Little Red Barn Beef finds a home and customers online

Created out of a focus on health and nutrition, Omaha-based Little Red Barn Beef is sharing how it believes cattle should be raised and ultimately reach consumers using the power of eCommerce.

Focused on preserving the famous “Heartland Steak” taste, Little Red Barn Beef is a family-owned provider of all-natural gourmet meats. Little Red Barn Beef adheres to the highest standards to produce all-natural beef. These standards include working in conjunction with local Heartland farmers and ranchers as well as providing cattle with a humane living environment.

Little Red Barn Beef’s cattle are raised in a stress-free environment and provided a vegetarian diet. There are no hormone implants, steroids, antibiotics or animal by-products infused into the cattle’s diet. In addition, the beef is minimally processed. Little Red Barn Beef is committed to complete satisfaction and the growing demand for healthy and locally produced food.

According to owner Keith Gregerson, the business started by “selling our beef to individual clients and then it expanded into gift boxes for companies. It then moved into internet sales.”

Despite having no prior eCommerce experience, Little Red Barn Beef has established itself as a flourishing online business – although Gregerson says he’s learned a lot along the way.

“Running the website takes constant attention in order to bring the maximum number of potential customers to our site. The website needs to be extremely user-friendly and simple for people to shop,” Gregerson said.

With a variety of choice cuts for sale including New York strips, sirloins, rib-eyes, ground beef and filets, Little Red Barn Beef has enjoyed many successes in just a few short years. Its all-natural beef has been endorsed by professional athletes and featured on a national TV show with Chef Ludo Lefebvre of Los Angeles.

Little Red Barn Beef also has served various businesses including Fortune 500 companies and local mom-and-pop businesses with its steak gift boxes.

Several local Hy-Vee grocery stores have started distributing Little Red Barn Beef’s products, which can also be found in many of Omaha’s finest restaurants and country clubs.

Gregerson said Little Red Barn Beef has also “been able to participate in a local school district’s lunch menus as well as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.”

Despite these successes, there came a time when Little Red Barn Beef needed capital. Gregerson said this is why the company sought a financial investment from Prairie Ventures. Prairie Ventures is a hedge fund that gives businesses the opportunity to grow by allowing companies to utilize their services to focus on the development of technology and/or product lines, deferring the need for the establishment of their own business operations.

Gregerson said he was attracted to Prairie Ventures “because of the support team they wrap around their investments, including marketing, accounting and expertise in start-up businesses.”

The investment and support from Prairie Ventures has allowed Little Red Barn Beef continued growth, but that growth can also be attributed to Gregerson’s belief that people should love what they do. He said aspiring entrepreneurs should maintain this same mindset and not undercapitalize. Gregerson added that aspiring entrepreneurs should “keep your priorities and be willing to learn and change on the fly.”

All of this combined with Little Red Barn Beef’s commitment to quality food and nutritional peace of mind has become the center of the company’s success. In turn, this has allowed Little Red Barn Beef to succeed and flourish in the eCommerce marketplace.

For additional information on Little Red Barn Beef, visit www.littleredbarnbeef.com or ‘Like’ the company at https://www.facebook.com/littleredbarnbeef