Turkeys flying out the meat markets despite pandemic

In a year defined by shutdowns, empty store shelves and slow business, Greg Traband is having one of his best years yet.

Traband, owner of Egger’s Meats North, said business has been booming at the small Spokane butcher shop ever since the first COVID-19 lockdowns began this spring.

First, it was panicked quarantiners stocking their freezers when grocery stores ran low on ground beef and chicken. The panic subsided, but Traband, and other local butchers like him, have stayed busy.

“It never slowed down once,” Traband said. “We’ve really been quite blessed.”

Now, with Thanksgiving prep in full swing, Traband is busier than ever. Though the holiday might look different this year for many, few families are passing up the traditional turkey, according to local butchers.

Traband, who has worked at Eggers for 33 years and owned the shop for 28 years, said turkeys sold out on preorder faster than he’s ever seen, beating his average by four days. That’s more than 700 birds out the door, ranging in size from 10 to 28 pounds, Traband said.

Despite meat shortages emptying many grocery store cold cases earlier this year, Traband said he didn’t have any problems filling his cooler ahead of the turkey rush. He ordered the same amount he does every year.

“We were being cautious, but now we’re wishing we’d stocked up at least a little bit more,” Traband said.

At Tim’s Special Cut Meats in Post Falls, though, shop manager Jennifer Petersen said they’d received a few less turkeys than they ordered, mostly the smaller ones. She’s gotten plenty of requests this season for small or half turkeys, and Petersen guesses it’s the same for most other retailers, too.

Petersen said the shop just received a shipment of turkeys, and not all of them are spoken for yet. But she’s anticipating a deluge of last-minute planners to rush in this week, while others call off their preorders.

“We’ve had quite a few people cancel their orders or ask for smaller turkeys because they’re quarantining or not having family over after all,” Petersen said. “But we’ve had others who aren’t changing their plans at all and still want the big 25-pounder.”

Like Traband, Petersen said 2020 has been the “best year ever” for the family-owned butcher shop. Their base of regular customers has shot up dramatically, Petersen said, possibly due to shortages at big chains or a desire to support local business.

“I can’t really pinpoint where the increase is coming from, but we definitely aren’t complaining,” Petersen said.

At Sonnenberg’s Market and Deli in east Spokane, meat department manager Dan Englehart was preparing to delve into the depths of his deep freeze to take stock of his remaining turkey supply. It’s hard to quantify just how many birds he has on hand, exactly, but he is sure that he ordered five pallets of turkeys a couple of weeks ago.

Now, he’s down to two.

“Just like every fall around here,” Englehart said. “That and prime rib.”

Englehart said demand isn’t much different from a normal Thanksgiving season, but he has noticed turkey shoppers are changing their habits a bit. Numerous buyers have called to request their preordered 20-pound bird be downgraded to a 14-pound one instead, and a few have canceled altogether, Englehart said. He expects most of his remaining stock will be the 25-and-up turkeys, always less popular but even more so this year.

“Mostly what we’ve got is just regulars ordering like usual, normal people just trying to feed the three or four people they’ve got at home already,” Englehart said.

Along with the anticipated seasonal uptick in sales, Englehart said Sonnenberg’s is seeing somewhat of a resurgence of those early days of frantic quarantine-prep meat buying. Customers are certainly less panicked now, though, Englehart said.

Traband has also seen a handful of customers opting out of turkey entirely, choosing something more suitable for a smaller crowd like whole chickens or several game hens. As his turkey supplies dwindled, he started selling a lot of prime rib, steaks and stuffed pork chops. He’s even seen some people choosing a completely nontraditional route – serving up one of Egger’s 18 flavors of bratwurst, including chili cheese and pumpkin spice, for a festive holiday meal.

Though he’s limited to 25% capacity in the store, Traband expects the week to be among the busiest of the year as customers swarm to Egger’s to pick up their turkeys.

Many of those customers’ families have been buying holiday meals at the shop since it opened over 70 years ago, Traband said, and he credits that loyalty with helping keep the shop alive during the pandemic.

“We sell only all-natural, local Northwest turkeys, and our customers appreciate that, and they try to stay local, too,” Traband said. “We all just want to know the food we feed our families is coming from a secure source.”