As part of OWB's Baja Beef program, primals are shipped from Mexico to the US where USDA inspectors grade them.
Beef branding
One World is currently processing for the Brandt Beef and Brawley Beef brands, as well as two other brands. The Brandt brand is from cattle never treated with antibiotics and never given growth promotants (implants). Cattle for both the Brandt and Brawley brands come from Brandt Cattle Co.’s feedlot a few miles away. Another brand it produces is Imperial Valley Ranches beef, from cattle offered by other cattle feeders in the valley. These cattle are also never treated with antibiotics or implanted.
The company has a pricing program for all its brands that is likely unique in the industry. It tries to build in long-term programs with consistent pricing. This is offered to customers who commit to 52 weeks per year and a consistent volume of beef, Brandt says.
“About 70 percent of the meat we sell is flat-lined in terms of pricing,” Brandt says. “We haven’t changed our pricing in more than two years to some customers. It’s all about trust and respect.”
One World has started another branded beef program called Baja Beef. Under this program, the company imports two sub-primal cuts from Mexico‘s largest beef processor, Grupo Viz (which has the SuKarne brand). The two primals are a semi-modified primal loin and a bone-in rib with feather bones attached. USDA inspectors grade the primals. Then the plant further processes them into whatever customers want. This is the first time cuts of Mexican beef have been sent to the US for USDA quality grading.
“Baja Beef falls very much under One World Beef’s motto,” Brandt says. “We respect beef from any country and are completely transparent about where it comes from.” Brandt adds: “People today more and more want to know where their food comes from, that the story behind it is authentic and that they can trust the product. They also want something different.”
Brandt Beef is certainly being recognized as different. It recently received the Master Chefs Seal of Excellence, which the company has put on all its Brandt Beef boxes. It received the seal after 120 different tests and was chosen over four other beef brands.
The Brandt Beef All Natural brand also features a range of beef jerky made in Riverside for the company by Boyd Specialty Products. Brandt says he often misses breakfast or lunch and a light bulb went off one day when he bought “terrible” jerky at a gas station. “I thought, ‘I’m in the beef business, why don’t I make my own jerky.’”
One World Beef is also importing cuts of veal from Holland’s largest veal processor and marketer, the VanDrie Group, based in Apeldoorn. Veal is being shipped each week to the Brawley plant under the Peter’s Farm brand and is being sold to high-end resorts. The company will import whatever cuts customers want, Brandt says. This sums up the entire philosophy of Brandt and his company.
Also consistent with its role as a craft beef producer, One World Beef will ramp up extremely slowly in the next three years to its target of processing 1,200 head per day, Brandt says. Whatever its size, it is clear the company will remain highly focused on producing the highest quality beef it can while continuing to tell people exactly how that beef is produced.
