Green Meadows Beef

Green Meadows Beef is a family owned and operated, vertically integrated business that has embraced social media in its direct marketing approach to domestic consumers of premium beef.

Green Meadows Beef was launched in 2013 by the Carey family. They farm 170ha just south of Opunake on the Taranaki coast near the Green Meadows surf break. Although a number of stock breeds are farmed at Opunake, it is a finishing property with the beef cattle supplying Green Meadows Beef all prime Angus steers. The stock are grass fed, supplemented with hay and silage grown on-farm and a nearby family-owned runoff.

In addition, the family own and run a small processing plant, based in New Plymouth, that supplies a steady stream of online, supermarket and wholesale orders. This allows complete control over the quality of the product that goes out in the Green Meadows courier packs and in chiller trucks.

Michael (also known as Joe) and Margy Carey and their son Nick developed the business following a series of discussions, and (what is increasingly rare in New Zealand) a move from dairy farming to beef finishing.

As their website www.greenmeadowsbeef.co.nz makes clear, the launch of the company was in response to addressing many of the questions asked by increasing numbers of consumers regarding where their food comes from, who grows and produces the food, as well as questions about animal welfare. Pride and passion are recurring themes within the family and the business.

The Carey family work as a team. Michael buys the stock and runs the farm with a farm manager, while Margy packs and dispatches orders. Nick (a lawyer by training) runs the company and its marketing and social media. Two other brothers, Brent and Karl, support the family’s business approach and pitch in from Melbourne and Auckland respectively when they can.

There are three parts to their sales; online sales, supermarket supply, and wholesale, supplying restaurants and food service operations. They have taken their business around the country and have had stands in events like the Auckland Food Show and the National Fieldays.

Every Tuesday (and sometimes on Thursdays) a truck arrives with carcasses from Land Meat in Wanganui to the family-owned butchery in New Plymouth. There are two full time butchers and one full time meat packer on site working with Nick, Michael and Margy. Casual staff assist during business peaks.

The order volume is calculated 2-3 weeks in advance, with an average of around 2,000kgs (7 x 300kg carcass weight steers) of meat processed each week.

The butchers create the cuts according to the orders and as soon as they are ready they are packed into boxes and collected by the courier by 4pm or shipped by chilled transport to supermarkets and restaurants from Auckland to Christchurch. The environmentally friendly, recyclable, containers are shipped overnight Monday to Friday each week.

Social media has been critical in Green Meadows Beef’s business plan. Nick says the focus is on the beef itself as well as the people who produce the beef. It also allows the family to share their farming and food philosophy with customers, as well as enjoy feedback from customers sharing recipes and preparation techniques and triumphs. The website also allows some education around beef and its products, as well as contact and information through Twitter, Facebook and the like.

Nick says he and the family gain immense satisfaction and gratification when they get social media feedback from consumers happy with their product.

Future plans do allow for significant business growth and Nick estimates they could triple production from present capacity, but stresses it would not be allowed to happen at the expense of quality of product.