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If you’ve ever found yourself standing in a supermarket aisle, staring at the label on a tray of chicken or steak trying to work out where it came from and how it was farmed, you’ll know how hard it can be to find the answer.

For brothers Damien and Rob Moffatt this lack of transparency and disconnect from our food products is what inspired them to start their subscription-based meat delivery service, ButcherCrowd.

“When we were younger, our parents owned a cattle property, and as we grew a little more mature and had families, we realised that the food system that surrounds us today had changed a lot from when we grew up,” Damien Moffatt explains.

“Nowadays, there’s a lack of transparency on where your food is from, what’s in it and how the animals have been raised. We wanted to reconnect people with their food, and make it convenient for that to happen.”

The pair had talked about starting the business for some time before they decided to press go in March 2020.

“When covid hit it was the right time for us to put the plan into action,” says Moffatt.

Providing a service where customers can select a box of sustainably and ethically sourced meat and have it delivered right to their door proved to be a massive hit.

“We’ve had tens of thousands of customers over the last three and a half years,” Moffatt says. “Some of our customers have been there since day one. They’re a long-standing, loyal customer base.”

In the last two years, he says, the company’s customer base has grown by 2500 per cent.

From paddock to customer
Since ButcherCrowd sources from local producers across the country, Moffatt says customers are able to experience the best of Australian meat and wild caught seafood, straight from the source.

Beef and lamb come from farms in Tasmania and the Gippsland region of Victoria, while the chicken farmers are based in Victoria and South Australia, and the pork producers are in Victoria. The seafood varies, with barramundi sourced from the northern parts of Australia, and prawns, bugs, and goldband snapper from the east coast of Queensland. The only imported product, Moffatt says, is wild salmon, which comes from Canada.

The beef, which is the most popular product on ButcherCrowd, is grass-fed and grass-finished and comes from renowned Australian brand – Cape Grim Beef. The chickens are pasture raised, as opposed to the free-range birds you’ll often find at the supermarket or butcher.

“Pasture-raised chickens means that there’s no confinement at all. They are 100 per cent free to roam day and night on pastures with access to supplemental feed.”

Free range chickens, on the other hand, are raised in sheds, and Moffatt says that while they are provided with access to the outdoors, they often won’t venture out without being trained to do so, and their primary diet would likely consist of supplemental feed. As a result, free-range chickens tend to grow much more quickly.

How it works
When it comes to ordering, ButcherCrowd subscribers are able to choose between a small or large box, depending on how many people they are catering for. You can either “build your own box”, by selecting from a range of more than 40 products, or leave the decision-making to the crew at ButcherCrowd with a curated box.

Depending on your preference, deliveries are weekly, fortnightly, monthly or eight-weekly, and you can pause your account or skip deliveries at any stage. And, for those times when you’re inviting friends over for a barbie or hosting a dinner party, you can add something extra to your box with a value add-on plan. The best part? You’ll enjoy restaurant quality meat and seafood from as little as $4.89 per meal – delivered straight to your door.

Company values

Not only are all ButcherCrowd products free of antibiotics and hormones, but the animals are also raised ethically and humanely. The company also ensures farmers are paid a fair price for their products.

“Ethical and sustainable practices are important to us because they provide the ability to protect the environment, ensure food security, promote animal welfare, provide a healthier food option and maintain long-term viability of agriculture for generations to come,” Moffatt says.

“For example, all our beef is actually certified humanely raised and handled. This is a third party accredited audit process that all the farmers go through. And there’s a checklist that the auditing company follows, so all suppliers, all farmers, all fishers that are with ButcherCrowd must stick to the values that we uphold.”

As for the future of ButcherCrowd, Moffatt says there’s more to come.

“The more people become aware of what we are able to offer both in terms of product and service of convenience, we expect to see continued strong growth,” he says. “We have a whole new division of the company starting shortly, which I can’t say too much about, but there’s a lot of new products coming as well.”

Stay tuned to find out what’s next

Right now, ButcherCrowd is offering new customers the opportunity to claim free salmon for life! That’s 1 x 150g wild-caught salmon portion, 1 x pack of wild-caught salmon burger patties in Box 1. Then, a free wild-caught salmon portion in every box for the lifetime of your subscription! Experience quality, convenience, and ethical consideration in every succulent bite – simply visit the ButcherCrowd website and join today.