New Vegan Brand Coming to the Meat Department of 3,000 Supermarkets Nationwide

California-based vegan brand Before the Butcher aims to launch its Uncut-branded products in the meat department in grocery stores nationwide by the end of summer. Founded in 2017 by former Beyond Meat employee Danny O’Malley, the company currently sells meat replacers such as ground beef, tips, shreds, and chunks in the foodservice sector to universities, stadiums, and movie sets. In April, the brand made a small-scale retail debut inside the meat counter at a Yorba Linda, CA Bristol Farms supermarket. According to O’Malley, the brand is currently funded by a multimillion-dollar deal it recently closed with investors in San Diego. “Beyond [Meat] and Impossible [Foods] have done an incredible job opening up a huge pathway for us and others to go down. They have educated the public, which makes our job much easier,” O’Malley told Foodnavigator-USA. “But we plan to be profitable very quickly without having to raise tens of millions of dollars. That’s our goal, and we have a very lean, mean machine.” While O’Malley did not disclose specific supermarkets, he revealed that the company’s four burgers—which include vegan beef, chicken, and turkey varieties—will be at two of the three biggest retailers in the country by mid-July. By August, the brand will be available at the third retailer—for a total distribution of more than 3,000 retail outlets nationwide—and products available will include ground beef, Italian sausage, chorizo, and breakfast sausage, all sold in bulk.