‘It fills our hearts:’ Business owner reacts to public support after closure announcement

After nearly 30 years in the business, Pine View Farms will be closing its doors.

Owners Melanie and Kevin Boldt broke the news to customers in an email sent out Thursday morning.

Melanie said the decision comes after some “serious soul-searching.”

“It comes after a lot of analysis and decision-making about the future of our business, the stage of life that we’re at and where we see things going and what we want for ourselves personally as we go forward,” she said.

Pine View Farms is a farm-to-fork all-natural meat business located near Warman. The Boldts do it all: Chicken, beef, pork, lamb and turkey among other goods.

Melanie said there was a number of reasons why they decided to shut down the farm.

“I will be honest that skilled labour in the meat business is very difficult to find,” she said.

“That was probably the impetus that started us on this whole journey and trying to figure out how do we restructure our business in order to deal with the realities of being chronically short of labour. Then it came down to looking at our age and where we’re at, and do we reinvest in the business and get bigger? Do we take on those risks? Or do we maybe look at a transition out of the business and into something else? Ultimately that’s where we landed.”

Avian flu was also a risk the duo took into consideration.

“The threat of avian influenza in the poultry industry is a reality,” said Melanie. “It’s something we had to think very carefully about for this year. It was a part of all the things that came together, but not the only thing and certainly not the biggest thing.”

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Production will come to an end when their inventory runs out. Melanie predicts that could take anywhere between four and six weeks, depending on demand.

She hopes customers will come in for one last visit and to stock up their freezers.

As for the future, the Boldts have a couple ideas in mind.

“We’ve decided that once we wind things up here, we’re going to take a few months, sit on the porch, tend the garden and trees and just figure ourselves out and do a little travelling,” she said. “The one thing we do look forward to is a little more freedom that comes without having to tend livestock 24/7. So that will be a big change for us but also something we look forward to.”

Melanie said the community has reached out in great numbers to show support to the local business.

“To our customers, whom we also count as friends, we feel badly that we’re disappointing so many of you, but we also thank you for your support and friendship,” said Melanie. “We have had so many emails and phone calls and in-person visits even just over the last 48 hours since this became public. It’s overwhelming. It fills our hearts. It makes us happy-sad.”

Looking back at her career alongside her husband, Melanie is proud of what they have accomplished.

“We feel really good to have made an impact in the food community in Saskatchewan,” she said. “I feel really good about that and we’ve done good things here. That will be our legacy of sorts for us.”