This Ain’t No Grocery Store Meat!
While food prices at grocery stores have soared over the past five years, the reality is that food prices in the U.S. are still very low when put in context. Producer prices have increased, and grocers have raised their prices accordingly, but at the end of the day, many grocer net profit margins have decreased over the last five years despite increased price tags. In fact, in this five year time period, a particular major grocery chain headquartered in Arkansas have seen their net profit margins hover around a meager 2%. Net profit margins this low are only sustainable for businesses buying from producers of immense scale, and selling at immense scale (annual revenues of $611 billion in this case), and this scale allows these chains to offer unparalleled low pricing. Please don’t shoot the messenger, but this is all to say that it’s not so much that things are so expensive, it’s that (dilution of the dollar aside) things have been historically very inexpensive due to cheap, off-shore production, and technological advances that have allowed for unprecedented scale. Unfortunately, what this means is that, as small ranchers pushing for a more regenerative, humane, sanitary, natural, nutritious, and local agricultural marketplace, we’re inadvertently advocating for higher food prices at a time when sensitivity around grocery costs is already high. We don’t take this realization lightly, and we hope that you’ll see the value in our premium, local products, and continue buying with us, or give our products a try for the first time.
You can trust us and our customers when we say that this ain’t no grocery store meat. The truth is that, due to the best-in-class nature of our stock, feeds, management and grazing systems, our break-even point on a pound of our USDA retail ground beef and lamb is higher than that of the highest-priced ground beef and lamb at our local grocery store, and that calculation doesn’t even include the costs of any of our labor or infrastructure. Still, we refuse to compromise on our standards and principles, and when you buy our beef and lamb you can be sure that you’re getting a premium product raised with love. We’re confident you’ll taste the difference.
If you’ve perused our website and previous newsletters and you still have more questions about what makes our products so special, reach out to us anytime.
Enjoy the last bit of summer. We hope to see you soon! |
