Turning Point: How 9/11 Led One Veteran to Build a Beef Business 100% Veteran Owned and Operated

Forty miles north of Kansas City, Mo., is where you’ll usually find Patrick Montgomery. The green pastures and slightly rolling hills are more of a sanctuary for a man who knew nothing about raising cattle a decade ago.

“I kind of had this epiphany of an opportunity to start a beef company in Kansas City that bridged the gap between agriculture and the end consumer,” Montgomery says.

At the time, Montgomery was pursuing an undergrad degree in animal science from the University of Missouri–Columbia, with plans to become a veterinarian.  

“Through my studies during my undergrad, I found a different passion in business. So, those two brain babies of my passion for agriculture and business are kind of paired together to create KC Cattle Company,” he says.

Remembering 9/11

To learn more about Montgomery's journey to starting KC Cattle Company, it's important to rewind to his middle school days.

“September 11, 2001, was probably the catalyst,” Montgomery remembers.

On Sept. 11, 2001, he was sitting in his sixth grade class. He vividly remembers that day — even his teacher’s reaction to the news the first plane had hit the Twin Towers.

“I just remember seeing tears stream down her face. I went home, spoke to my dad that evening and I remember him telling me that this was our Pearl Harbor. I made a vow that if I was at a fighting age, and this war was still going on, I would do my part.

Mission to Join the Military 

Years later, after Montgomery graduated high school, he fulfilled that promise.

“I actually started out as a ROTC cadet, where I got a full ride to Northwest Missouri State University. Throughout that first year, I kind of figured out the officer career path wasn't what I really wanted to do,” he says. “I decided the best path for me was to take a pause on school and enlist.”

Montgomery signed a contract to the 75th Ranger Regiment, which was part of the United States Army Special Operations Program. That moment was the beginning of his military journey that lasted five years.

“It was a really busy time to be a member of the Special Operations,” he remembers. “We just started the surge back in Afghanistan and started pulling out of Iraq. So, it was a very busy time; a lot of deployments, a lot of training.”

Internal Battle Down a Dark Path

During his first deployment is when his world quickly changed.

“I had a brother-in-law, he was married to my sister, and they met when I was a freshman in high school,” Montgomery says. He was one of the reasons I chose the career path of the 75th Ranger Regiment. He was about five years ahead of me.”

His brother-in-law, Jeremy, was on his eighth deployment and was located in central Afghanistan. Montgomery was stationed in the southern part of the country, miles apart, but in battle together.

“He ended up getting killed in a firefight in Paktika Province on June 14, 2011, and I was fortunate enough to be able to fly up to Bodrum, to meet his body and be able to bring him home to my sister.”

At the age of 22 that honor was one that also came with his own battle.

“It took me on a pretty dark path afterward,” he says. “I look back on it now with a little more perspective than I did then. You're 22 years old — a man's brain is not even close to fully developed. So, I really didn't have the emotional capacity to work through some of that.”

Montgomery traveled down that dark path for two years and ultimately decided to not re-enlist after 2014. That’s when he pursued a different path, with plans to become a veterinarian.

“They don't tell you how tough it's going to be and the fact nobody in the civilian world has the same camaraderie you have when you're in the military,” he says. “I was fortunate enough to have my wife to kind of keep me on the straight and narrow, but I was back at Mizzou, and you're like, ‘man, I don't have any friends, I’m the old guy in the classroom now.'”

The Fight to Find Purpose 

His own struggles to find a purpose created a mission to help others find the same.

“There's a lot of carryover from the military, not only to the agriculture community but also to business,” Montgomery says.

And that’s how KC Cattle Company found footing — veteran owned and veteran operated. He says his time in the military, and starting a business from scratch, exposed many similarities, but it also applied to helping other veterans find their footing.

“The adaptability, the work ethic and all those skills you learn in the military carry over very nicely to the agriculture community, and also the entrepreneurship lifestyle,” he says.

Being able to adapt helped KC Cattle Company not only build a business, but pivot at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic caused so many others to struggle.  

“2020 was very good for our business,” he says. “People couldn’t find protein on their grocery store shelves, so they started looking online. There was tremendous growth last year.”

World's Best Hot Dog Fame

While Montgomery’s business plan has changed over the past five years, sometimes the unplanned events can produce the most pleasant surprises. That was the case in 2019 when the business stumbled across new found fame.

“We had our all-wagyu-beef hot dogs featured on ‘Food and Wine, digital’. They proclaimed, ‘they're the best hot dog in the world.’”

A bold statement, and one that propelled his growth as readers from around the globe set out to see if KC Cattle Company really had a hot dog that tasted like steak.

“It went viral and was the No. 1 article on Apple News, MSN and Yahoo, and it was awesome,” he says. “We gained about 15,000 new customers overnight, but it also almost killed the business as we had only one and a half of us working here at that time.”

As Montgomery faced a business challenge he didn’t foresee, he says his past was what helped him in the present.

“That military work ethic just kind of kicked in,” he says. “It's like, well, we're going to figure this out — and so we did. What we gained out of that was a customer base that became very loyal to the brand.”

Around 95% of KC Cattle Company’s business is still online. Their hot dogs are now sold during Kansas City’s professional soccer team games. And the growth hasn’t hit its limit yet. 

“We just closed on a property in the northland in Kansas City, and we're hoping to break ground on a fulfillment center retail spot next year,” he says.

From what Montgomery calls a “boot-straps approach” to packing up the company’s meat products to a team of now seven full-time employees on the farm, he strives to not sacrifice quality for growth with a heart of service and the determination to never forget the path that got him where he is today. A path that all started with 9/11.

”There’s a reason people say ‘hindsight is 20/20,” Montgomery says. “If you just had the right perspective, and kind of use that in your own life to go pursue something amazing, and in the honor of the people who can't, I think it kind of changes that framework in your brain a little bit.”

Helping Veterans Heal 

KC Cattle Company not only helped Montgomery heal, but the cattle business and outdoor seating serves an oasis helping his fellow brothers and sisters in arms do the same.

“I wake up every day, and I feel like I have a perfect purpose,” he says. “I'm able to have a company that's able to provide for not only me now, but also a few other veterans who believe in the mission we're doing out here.”

From knowing nothing about raising cattle to building a business rooted in purpose, Montgomery says he lives with no regrets. Instead, his purpose fuels his mission to not just unite consumers with the products he raises, but fellow veterans with their purpose in life.

“I try really hard to be able to help them out, network and kind of soul search to be able to find out that even if KC Cattle Company is not their mission, what is that thing that's going to make them feel fulfilled,” Montgomery says.

In the face of adversity, Montgomery turned his struggles into success. A man, and now a business, that embodies grit with grace.