Walmart joins the beef business
Walmart Inc. is going into the beef business by developing an end-to-end supply chain for Angus beef. To ensure supply of quality product and fulfill customer demands for greater transparency, the Bentonville, Ark.-based mega-retailer is collaborating with such partners as Prime Pursuits, Mc6 Cattle Feeders, Creekstone Farms and FPL Food.
“As clean labels, traceability and transparency become more and more important to customers, we’ve made plans to enter into the beef industry, creating an unmatched system that allows us to deliver consistent quality and value,” said Scott Neal, senior vice president of meat for Walmart. “By enlisting a number of best-in-class companies to take part in the supply chain, we’ll be able to provide customers with unprecedented quality, provide transparency throughout the supply chain and leverage the learnings we gain across our business.”
The supply chain thus created will provide a selection of Angus beef cuts such as steaks and roasts at 500 Walmart locations across a number of Southeastern states, among them Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
The company’s new supply chain effort will not only generate a steady demand for ranchers and feed yards, offering stability in the marketplace, but will also create more than 250 jobs at Creekstone Farms’ beef-processing facility in Kansas, as well as 200-plus jobs in Georgia, where Walmart owns a case-ready facility that will be operated by FPL Food.
“No bigger paradigm change has taken place in the beef industry than what is happening with Walmart bringing truly high-quality, all-natural, no-hormones-added Black Angus beef to its customers,” observed Texas Rancher Bob McClaren of Prime Pursuits. “This bold vision gives Walmart a special place at the table by contributing to the most enjoyable and memorable moments in the lives of its customers.”