Nicky USA bolstered by foodies

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Geoff Latham, Nicky USA

Geoff Latham is a happy man.

Despite a recession that hammered white-tablecloth restaurants and suppliers, Nicky USA Inc., Latham’s high-end meat business, is thriving.

The company reported $5.1 million in 2009 revenue, down less than 2 percent from 2008. Surviving one of the most turbulent years in the history of fine dining was no small feat.

High-end restaurants make up 85 percent of Nicky USA’s business. The company wrote off more bad debt last year than all of its previous 19 years combined.

It took a hit from vendors last year as well, notably last July when one its major beef suppliers unexpectedly went out of business.

Nicky USA has thrived in the face of an industry-killing recession thanks to low debt, cost cutting, diverse products and most important, its almost sibling-like relationship with some of Portland’s best restaurants.

The company’s birth coincided with the start of Portland’s foodie movement. Nicky USA is the go-to source for game and free-range meats for some of the city’s most discerning chefs.

Paley’s Place, the original Genoa restaurant, The Heathman Restaurant & Bar and Higgins Restaurant and Bar all were early customers for Nicky’s original product, rabbit.

Expanding menu options at restaurants drove Nicky USA’s expansion into almost every species imaginable: elk, venison, beef, pork, turkey, quail, lamb, chicken, the occasional snake, and now, shrimp.

“If I think of buying duck or rabbit or any other game, I wouldn’t think of going to any other source,” said Vitaly Paley, owner and chef at Paley’s Place, a long-time customer.

Nicky USA employs 24. It operates from a 10,000-square-foot warehouse, including a 1,000-square-foot USDA-inspected processing plant, near the corner of Southeast Third and Ash streets in Portland’s Central Eastside.

The company processes and distributes meat raised by private ranchers and farmers in Oregon, California, Washington and Canada under its house brand, Nicky Farms.

It also has exclusive relationships with brands such as Carlton Farms (pork), Snake River Farms (kobe beef), Painted Hills (natural beef) and Anderson Ranches (lamb).

The newest addition, Tails & Trotters, is a fledgling Portland company that produces hormone- and antibiotic-free pork for prosciutto.

Later this year, Nicky will cement a new distribution deal with Sylvie’s Valley Ranch near John Day. After more than a century of traditional ranching, the massive farm is being rehabilitated and will raise beef and veal that is fed clover, wildflowers and grass.

The deal could boost Nicky USA sales by 5 percent to 10 percent next year and double that in subsequent years.

In addition to restaurants, the company sells to the portion of the foodie public willing to pay its $125 minimum purchase.

It’s also gotten a boost from celebrity chefs.

“I defy you to find someone with more selection,” said Rick Browne, a Vancouver barbecue expert, cookbook author and television host.

Browne, who used Nicky USA meats on his PBS cooking show for years, plans to continue to use the products when he debuts his new show, “Grillin’ Wild,” on the Sportsman Channel. The show educates hunters, fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts about cooking their quarry.

In the beginning, Browne mixed hunting and cooking, preparing what he’d killed on air. When he decided to concentrate on cooking, he turned to Latham, who he said delivers the consistent quality he needs.

“A bad day, when you’ve got a film crew around, is not in the cards,” he said.

Latham, 44, grew up in Sherwood, studied business and animal science at Oregon State University and started in the meat business selling rabbits from his hatchback three days a week.

Latham and his wife, Melody, started Nicky USA in 1994, about the time restaurants were starting to make the city a mecca for locally grown food.

Named for a minor Japanese partner, the company caters to customers who want to know where their food comes from and how it was raised.

“There’s more and more people that want that,” Latham said.

wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415