The Quapaw Tribe in northeastern Oklahoma owns and operates the Downstream Casino Resort, featuring slot machines, table games, a poker room and numerous dining options. Now, the casino recently became the only one in the world that employs a full-time cattle rancher, beekeeper and coffee roaster, thanks to the tribe’s new mercantile store, beehive program and coffee roasting operation, said tribal spokesman Sean Harrison.
The 4,800-member tribe’s new Quapaw Mercantile in Quapaw sells beef and bison products from the Quapaw Cattle Company. The beef is grass-fed and hormone-free, Harrison said.
The tribe also tends 100 beehives that each produce about 6 pounds of honey per year. Quapaw Chairman John Berry said the honey production complements the cattle operation. “The bees help feed the cattle, basically. The beneficial product is the honey. But really, we got them mainly to promote good forage on our pastures.” The tribe’s various restaurants use the honey, Berrey said, adding this fall, the hives should start producing honey for sale at the Quapaw Mercantile.
The tribe has also started roasting coffee to be eventually offered in the casino restaurants. Berrey said, “We have a lot of coffee that we go through every year, and our idea is that we will ultimately replace all that with our own coffee,” which also will be available at the Quapaw Tribe’s convenience stores, gift shop and Mercantile.
In the past few years the tribe’s agricultural program has grown with four greenhouses, outdoor gardens and the cattle operation. Harrison said, “Our chefs go out to the greenhouses daily and select the produce they will use that day in the kitchens. With the cattle, we gained the ability to serve the best quality beef available anywhere at any price. We hired the experts in the field to run these operations, and we spared no expense in setting up the perfect systems for our agriculture program.” He noted guests have commented on the freshness of the herbs and vegetables served at the restaurants.
The Mercantile created three new full-time jobs, the honey operation created one and the coffee business created two. “Another big part of this whole effort is creating jobs. Not just new jobs, but different kinds of jobs,” Harrison said.
Noted Berrey, “We’re Indians. We’re historically agricultural people and we also our concerned about what goes into what we eat and what our guests eat. We want them to have the highest quality and safest food possible.”
