Listen to Farshad Kazemian talk about meat and you’d assume he’s worked in the industry his whole life. But like many of the most successful entrepreneurs, he started his career in a different field entirely.
Originally training as a lawyer, Iranian-born Farshad confesses to at one time, knowing nothing about the meat trade. It wasn’t until he was offered a job through a friend at a wholesale business that he first took an interest in quality meat.
Learning about the various aspects of butchery, Farshad began to work closely with chefs, later establishing The Exquisite Range, a one-person operation supplying wholesale meat in London. Farshad soon began to realise that as a society, we have become far too disconnected from our food and where it comes from.
Keen to change this, he came up with the idea to launch a business delivering ethical meat boxes to homes nationwide. And so, The Ethical Butcher was born. Together with his co-founder, Glen Burrows, Farshad is reinventing the meat industry, sparking a fresh interest in sustainability.
The duo is on a mission to reconnect people with nature and alter the narrative around meat being ‘bad’ for the environment. Farshad points out that while the meat industry has come under significant criticism for being unsustainable and unethical in its processes and practices, what is frequently left out is the fact that “it’s not the cow – it’s the how.”
Farmers at The Ethical Butcher ensure they farm in a way that increases biodiversity and regenerates the land, thereby having a positive impact on the British countryside, on animal welfare, and ultimately, on the people who eat their meat. The brand offers what is thought to be the UK’s first 100 percent soy-free chicken — the result of a collaboration with a farmer who shares their passion to improve and challenge the convention.
As well as benefitting from 100% pasture-fed, sustainable meat including pork, lamb, beef, poultry, and wild game, customers are also invited to collaborate with celebrity chefs and other companies through The Ethical Butcher’s ‘Connecting Back to Nature’ programmes. Farshad continues to build his own supply chain with farmers who share his vision.
The Ethical Butcher is currently open for investment and has already raised nearly £1.5 million (331% of its initial target!). You can see the campaign here.
ethicalbutcher.co.uk/
