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Direct marketer offers USDA Prime beef by the subscription
A direct-to-consumer marketer of meat says the idea for Rancher’s Prime came to him at a restaurant table. Co-founder and CEO Carl Ratner tells Brownfield he had a less than satisfying experience at one of his favorite restaurants.
“The lightbulb went off and I thought, ‘I’ve tried to order steaks online before and they were thin as paper and the quality wasn’t there,’” recalled Ratner, during an interview with Brownfield Ag News. “I went to Kansas and met with some of my ranching buddies and kind of formulated the idea.”
Rancher’s Prime now has producers in Texas and Kansas who will, after the first of the year, supply USDA Prime beef direct to consumers. Ratner compares it to cattle producers selling at a farmers market.
“Now they have a source to supply beef to the consumer versus taking their cattle to the auction,” said Ratner.
Currently in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign, Ratner says Rancher’s Prime will begin delivering meat to subscribers on January first. The company also will source pork from heritage pig breeds, as well as barbecue. The beef comes from Black Angus cattle that Ratner says are raised mostly on grass.
“Sixteen months is when they’ll go [from grass] to feed and then [they’ll finish on] about 30 days of feed,” he said, adding with a laugh, “You know everybody looks at that kind of derogatorily, but believe me, they’re happy eating that.”
