Jared and Rachel were some of the first people that I met when we came to Dripping Springs. We were staying at Wanderin Star Farms after the pandemic first hit and my sister in law, the owner of the farm, invited them over for a play date.
I have never been so happy to see 5 boys unload from a car as when the Kinchens came over that day. We hadn’t been around people for a month due to the covid lockdown and we were feeling depressed and nervous about the future. There was quickly a pack of 11 boys roaming 30 acres of land in Dripping Springs and that was the first time during the pandemic that I felt like everything in the world might be ok. It felt normal. I was aching for normal! Our boys quickly fell in with the Kinchen boys and they were playing with sticks, chasing each other through creekbeds and enjoying good old fashioned fun.
Soon after that we decided to move from our hometown of Lubbock and replant in Dripping Springs.
Jared has also been the guest speaker at our Magnolia planning meetings for the last two years and is always such an inspiration to our team. He runs a business consulting firm and is excellent at his job! He just knows how to motivate us to think bigger and differently. I knew that they would be a fun family to feature and showcase their new beef business!
Let me introduce you to the Kinchens and Bonavere Meat Co…
Tell us more about your family…
I have been married to my beautiful and gracious wife for 20 years. Together, God has blessed us with six beautiful kids. Five boys, and one girl, in that order. Our oldest is 14 and our youngest is a year and a half. We love raising our kids on a farm.
As a family, we have chosen to live a very intentional life and we have a deep appreciation for the outdoors, life-learning, and hospitality. Living on a farm, gives us the opportunity to incorporate these into our lives.
What made you decide to start Bonavere?
We love good food, we love to cook, and we have a big family. So, naturally, raising your own food for our family is what we have done for quite some time.
These loves combined with our love of cattle and ranching led us to start thinking about ways we could share this with our community.
Our passion and God-given directive is ultimately to raise up the next generation, and for us, working alongside our kids is one way we can equip them to be prepared for their future.
We also have many friends in Southern Colorado that have cattle ranches. We visit them often and several trips ago we started talking about putting together a cooperative ranchers to bring grass-fed and grass-finished, premium all-natural beef to our communities.
All of our ranchers are likeminded and love nature and the preservation of nature just as we do. With such a like-minded group of people, and a market that is looking for quality beef, that’s grass-fed and grass-finished, we decided to go for it. We wanted to do it in a way that would make a positive impact for all involved throughout the entire lifecycle.
So, we started Bonavere Meat Co.
Bonavere means “Truly Good” in Latín and that is what we set out to do through our brand.
What is different about the beef you sell?
As with any animal that we consume, what the animal eats has a huge part to play in how they taste. It also directly affects our health.
What makes our beef different, starts with the soil. Our cattle graze on the high-protein mountain grasses in Southern Colorado from the day they are weaned to the day they are processed.
These lush pastures are rich in nutrients, all organic, and ever-regenerative. Our farmers commit to regenerative land practices that continue to feed the soil’s proper nutrition to produce healthy grasses.
Another difference is how we process our beef. Our cattle are on pasture from the day they are born to the day they are processed. Our processors are committed to humane processing, and as such, our cattle do not sit in a feedlot, but rather are processed the day they arrive at the processor. This limits the amount of stress on the cattle directly affecting the flavor of the beef.
Finally, Bonavere is committed to giving back. 25% of our net profits go directly back to the rancher in the co-op and their community food bank to meet needs in their local community.
These factors are what makes our Bonavere beef different.
How does your business impact the local cattle ranchers in Colorado?
We pay our ranchers a premium price per pound for the cattle in our cooperative. This premium equates to roughly $.15 per pound more than the market rate at auction would be. By giving our ranchers a premium, we are ensuring their ability to continue to reinvest in building better quality herds and better soil.
In addition to a premium price per pound, Bonavere distributes 15% of our net profits directly back to the ranchers in the cooperative.
In fact, when you order from Bonavére Meat Co., you know the exact ranch where your beef came from and you know that you’re contributing directly back to that local rancher.
In addition to contributing to the local rancher, 10% of our net profits go back to the local ranchers community food charities. This gives the local rancher the ability to contribute to meeting real community needs.
Why was it important to include your 5 sons in creating this business? How do they help?
It really all starts with how we have chosen to live a very intentional life alongside our kids. We believe that this world needs leaders and we have chosen a path to help cultivate these leaders within our home.
Part of becoming a good leader is dependent upon who guided you and the experiences you’ve been given along the way. Pulling our kids into our day-to-day life and business is a way to give them the opportunity to learn and grow in ways they might not have otherwise. The reality is that kids are like sponges and they soak up more than we give them credit.
Our kids help by getting the cooperatives cattle to the processor, getting the beef to the farm, packaging the beef for the customers orders, and then distributing the beef to the customer. In addition to that, they help us in building and enhancing our own herd that we will eventually incorporate into the cooperative as well.
What is important to you about inspiring and influencing the next generation of boys?
The average attention span of kids today is less than a goldfish.
More than half of the boys in the US are growing up without a father present in their lives. The average father spends 3 minutes of dedicated time with each of his kids today. This unfortunately is not going to cultivate a future generation that is capable of leading us forward.
The world needs good leaders, and instead of waiting for those leaders to arrive or hoping someone else is preparing them, we’ve committed to raising them.
I am active in the community and the Church in raising up men of all ages to become biblical leaders for a better future.
What is your favorite cut of beef and how do you serve it?
My wife and I both love a good tenderloin. Lean, succulent, and perfect with just cracked salt and pepper.
The kids love bone-in ribeyes!
We’re currently working with Hudson’s Table out of Blanco to make our own season blend that will partner well with our beef.
What are your favorite hill country BBQ or steak restaurants when you are too tired to cook your own?
We love to cook so that’s a hard question. If we are talking bbq, we love so many local joints. Crimson Creek Smokehouse in Dripping Springs, Kelly’s Hill Country BBQ in Wimberley, and you can’t go wrong with Blacks or Franklins in Austin.
For steaks, we like heading out to Bryan’s on 290 in Johnson City. It’s a blend of good atmosphere and good food.
What do you love about living in and running a business in Dripping Springs?
We love the community we’ve come to know.
Being able to have so many local spots where you can still connect with other business owners is great. I own a consulting firm, Novel Work Co., that helps organizations around the world with strategic innovation. We love bringing them to our farm for workshops, to experience the TX Hill Country, and sometimes even hosting them in our Airbnb.
What are your favorite places to take your 6 kids on outings to explore nature?
Pick a park or a river and we love to be there hiking and camping. Our favorite place is hiking to the top of Enchanted Rock and having a picnic being able to see for miles all around you.
We also backpack and camp frequently up in the mountains in Colorado.
Where can people buy from your company?
People can place orders for our beef on our website at www.bonaveremeat.com
Instagram – @bonaveremeat
Facebook – @bonaveremeat
I love meeting and introducing you to the movers and shakers of Dripping Springs, Texas! Do you know of someone who should be featured? Just reach out to me and share their name with me!
Looking to buy or sell real estate in this area? I’m a local Realtor and would love to help! Just email or call to get started. 512-569-8480 or laurenclark@magnoliarealty.com
