Magro’s Meat & Produce is coming full circle with its business model.
“We’re going back to our roots,” said Tony Magro, president and co-owner of the family-run business. “We’re still going to offer vacuum-sealed meats, but we’re getting away from grocery, produce and deli items.”
Magro’s Meat & Produce opened a Springfield location in January 2016 in the former Eagle’s grocery store at 3150 Stanton Ave. Magro’s Processing, the meat-processing plant in Auburn, closed a couple months later.
However, Magro said the last couple of years have caused the family to rethink their business model. “With everything we’ve been through the last few years, we saw the need for more meat processing on the back end. Rather than try to continue to compete with the big chains, we’re going to expand to do more of that.”
Magro said the company currently has a 12-18 month wait for meat processing. “We’re booked a year out to try to get an animal scheduled to bring in,” he said. “We want to put the emphasis on the custom processing, because we’re the only ones in Sangamon County that do it.”
Between staffing shortages and supply chain issues, Magro said the experience of the pandemic have shown that “the food chain can be broken.” He also noted that demand for local beef has increased significantly. “We know that business is there, and that’s what we know the best.”
The changes to the business model will take effect May 2.
