From ranching to retail, Ranch Brand Meat Company controls entire process

Meghan Diemel

Contributor

June 23, 2025

CHETEK/CHIPPEWA FALLS – As many Americans learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, the food supply chains are not infallible – with many consumers experiencing shortages of a variety of food products.

That tumultuous time put the country’s food systems into sharp focus, raising a collective awareness of where one’s food comes from, how it’s processed and the path it takes to get from a farm field or grazing pasture to the table.

Per the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development, the popularity of seeking out local purveyors for groceries has grown into its own movement – one that has helped foster the growth of a western Wisconsin meat brand.

The Ranch Brand Meat Company, which has locations in Chetek and rural Chippewa Falls, was co-founded by Jeff and Charlotte Antczak and Jake Rooney.

“I feel like COVID was honestly the best thing to happen for us as beef producers and small business owners, because people became way more aware of what they were eating…,” Charlotte said. “When we opened the Chetek store in May 2020, Walmart was limiting people to two pounds of burger per person, and they were charging (around) $7 a pound for it.”

Because of these increased prices, coupled with the sparse options, Charlotte said people became “way more aware” of local options.

“The mom-and-pop shops and buying local (increased), and (people were asking), ‘Where is my meat even coming from?’” she said.

Coming together

Charlotte said Ranch Brand Meat Company is the collaboration of two ranching operations – Antczak Angus and Rooney Farms – who shared a vision: continue bringing exceptional beef from their pastures directly to the dinner table of local consumers.

The trio said their goal of bringing high-quality beef to western Wisconsin consumers started, in part, in 2012. 

Jeff and Charlotte, who live in Chetek, said they began raising Angus that year, starting with just six head of cattle.

Over time, as they sold to family and friends, Charlotte said the interest in their beef products grew.

The couple said they eventually expanded their network to include a local restaurant that incorporated their beef into the menu as part of a local farm-to-table effort.

By 2020, Charlotte said their sales volume had increased to a point where they had outgrown the freezer space they had, including at the meat processing plant they used.

To alleviate the space constraints, the Antczaks said they opened Antczak Angus Meat Shop in Chetek.

Charlotte said it was well received in the area, which is a well-known tourist destination welcoming thousands of visitors throughout the year to its chain of lakes.

“The meat shop, it took off,” she said. “Over the course of four years, the meat shop gained more popularity. We picked up more restaurants, and we saw a lot of growth. We got to a point where we kind of maxed out.”

To grow the meat brand like they wanted to, while also continuing to uphold the values they held so strongly about beef production, Jeff and Charlotte said they sought out another beef producer – Rooney.

The Antczaks said Rooney’s similar approach to ranching was a good fit for a collaboration.

“We’re very parallel as far as our morals and our values regarding raising beef,” Charlotte said.

Then, at the beginning of 2024, as the trio was in talks to collaborate with one another to expand their operations, Charlotte said the opportunity to buy the business she and Jeff used for their beef processing came about.

Following further discussion, the Antczaks and Rooney said they knew buying Almena Meat Company would help further streamline and strengthen their plans for their collaborative meat brand.

Rooney said Jeff’s goal was to eliminate the processing bill each month to bolster the foundation for the business’s continued success.

“No. 1 – it just makes sense to try and cut that middleman out from a growth perspective on the beef brand side of things,” Rooney said. “And No. 2, it gives you a little more control… That’s a little bit of what we founded the Ranch Brand (brand) on – total control.”

Today, Rooney said, no one outside of the business touches the product – starting with the genetics picked to breed the cattle, to the feed they grow to feed the cattle, on through the processing that’s done in-house along with the packaging, labeling and delivery.

“If anything’s messed up, it’s on us,” he said. “That is a level of control we felt was pretty unique for the area… In general, there (are) not a lot of completely closed systems that offer super competitively priced and delicious beef.”

Ranch Brand Meat Company

With the purchase of Almena Meat Company, announced in February 2024, the trio said their years of hard work as cattle ranchers, their ambition for growing something brand new and their years-long commitment to bringing top-notch beef to the tables of their customers came to fruition as Ranch Brand Meat Company.

Charlotte said they rebranded the Chetek meat shop in July 2024, and just one month later, opened a second retail location just minutes outside of Chippewa Falls on the Rooney farm (located off Hwy 53 on County Highway S).

The changes and additions, she said, have been well received by customers, while Rooney said it has allowed them to hire more employees, as the wholesale side and the retail side of the business grow congruently.

He said it’s also been exciting to learn what works for marketing the retail brand – from advertisements to flyers and more.

“It’s been really fun to figure out what makes this thing tick and how to make it work,” he said. “It’s the first thing I’ve ever been involved in that’s just customer-facing… We’ve had a lot of fun playing around with (marketing) and figuring out how to make it work, what people are interested in and what they like to know about.”

As they enter their second summer of operation under the new branding, Charlotte said the Ranch Brand stores offer a variety of grades of burger as well as traditional steak cuts – like filets, New York strips, ribeyes, T-bones and porterhouses.

She said they also offer roasts, like prime rib and rump and chuck roasts.

Furthermore, Charlotte said they sell picanha and tri-tip cuts, as well as nontraditional items like oxtail, tongue, liver and kidneys.

Raw bones, bone broth, soup bones and beef tallow, she said, are also popular choices.

In addition to beef, Charlotte said the shops sell chicken cuts, ring bologna, pork and breakfast sausage and a myriad of brat flavors.

She said she estimates the store has between 20-30 flavors, as well as other specialty meat and food items.

An advantage of Ranch Brand, Charlotte said, is the opportunity for customers to enjoy locally raised beef without committing to the traditional quarter or half side of beef. 

Everything, she said, is individually wrapped and available for sale.

Charlotte said customers can also enjoy Ranch Brand products at a handful of local restaurants, including Social House of Rice Lake, The District in Eau Claire, Cedar Lodge in Ladysmith and Gilligans in Chetek.

Reflecting on the last year of growth, Charlotte said they all recognize Ranch Brand’s success didn’t happen overnight, rather it’s the result of many years of hard work and perseverance to get it right.

A big part of it, Charlotte said, came down to finding the right partner who aligned with their bigger vision, helping bring it all into focus.

Then, now and into the future, Rooney said the consumer’s experience is always at the forefront of each decision.

“I think what makes it really great is, again, the attention to detail through all different facets of the lifecycle of that steak or that pound of burger, before it gets to your plate,” he said. “It receives the utmost attention to detail… and we pride ourselves in that.”

Visit ranchbrandmeatco.com for more information.