Verde Farms

Verde Farms sources meat from a network of family-endemic farms that specialize in pasture-raised cattle.

WOBORN, MASS. — Grass-fed beefiness commands premium prices, but Dana Ehrlich, co-founder and chief executive officer of Verde Farms believes his company can bring grass-fed beef inside the financial attain of more consumers; and he's leading the charge to "democratize" grass-fed beef by expanding his company'southward production lineup to include more moderately priced cuts of beefiness.

In September, the company launched Never Ever and Grass-Fed beef product lines. Verde Farms Never Ever features pasture-raised meats sourced from cattle that were not fed in feedlots and never treated with growth hormones or antibiotics. The company'due south grass-fed products include beef sourced from cattle that take received antibiotics only when necessary to treat a specific condition.

Verde Farms counts Wegmans Food Markets, Whole Foods Market and other national retailers as current customers for the company's organic, grass-fed beef line.

Value proposition

Founded in 2005, Verde Farms is a supplier of pasture-raised, grass-fed beef for both retail and nutrient service customers. The company leverages a network of family farms in Uruguay, Australia, the United States and Canada that raise cattle without growth hormones while adhering to humane animal welfare standards.

The visitor sources predominantly Hereford and Angus breeds of cattle. Live weights are between 1,100 lbs to 1,200 lbs, and weights can vary by flavour. The meat is typically bacteria compared to grain-finished beef, but Mr. Ehrlich said leanness is an attribute that goes well with the consumer that'south looking for healthier product. But the price of grass-fed continues to exist a hurdle to consumers interested in information technology simply who may exist daunted by the price betoken of grass-fed beef.

Dana Erhlich, Verde Farms

Dana Ehrlich, co-founder and principal executive officer of Verde Farms

"As we progressed, we noticed that there was a large gap betwixt the conventional and grain-finished beef — where the cattle are finished in feedlots — and our organic grass-fed beef," Mr. Ehrlich said.

For example, the difference in article retail beef prices and grass-fed retail beefiness prices in November were as low as $iii.thirteen for short ribs to a high of $23.55 for filet mignon, according to the U.Due south. Department of Agriculture's National Monthly Grass Fed Beefiness Written report.

To accost the price premium, Verde Farms adult the Grass-Fed line every bit an entry-level grass-fed program for food service and retail customers, while the Never Ever line is a center-range programme within the grass-fed sector. Verde Farms besides offers a Reserve line which is a steakhouse quality, 100% grass-fed, grass-finished line. Mr. Ehrlich believes the premium between commodity beef and grass-fed beefiness will narrow over time.

"Grass-fed beefiness doesn't have the corn-based subsidies that are so predominant within the feedlot-based system," he said. "So, over time there probably will exist some premium, even at the entry-level grass-fed program. But as we scale up and we utilise the economies of calibration that the remainder of the sector uses nosotros can laissez passer on those cost savings to the consumers.

"So our entry-level grass-fed toll point, while all the same above conventional (beef) is nevertheless accessible to the vast majority of Americans," he added. "Then, in that location are other things that nosotros tin can practice such as distribution. The wider our footprint gets on distribution the more accessible non but within the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and West Coast, but throughout the heart parts of America."

Ground beef leads the category regardless of the tier inside grass-fed, only Mr. Ehrlich said Verde Farms is well-balanced past using the whole carcass. "So, that means using everything from your middle-meats to end cuts to ground beef."

Mr. Ehrlich added that Verde Farms currently is engaged in some value-added beef production and the visitor will focus on that segment going forwards.

Verde Farms ground beef

Verde Farms offers entry-level and center-range grass-fed beef programs for nutrient service and retail.

Argentina inspiration

Mr. Ehrlich was a semi-conductor engineer prior to entering the beef business. He was working on his primary of business assistants caste at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Higher when he participated in an exchange plan in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"It was there that I started eating a lot of grass-fed beefiness, probably at least five (to) six days a week; and it wasn't until I was back in the U.Southward. that I discovered there was something different nigh the beefiness we were eating here, and I started to delve into it," he said.

He discovered a strong potential of a business concern opportunity, coupled with his personal interests in entrepreneurship, food, the environment and health and health. "I saw the intersection of all these things come together and the promotion and transformation of the cattle manufacture almost back to the grass-fed cattle model could solve a lot of environmental issues, equally well as personal issues," he explained.

Mr. Ehrlich admitted he faced challenges transferring to the beefiness concern from a background in the high-tech manufacture, but he said many of his skill sets applied to the beefiness sector.

"I had a tremendous amount of background in operations and product management/product development and that carried over very well," he said. "And in that location were a lot of things that did not bear over in terms of my knowledge base. Information technology took a significant amount of time to learn at the get-go, and of course, yous always acquire as you go along. It'south been a long route, merely now we're at the point where nosotros've developed the visitor into something substantial and we have a lot more progress to become."

Part of the company'due south progress is the conversion to a new proprietary information technology infrastructure based on the Salesforce platform.

"From what I've seen, specially in nigh small-to-mid-sized meat companies, is they're very knowledgeable nearly the meat manufacture, but less sophisticated when it comes to the technology side of things," Mr. Ehrlich said. "So, I've taken my background and cognition and contacts within the tech sector and tried to figure out a style that we could leverage that cognition and apply it to our platform to get in more scalable, provide more insights into the information that we're collecting, and ultimately provide a lower-toll and college customer service touch to our customers."

Verde Farms steak

Focus on food safety

Verde Farms relies on a network of producers and processors for finished products. The company's partners are held to rigorous animate being welfare and food safety standards, Mr. Ehrlich said. For instance, all ground beefiness is field of study to examination-and-hold.

"We have a stringent set of requirements for folks throughout the supply chain," Mr. Ehrlich explained, "and that goes down to the farm level in terms of animal welfare and raising protocols. We fifty-fifty get so far equally not allowing any dairy or tropical breeds into the plan to ensure practiced quality of the meat. Nosotros have other requirements such as SQF or BRC certifications of our plants. So, in that location's a long list of protocols and certifications that we require of all of our partners within the chain."

Verde Farms beef tenderloin

Growing on grass-fed

Verde Farms is on a growth trajectory, merely not only in sales, and Mr. Ehrlich said all the pieces are in place to scale up the company for the side by side three years and beyond. The visitor recently expanded its executive team to include Paul Boulanger every bit chief financial officer and chief operating officer; Joe Koch equally vice-president of sales and Pete Lewis equally vice-president of marketing. Pablo Garbarino, Verde Farms co-founder and Mr. Ehrlich's classmate at Dartmouth, heads upward Southward American operations.

"Later on x years and exponential growth, information technology was readily apparent that in that location were merely so many hours in the day and so far that I could calibration the organisation," Mr. Ehrlich said. "I saw a tremendous corporeality of potential nevertheless within the sector, not merely for the next twelvemonth or two, but far beyond. Information technology was clear to me that bringing on both very talented individuals that could complement my own skill set up with their own knowledge base that they bring, equally well as just the horsepower to drive the diverse teams."

Mr. Ehrlich added that scaling up the Verde Farms make has led to the addition of a marketing team and a sales department and so that face-to-face meetings with customers can go along. "We're also putting more time and attention on social media, including Facebook, on promotions and merchandising from the shelf out," he explains. "Then there are a lot of different things that we can bring to the tabular array to make not simply ourselves successful, but our customers and hopefully, consumers when they bring the product home and eat it at the kitchen table."

Verde Farms also relocated to a new space that is double the size of the sometime office to accommodate the company's growing staff; foster product evolution and enhance client services. "Even outside of our senior management team, our employee base has grown considerably over the last few years, and I wait that to increase," Mr. Ehrlich said.

Eyes on feedlot-free

Verde Farms aspires to exist the leading brand inside the grass-fed beef category, Mr. Ehrlich said. But the visitor also is working toward a beef product system that doesn't rely on feedlots for cattle. "We squarely accept our eyes on the feedlot-based system, so it'due south not really a particular competitor merely actually a farming-and-raising method and finishing method," he said.

Verde Farms doesn't wait the article beef sector to modify overnight, but the transformation of the egg manufacture to muzzle-costless product is a positive sign.

"It certainly takes a lot longer to grow cattle; there's a lot of implications for how that could happen, but our goal with Verde Farms is to assist promote and educate on the benefits of grass-fed beef, and then let consumers make that choice," Mr. Ehrlich said. "I think over time the more that consumers learn, the more they'll be encouraged to move in our direction."