Should My Farm Offer Meat Bundles & Subscriptions?

Farms and ranches raising pastured proteins are taking advantage of an opportunity to build resilience into their business through selling meat bundles and subscriptions. Meat subscriptions can be a reliable revenue stream and create deep, lasting relationships with their customers. By offering curated bundles, farms can cater to different tastes and budgets, reduce waste by selling all cuts of the animal, and even foster long-term loyalty through subscriptions. 

👉Are subscriptions right for your business? This article will help you answer the question: Should you run a meat CSA or not? 

However, if improperly organized or prepared, this model can present many unseen challenges and frustrates customers. We will explore those challenges alongside the opportunities so farms and ranches feel prepared to launch subscription meat bundles. 

Benefits of selling meat bundles

Meat bundles offer many benefits, so they have become so popular recently. ButcherBox was one of the first movers in this category and proved that customers are ready for this type of model. Customers were used to purchasing meat from the grocery store, but as the cold chain developed and became more reliable, opportunities arose for smaller farms and ranches.

1. Variety pack for customers

Offering meat bundles allows farms to showcase a variety of cuts, ensuring that customers receive a balanced selection of premium and secondary cuts. This satisfies diverse tastes and introduces customers to new cuts while helping them move inventory more efficiently.

2. Subscription opportunities 

Meat bundles are a great product offer to get new customers in the door. They are also an ideal product for recurring subscriptions, providing a steady income stream for the farm and consistently delivering customers on a predictable pattern. Farms can offer monthly or quarterly deliveries tailored to customer preferences.

3. Creative ways to sell herd shares

For many farms and ranches, selling herd shares is a popular way to sell direct-to-consumer. Customers typically purchase a quarter, half, or whole animal. First, a deposit is made, then the animal is processed, and the meat is delivered or picked up. The sheer quantity of meat often deters some customers, as these orders can be several hundred pounds of meat at a time. By leaning into bundles and subscriptions, a “herd share” can be broken up and delivered over several months, so the customer doesn’t have to worry as much about freezer space.

4. Deeper and ongoing relationship building

Providing recipe ideas, cooking tips, and even storage advice builds trust and encourages repeat business from customers. Especially if there are cuts people aren’t familiar with, adding recipes or even video tutorials can create trust and reciprocity between farms and their customers.  A great example is adding soup bones to the bundle and teaching customers how to prepare different types of bone broth and properly use it in soups or adjacent recipes or store it for future use. 

5. Cross-selling opportunities

Meat bundles offer the perfect opportunity to include add-ons like seasonings, sauces, or farm produce to create a more complete meal package. This increases the average order value of each subscription and can create opportunities for farms to collaborate with other local food businesses or partner with neighbouring farms with complimentary products.

Challenges to consider with selling meat bundles

Launching a meat bundle product offering takes organizing and can add unseen challenges to an operation. This product line pays attention to detail, and the proper processes must be worked out to satisfy customers and have a consistent experience. 

1. Labor-intensive operations

Packing and shipping individual orders require more labor than selling bulk or herd shares. The consistency of subscription orders can create a reliable rhythm, but it also adds another set of tasks that must be completed on time. 

2. Shipping logistics

Shipping perishable items like meat comes with challenges. Farms might consider these challenges to deter them from trying this product model. If farms are close to a metropolitan area, they might only offer subscription meat bundles within a certain radius around the city. Farms will need to decide on what market they want to serve and if there are enough people nearby to fulfill their financial goals. The further the package has to ship, the more at risk the meat is to thaw before reaching the final destination.

3. Packaging costs

High-quality, insulated packaging is a must for meat bundles, and these costs can add up quickly. Alongside the proper packaging, dry ice or ice packs are usually included in the package, adding another layer of complexity. Ensuring that there is enough inventory of packages and dry ice is present cannot be overlooked, or orders will grind to a halt. 

4. Freezer space and inventory management

Farms need adequate freezer space and a solid system for managing inventory to avoid running out of popular cuts. This can be a hindrance at the beginning, as capital will have to be invested in order to have enough freezer space. Luckily, in the United States, grants are available, such as value-added producers grants, that can cover these costs. 

5. Proper and reliable processing 

For many ranches and farms, processing presents the biggest bottleneck. Depending on what is available to farms regionally, offering meat bundles may not be a realistic option. Selling meat directly to consumers requires specific processing requirements, such as having the USDA inspect it. Selling across state lines requires another set of requirements. Consult an expert and connect with local processors to see if they have availability or if USDA is inspected.

6. Existing market competition

With more farmers and larger companies offering direct-to-consumer meat bundles, differentiating their products and building a loyal customer base is crucial. There are companies like Good Ranchers, which promotes only US-produced meats, and 99 Counties, which connects conscious consumers to exclusively regenerative farmers. Whatever the angle, farms must understand their brand story and target audience before travelling too far down the path of launching a meat bundle or subscription. 

Marketing and selling meat bundles direct to consumer

Step 1: Start with the end in mind

It’s important for a farm to define the precise goals they want to achieve by launching a meat bundle and subscription before actually doing so. 

Are you aiming for a steady monthly income, clearing out inventory, or building a loyal customer base? Defining the "why" will shape your approach—from the types of bundles you offer to your pricing strategy.

Step 2: Set up processing to match demand

Work closely with a processor to ensure that cutting instructions match the bundle offerings. For example, if farms plan to include ground beef, steaks, and roasts in a standard package, communicate these needs beforehand so customers aren’t getting varied experiences from month to month.

Additionally, coordinate processing dates and quantities to align with demand. This avoids overproduction or gaps in inventory. The worst thing that can happen is running out of inventory and having customers wait for their orders. Most of the time, this will end in losing customers. 

Step 3: Finding customers

Whether a farm has existing customers or starts from scratch will determine how the online marketing strategy will unfold initially. Either way, creating hype around a new product can drive awareness and pre-sales that can build momentum to start.

Step 4. Streamlining order fulfillment

Efficient order fulfillment is critical to providing a positive customer experience and maintaining operational efficiency. Farms must set up systems to handle orders, from taking them online to packaging and shipping the product. Local Line offers tailored e-commerce subscription software to help farms track and fulfill orders efficiently and effectively.

Step 5. Customer nurturing and referral program

Once farms and ranches build a customer base, it is crucial to nurture those relationships. If customers have been purchasing for multiple months, farms can offer incentives through discounts on future subscriptions if they refer their friends and family. Remember, acquiring a brand-new customer is always more expensive than getting an existing customer to repurchase. Plus, word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful way to acquire new customers. 

👉Learn to create a referral program for your farm.

Should I offer meat bundles?

Farms and ranches of all sizes are taking advantage of new marketing and sales channels, and subscriptions and bundles lead to that charge. Local Line recently launched a box builder to help farms and ranches successfully launch these products quickly and efficiently. Local Line makes it easy for farms and ranches to scale their direct-to-consumer sales, manage orders effectively, and offer their customers a frictionless experience while shopping.