Ottawa Foodies

I received a call last night from someone (don't remember name) who was calling on behalf of a local meat producers association offering a $100 coupong (promotion). They are supposed to drop off the information sometime this week. Has anyone else been called by them? I'd like to get a bit more information...

Thanks.

I'd have a tonne of questions for them - I know 2 people who got tied up with similar organisations that ended up being far less than what their advertising would have you believe.

If you want local meat, check out this thread and call up a farmer and get some :

ottawafoodies.com/forum/1858

agreed - i was really thrown by the phone call and will just gather information. I'm not ready to sign up for anything sight unseen and have researched getting local meat in the past hence my apprehension.

Thanks for the feedback.

I'd like to get the phone number from you because I'd like to call them and ask all the questions that need to be asked, and I'll report the answers back here.

They are coming by Wednesday Evening. Any specifici questions you can think of?I'll report back then and get you the follow up info needed for you to contact them.

Thanks again.

Questions

Where, exactly is the meat raised? If they are vague, alarm bells should go off.

How is it raised? Pastured? Grain fed? Antibiotics? Feedlot? All the stuff I get is free-range pastured. And I mean the real, bona-fide, old-school, free-range pastured like you'd see on Little House on the Prarie

How is it packaged? I'll point out that buying direct from the farmer is one of the most environmentally-responsible choices as far as packaging goes now that butcher's paper is accepted in green bins. And there are none of those styrofoam trays.

What's the min quantity?

Can you buy just one type of meat? e.g. if I just want chickens from them and nothing else.

And of course, price.

I'm having a difficult time imagining you'll find a better deal than just buying direct from the farmer.

again, agreed.

Will keep you posted.

Also make it clear that you are not interested in signing anything when they visit, but that they should leave the forms. Offer to deliver (if you are interested) the filled out forms to their place of business (if only to see if they have one). Usually an 'in person' visit means a hard hitting sales pitch.

Yes, good point Pete! My wife saw this and commented something about how you've already lost since you've let them into your home :-) They will be VERY hard-hitting and will not want to leave without signing you up

no one showed up - no one called. i guess that solves it.

Thanks again for all the feedback. I will update if anyone follows up.

Ha, ha, that's hilarious cookn!

Well, maybe not. How much personal info did you give them on the phone? Kind of has me worried a bit now. Maybe ID theft was their game, and they already had all they needed.

not enough for them to get anything (just address, not even my full name). I'm not overly concerned.

the positive in this is that i finally created a profile on here and will start posting!!

I have been covering farming and agriculture in Eastern Ontario (www.agrinews.ca) for over 25 years and I am unaware of any local meat producers' association that markets its products over the phone. There are county cattlemen's associations, but they are involveed exclusively with production and policy issues, not with retail marketing. I would be very, very leery of any individual or group that makes these claims and I would never under any circumtances sign anything unless I was satifisfed that they are a bone fide production organization, not slick marketers ready to pawn off something on you that was otherwise destined for the knacker's yard.

Looong time ago, I used to work for a telemarketing company called "Canadian Meat Select" or something along those lines. Definitely had word "select" in the name. They used to offer similar thing. A person would come to your home to do a presentation on meat. It's kind of a ridiculous concept. A tough sell on the phone that's for sure haha.

I had a similar call a few months back. They wanted to come by my house with samples and talk about it, etc. I don't recall the name and I didn't take them up on their offer, but there is definitely someone in the area trying to sell meat this way.

Moltar - That was "exactly" what I thought of when I saw this post originally... I too cannot remember the name of the company, but I know that they have been around Ottawa for years (like 20). They sell precut & wrapped "fill your freezer" allotments. I know when I first heard of them (like I said probably 20 years ago) I thought it was a wierd concept... surprised to find out they are still around.

So....

I did a quick GOOGLE, and it appears the company name is Canadian Select Farm Foods, and I did find these on-line Forum discussions:

From Ottawa Kiosk.com = www.ottawakiosk.com
and
From Red Flag Deals.com = www.redflagdeals.com

Looks like it is a case of BUYER BEWARE!

Cookn - LOL, be thankful they didn't show up.
:-)

That's it, Nutrafarms was who called us a few months ago.