On April 16, Ben Scanga, manager of the family owned Scanga Meat Company in Salida, started his day just like any other day prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ben is the fifth generation 
Scanga to call the Salida area home. His grandparents started the meat company he now runs in 1952 and it has been a staple of the community ever since.
Ben has been working in or around the meat company for his entire life and, like his parents, is an active member in the community holding the mayoral seat in the town of Poncha Springs.
Ben feels fortunate to still be operating even though his business is currently down about 60 percent. More importantly, he is thankful he has not had to lay anyone off. Though the meat company is small and mostly regionally sourced, Ben said that his wholesale side–primarily restaurants–makes up nearly two thirds of his business. He has, however, started to overcome much of the initial reduction in wholesale business through a steady increase in retail sales due to larger supermarkets and food stores running low on meats.
Ben has seen many new customers coming from the Leadville and Canon City areas. Although the meat market has taken some recent hits with massive outbreaks in several major meat plants throughout the country, Ben is not worried. In his experience, he has seen similar shutdowns occur due to drought, fire, etc. Moreover, he said there are other sources of meat and protein that can take up the slack.
Though his business is going relatively well during this pandemic, Ben wishes he would have had a better online presence prior to everyone being locked down. An online presence in general would have helped his business.
But, if it happens again he wants to have more bulk items available for retail sales like 50 lb. variety packs of meat that many quarantined families need. Overall, Ben sees a silver lining because he is greatly expanding his customer base and he knows many will stay and return. once life gets back to some form of normal.
This story is a part of COVID Diaries, powered by the Colorado News Collaborative, or COLab. Ark Valley Voice joined this historic collaboration with more than 20 other newsrooms across Colorado to better serve the public.
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