Fresh, never frozen beef has moved from Wendy’s to College Park.
Dining Services has switched its beef provider to a local company, which provides fresh meat for all dining halls on the campus. The new product was debuted Oct. 22, said Bart Hipple, Dining Services’ spokesperson.
Prior to this switch, beef came in frozen through US Foods, which got the meat from what Hipple described as “an unknown generic large-scale meat packer from the Midwest.”
Old Line Custom Meat Company — which takes its name from Maryland’s nickname as the “Old Line state” — was founded in 2011 as the union between Roseda Beef based in Monkton and George G. Ruppersberger & Sons, a meat packing company based in Baltimore.
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OLCM provides beef, lamb and veal products to its customers, which include numerous local colleges and universities.
Hipple said the quality of the meat and close proximity to campus were some of the reasons for the switch.
“We’re not at all embarrassed about the product we were serving before, but if we see an opportunity to serve a better product with a better story, we’re going to take that,” Hipple said.
Freshman economics major Jack Gately recently ate a hamburger in the dining hall and said that it’s tasted better.
“Fresh beef is better than frozen beef in most situations,” Gately said. “Going local gives you fresher meat.”
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Other factors for the move to OLCM included cost and “the various dimensions of sustainability,” such as the fact that the cattle are raised in-state, Hipple wrote in an email.
“To have a local product that is from the Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania area that is processed in Baltimore, [and] only has to ship this far to get campus — we thought that was a very, very good thing,” Hipple said.
Bill Ruppersberger, owner of George G. Ruppersberger & Sons ,said the university is currently using the Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania product, which is one of the two beef products that OLCM offers. OLCM doesn’t own the MVP product, so it procures the meat either through auction or straight off the farm.
Bill Ruppersberger’s father, OLCM’s president, attended this university, and Burchell said it’s “part of [their] roots as a company.” Ruppersberger said his father was “very excited to hear that we were going to be involved at Maryland.”
Burchell said as a local company, OLCM believes it’s important to work with institutions in the area.
“Given Bill’s family history with his dad and his uncle … it just seemed like a very natural fit for us,” he said.
Anthony Costanza, a freshman fire protection engineering major, recently tried a burger in 251 North. He’s a fan of the fresh beef, and its proximity to the campus.
“Considering it comes from some place local, the meat doesn’t have to travel long distances; therefore, it doesn’t need to be frozen,” Costanza said. “Which is all the more reason for me to eat it.”
