even more of an opportunity for us at the new store, and we’re really excited about that.”

Sunnyside Farms Market (450 S. Camino del Rio, suite 103; 970.375.6400) is currently open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Store hours will expand with the move into Nature’s O, and include Sundays.