Last Updated on September 20, 2024
When I started ButcherBox, my intention was to source high-quality, humanely raised meat and make it easier for consumers to buy it online. Nearly a decade later, ButcherBox has become a whole lot more than that. What started out as an easy way to get meat delivered has turned into my life’s work with a mission-driven approach to transforming the meat industry in the U.S. We’ve made incredible progress.
First, we became a Certified B Corporation™. Then, we became the first B-Corp Certified meat and seafood company to source only from partners with meaningful third-party animal welfare certification. This month, we’ve hit the noteworthy milestone of delivering one billion meals to millions of households nationwide. But there’s still work to be done.
As a customer obsessed company, we always lean on the ButcherBox community for feedback. Over the last year, we’ve been hearing that many of our customers want variety in their beef options, specifically as it relates to beef raised in the U.S.A. and beef with a different flavor profile with more fat and marbling. Our procurement team has been hard at work sourcing a new suite of products that meets the feedback from our customers.
This week we are officially launching the U.S. Pasture Raised, Grain Finished program with 13 new cuts of beef as an additional offering to our existing catalog of products. These products are USDA Choice and, like the rest of our offerings, are 3rd party animal welfare certified and are never given antibiotics or added hormones, ever.
For our customers who love the leanness and claims around our 100% grass-finished, grass-fed beef, don’t worry. Those products will continue to be the core of our offering. The new products we are introducing will be clearly flagged on-site for a seamless shopping experience to meet the needs of the customers who have been ask for this. And who knows, maybe if you weren’t one of the customers to ask, you might try and enjoy these new products too!
Many of you may be asking, why this move? And it’s a great question.
The reality is all cattle begin their lives on pasture, eating grass. While 100% grass-fed cattle spend their entire life on pasture, grain finished cattle typically spend 75% of their life on pasture. Their diet shifts to grain in the last 3-6 months. For animals raised in a traditional system, those final few months are spent in a feedlot eating grain, which is everything we stand against as a brand. And we wanted to produce something better.
In our four-year pursuit of building a domestic, 100% grass-fed program, we know how difficult sourcing this product is due to the way the meat industry is set up in the U.S. and how prohibitive land availability and climate are in building scale. Our new U.S. Pasture Raised, Grain Finished program takes the practices of raising cattle on pasture and keeps them out of feedlots by adding grain in the pasture as their final diet element. The grain finish gives them a unique flavor profile with more fat and marbling.
Our goal is to transparently source a product that meets our high sourcing standards and keeps animals out of feedlots while also meeting the needs of our customers. We aim to bring you and your family options and choices while never compromising our values on animal welfare, the environment, and people.
We’re excited to hear the feedback on this new product offering, and as always, our team is ready to help with any questions that come up as you shop these new items.
Mike
Mike Salguero is the CEO and founder of ButcherBox.
