Walmart Plans Owned-and-Operated Angus Beef Facility

Retail giant Walmart has announced a major initiative that will greatly improve its capacity to provide angus beef at its stores.

Slated to open in 2025, the new case-ready beef plant in Olathe, Kas. will help create an end-to-end angus beef supply chain for the retailer. The owned-and-operated facility will begin to be constructed later this year.

Announced in a blog post penned by David Baskin, SVP of Deli, Meat & Seafood, and Bruce Heckman, VP of Manufacturing, Private Brands at Walmart, the new facility in Kansas will package and distribute a selection of Angus cuts from Sustainable Beef LLC in North Platte, Neb. to serve stores across the Midwest.

“We first announced our ambitions to create an end-to-end supply chain for Angus beef in 2019, with the goal of providing more options for customers seeking higher-quality meat,” said the retailer. “Since then, we’ve implemented strategies to ensure our customers can purchase excellent beef that delivers tremendous value with last year’s equity investment in Sustainable Beef LLC.”

When completed, the facility will create more than 600 new jobs. Last August, Walmart took a minority stake in Sustainable Beef LLC, a rancher-owned company, allowing Walmart to source top-quality angus beef from its then-new beef-processing facility, while the retailer helped fund the construction of that facility.

“Technological advances in the food supply chain continue to reshape the industry,” said Kansas Governor Laura Kelly. “Walmart’s innovative new facility further solidifies Kansas’ position as one of the nation’s top food and agriculture states.”