Company Background
Laura's Lean Beef Company, America's most successful naturally-raised, lean beef company, began as one woman's quest to eat healthier food and save the family farm.
Started in the mid-1980s by Laura Freeman, a seventh generation Kentucky cattle farmer, Laura's Lean Beef is now sold in more than 6,500 stores in 47 states. Several hundred farmers provide beef for the company, agreeing to strict requirements regarding feed and herd management.
Freeman attributes the growth of her company to the increasing number of health-conscious food shoppers, proving that the desire for healthier, better-tasting food isn't just a trend.
Unlike traditional beef raised by industrial methods, Laura's Lean Beef cattle are not given hormones to speed growth or antibiotics to counter overcrowded, stressful farm and feedlot conditions. The beef achieves its leanness naturally, through the selection of cattle breeds and a feed program based on grazing and natural feeds. Laura's Lean Beef does not add fillers, additives, or water and salt.
Lean Beginnings
Freeman didn't originally plan to become a farmer. She worked as a journalist for several years after graduating summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy and political science from Duke University in 1978. In 1982, she decided to return to Mt. Folly Farm, in Winchester, Kentucky, where her mother's family had raised cattle for many years.
At first, Freeman continued the farm's conventional cattle-raising methods. Then, as she dieted to lose weight gained during pregnancy, she looked for ways to produce beef that was leaner, yet delicious.
Freeman's research into cattle breeds and feeding methods led to Laura's Lean Beef Company. She began selling beef off the farm in 1984. The company was incorporated in 1985. In her first year, Freeman made $10,000. The company's offices were located in a log cabin on the farm until a pesky skunk drove the company to relocate its offices to the "city," and has been headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky ever since.
Natural Growth
About 50 "lean and light" beef companies were founded in the United States in the 1980s to meet the growing demand for low-fat beef. Laura's Lean Beef is one of only a few remaining.
Freeman credits the "all-natural" approach. Instead of artificially creating beef that was lower in fat by adding water and salt or even seaweed and other fillers, Laura's Lean Beef experimented with 'gourmet' cattle breeds like Limousin and Charolais and looked at feeding practices to produce beef that was naturally leaner.
The company also became involved in the bigger issue of sustainable farming versus industrial cattle-raising methods. As a family farmer, it bothered Laura to see agriculture moving to bigger and bigger industrial-farm operations. She became concerned about the widespread use of antibiotics and growth hormones. Today, the approach is called sustainable agriculture, and it is a movement that's rapidly gaining support, not just in America, but all over the world.
Laura's Lean Beef was essentially a one-woman operation until 1987. Freeman herself initially did all the field marketing. Until the late 1980s, all of the cattle used by the company were raised on her farm.
In 1991, John Tobe, retired President and CEO of Jerrico, Inc., joined Laura's Lean Beef as Chairman of the Board. Tobe's 30-plus years of experience in food industry management and marketing has helped guide Laura's Lean Beef's significant expansion in recent years.
Today, the company has a staff of more than 90, including seven regional cattle buyers who oversee a network of farms stretching from South Carolina to Idaho. Farmers who produce cattle for Laura's Lean Beef sign a legal contract agreeing to adhere to the company's requirements regarding feed and other management. No growth hormones, antibiotics, reprocessed animal tissue, or fecal matter are allowed in the feeding program.
A Future Based on Traditional Values
Although the company has grown larger and more sophisticated, its priority is to remain true to its original values. The family farm is at the heart of the operation.
Although Laura's Lean Beef has undergone eight logo changes due to brand development, the heart of its marketing effort remains direct communication with its customers. The company's customer service representatives communicate with over 3,500 consumers each month. Their Health Professional Program has established links to nutritionists, physicians and fitness professionals.
The company believes that good communication between the people who produce food and their customers is one part of America's farming tradition that should be preserved. Laura's Lean Beef owes much of its success to people who have let their grocers know they want lean beef raised without growth hormones and antibiotics -- people who have requested Laura's Lean beef by name.
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