As businesses across Montana looked for ways to get through the pandemic some found aditional help from programs like the Federal CARES Act.
Matt Elvbakken, owner of Tizer Meats in Helena, was one of those that accepted some aid and put it to good use.
But it took a little work.
“We did, and the first round of that we were turned down and i guess the state still had some of the cares money available and they had a second round that they administered and we were successful in getting some of that money during the second round," said Elvbakken. "We bought some equipment, we also put some additions onto both our slaughter facility and our store here to facilitate transporting carcasses back and forth in a more sanitary method, according to the federal government. We had to make those adjustments. So that was actually a pretty good boon to us. That would have never happened without it.”
In part due to a loyal customer base, Tizer luckily has not suffered during the pandemic, but with the assistance they have received through the CARES Act and the growth through agriculture program they have the opportunity to make some much needed changes.
“Hopefully by the middle or the end of march we’re going to have at least a probationary grant to federal inspection, at which time we will be buying locally raised beef and processing it here for our retail case as much as possible," Elvbakken said.
That inspection will go a long way to expanding business for Tizer
“I’m glad that we did get it on the second go because otherwise we probably couldn’t have chased this federal inspection thing quite aggressively as we have,” Elvbakken said.
