Jan. 19, 2022

This paid piece is sponsored by Vanguard Hospitality.

A burger with roots on a South Dakota ranch is making a big impression on diners at Minervas in downtown Sioux Falls.

But none can quite compare to Troy Hadrick, who tried The Local – Minervas’ entry in the Downtown Burger Battle – earlier this month.

For Hadrick, this was eating his own hamburger, one that began on his fourth-generation family ranch near Faulkton.

“I feel like we’re sort of blazing a trail in South Dakota,” said Hadrick, co-owner of Hadrick Ranch. “Others have tried to do direct to consumer, but there haven’t been too many partnerships with ranchers and restaurants yet.”

This one started when Vanguard Hospitality chief operating officer Tim Meagher spoke about his interest in working with local producers at an SDSU event. He connected with Hadrick’s wife, Stacy, who sent him a photo of the family’s dinner shortly after returning home.

“Are you serious?” Meagher responded. “That’s the beef you’re cooking tonight? Would you ever sell direct?”

Fast-forward to this year’s Downtown Burger Battle, and Hadrick Ranch from Faulkton is front and center on the Minervas menu.

“We’re buying the full carcass,” Meagher said. “It’s absolutely some of the highest quality we’ve ever tasted for certified Angus beef. None of us have ever tasted a more flavorful patty.”

The Hadricks have traveled worldwide working with producers and speaking about the importance of consumers knowing where their food is sourced.

“That’s why it’s been fun to have a partner like Vanguard with a lot of enthusiasm and good ideas, and we have a lot of experience on the ag side, so I don’t think there could be a better situation for us.”

The 400-cattle ranch has evolved to work with technology and genetics to produce superior meat quality.

While the Hadricks have occasionally sold a carcass of half-carcass to neighbors and friends, Minervas is the first restaurant to take on the butchering.

“They have a great team of chefs and are excited about utilizing as much as possible, and they’re doing even more than I expected,” Hadrick said. “They’re rendering the fat, keeping the bone for bone marrow, and a lot of people wouldn’t do that, but they have the talent in their kitchen that not only do they know what to do with it, but they’re making really good and creative things.”

And here’s where the story takes an even better twist: Hadrick didn’t raise the last two steers sold to Minervas. His teenage daughters did.

“We were born into it and have been helping out as long as we can remember,” said Olivia, who is 16. “That was one of our 4-H steers. We raised him up, we showed him when he was just a little calf all the way up until he was a fat steer. We took care of him every day and kept him on a good feeding schedule to be the best quality he can be.”

Olivia and her sister Reese, who is 14, each raised and a showed a steer and sold them to Vanguard.

“We took them out of school and thought it was important they come with us to deliver them,” Hadrick said. “It was important to us to make sure our kids were involved. They’ve all helped a lot on the ranch, and this is their job too. Those were their steers to sell,  and this is one of the things that helps them put some money away for college, and they get to see the process from beginning to end.”

The girls got to go through the Minervas kitchen and meet the Vanguard team.

“It’s really amazing,” Olivia said. “Not everybody our age gets to do something like this, and it’s been a goal of ours for a long time.”

And then they learned the steer had another competition ahead of it: the Downtown Burger Battle.

Minervas’ The Local burger is appropriately named, as it combines not just South Dakota beef but ingredients from multiple local producers.

There’s a 4-year-old aged cheddar from Dimock Cheese, red onions and bib lettuce purchased through the Dakota Fresh Food Hub and mayonnaise made with eggs produced by Fruit of the Coop, and the burger is served on a locally baked Breadsmith peppercorn bun.

“If you only give yourself five ingredients, and you have to make those the best, you start to make different decisions,” Meagher said. “You’re going to taste the burger. That’s the big thing. That’s the centerpiece. And you find what’s simple is actually hard to do.”

Hadrick already had heard from friends who’d visited Minervas and asked about the ranch behind the burger.

“They said Minervas was their favorite because the hamburger was so much better, and when they learned it was Hadrick Ranch, they were like, ‘Are you kidding? We know those folks,’” Hadrick said. “We don’t get to Sioux Falls a lot, maybe a couple times a year, but now it’s been really fun to go downtown, eat at Minervas and meet the chef.”

The Local has “100 percent full-circle economic impact in our community,” executive chef Brad Herr said. “We’re purchasing local ingredients to serve to local guests who then support all of us by buying local.”

Hadrick, his wife and daughter Reese tried the burger and said tasting the chef-prepared version was a contrast to what they’re used to eating at home.

“To have someone as talented as Chef Bradley at Minervas take it and put all these other really cool ingredients with it, he cooked it to perfection and had just a great understanding of what it takes to make a great burger,” Hadrick said. “I thought it was really juicy, and I was thoroughly impressed. You go to all the work to raise these cattle, you’ve got two years into them by the time you harvest, and to see them take good care and put their stamp on it is pretty fun to see.”

Reese raved about the burger too.

“It was delicious. It was amazing,” she said. “It was really cool to just be part of the experience that’s happening.”

Older brother Teigen is a freshman at SDSU, and all three siblings have been in 4-H and helped grow the family ranch into the future.

“For the kids to see all their hard work come to fruition and now be featured in Sioux Falls and hear people talk about how much they like it and getting to meet the chefs and Tim and his team and how excited they are to blaze this trail with us and be a partner is exciting,” Hadrick said.

You have until Jan. 31 to try The Local at Minervas – but Hadrick Ranch beef won’t be going anywhere.

“Starting a boutique butcher shop is not out of the question,” Meagher said. “We have similar belief systems, and together we’re going to move the beef industry is a positive direction. You’re going to be seeing this beef on Vanguard menus in many ways in the months to come.”