Made in Colorado Awards 2023: Food & Beverage

There’s a common misconception that the United States doesn’t manufacture much anymore. In reality, the country continues to out-manufacture China on a per capita basis, and domestic growth outpaced the global average for the first time in years in late 2022.

Colorado is a case in point. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows that employment in Colorado’s manufacturing sector peaked in 1998 at 192,200 workers. That plummeted to 122,200 employees in 2010, but the state’s manufacturing workforce has steadily grown to surpass 150,000 as of late 2023.

With these dynamics front and center, this year’s “Made in Colorado” profiles illuminate 10 of the state’s pioneering manufacturers, makers of whiskey, satellites and just about everything in between.

READ: Inside the Colorado Semiconductor Industry Renaissance — CHIPS Act Sparks Manufacturing Revival

TOP FOOD AND BEVERAGE MANUFACTURER

WINNER — Rocky Mountain Natural Meats

Henderson, Colorado

Website: www.greatrangebison.com

“I’ve been in the bison industry in some way, shape, or form since 1983,” says Bob Dineen, the founder and president of Rocky Mountain Natural Meats. He started out as a ranch manager near Longmont, then launched the company in 1986.

With 250 employees in Henderson and Brush, it’s now the industry’s 800-pound buffalo. “We’re the largest bison processor in North America,” Dineen says, noting that Rocky Mountain Natural Meats and its Great Range Bison brand now command about 50 percent of the market.

Rocky Mountain Natural Meats sources bison from ranches all over the western U.S. and Canada, with about 15 percent coming from Colorado. The company processes more than 10 million pounds of bison annually.

The Great Range Bison brand is available nationwide at retailers like Target, Walmart and Costco. “It makes Colorado the hub of the bison industry,” Dineen says.

Dineen is quick to add, “This is a tiny, tiny industry compared to the beef industry. There’s about 500,000 bison in North America today.” That’s a far cry from the 60 million that roamed the continent 500 years ago, but a major comeback from near-extinction in the late 1800s.

“It’s a great story, and it’s a story of conservation,” Dineen says. “I always say that people have been eating bison on this continent for thousands of years. And it’s not only because it was available, but because it’s an absolutely delicious, healthy protein.”

FINALIST — Whisky Barrel Coffee

Boulder, Colorado

Website — www.whiskeybarrelcoffee.com

Tal Fishman started up the first mover in barrel-aged coffee in 2008. The company uses premium beans that don’t get lost behind the whiskey and high-quality barrels that have absorbed about 20 pounds of bourbon. As the beans age, they take on the bourbon’s flavor. The catalog also includes a line of “Classics” that aren’t barrel-aged. 

FINALIST — Cappello’s

Denver, Colorado

Website — www.cappellos.com

Founded by Ben Frohlichstein and Stacey Marcellus in 2011, the company behind the world’s first almond-flour pasta has grown into a leader in grain- and gluten-free prepackaged foods. With a manufacturing facility in Arvada, Cappello’s now offers pasta as well as pizzas, biscuits and cookie dough using high-quality ingredients that are never processed. 

Denver-based writer Eric Peterson is the author of Frommer’s Colorado, Frommer’s Montana & Wyoming, Frommer’s Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks and the Ramble series of guidebooks, featuring first-person travelogues covering everything from atomic landmarks in New Mexico to celebrity gone wrong in Hollywood. Peterson has also recently written about backpacking in Yosemite, cross-country skiing in Yellowstone and downhill skiing in Colorado for such publications as Denver’s Westword and The New York Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected].