From paddock to plate: How Our Cow is disrupting Australia’s meat industry

From Casino in northern NSW, Bianca Tarrant and her partner Dave McGiveron are disrupting the paddock-to-plate industry with a story that’s quickly resonating across Australia.

Built on authentic storytelling, a digital-first approach to customer engagement and the kind of resilience forged through natural disasters, their business is taking on the supermarket giants and carving out a healthy share of the food subscription sector in the process.

Their story is one of the more inspiring when it comes to small, community minded independents building a loyal customer platform. But it has come with its own set of monumental challenges.

The pair almost lost everything during the bushfires of 2019 and have since gone through one of the worst droughts - and then floods - in living memory. Staring down the end of their farming future, they instead turned to Facebook, selling their grass-fed beef direct to local consumers and quickly expanded to help other farmers secure a stable market and income, tapping into consumer demand for transparency and a preference to back local farmers.

Six years later, that social-first model has grown Our Cow into a multimillion-dollar national subscription service that delivers beef, lamb, pork, chicken and seafood from over 100 local farmers to more than 50,000 customers. Headquartered in Casino, the company has been valued at more than $60 million, with ambitions to replicate its model overseas.

At the heart of Our Cow’s growth is a sharp focus on loyalty and digital. Subscriptions, through its Exclusive Eaters Club, are the engine of the business - while social media, namely TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, are its primary marketing channels.

“Most of our marketing efforts go into trying to get people to subscribe,” Tarrant told Marketing-Interactive. “But it’s not always about sell, sell, sell. A lot of our social media is around stories and what our day looks like.”

A market ripe for disruption

Our Cow’s rise has coincided with a shift in how Australians think about food and pricing. Price gouging inquiries, supermarket scandals and debates over US beef imports have sharpened consumer awareness. 

“After Covid, people just became a little bit more aware about their food supply and food chains and how food gets to their door,” Tarrant said. “They wanted to know where their food was coming from. They wanted to know that they were supporting farmers.” 

That shift has made direct-to-consumer food delivery an attractive market, with subscription models offering recurring revenue and closer customer relationships. Our Cow’s revenue grew from $2.6 million in 2021 to $8.8 million in 2022, before reaching $17.4 million in 2023. Forecasts suggest the broader subscription food market will continue to expand as consumers seek out trustworthy brands. 

Customer loyalty and lifetime value

For subscription businesses, the economics hinge on retention - and Our Cow has found strong loyalty once people commit.

“What we find is once they get their second box, then they’re a lot more sticky,” Tarrant said. “They love the convenience of having it delivered. They’re usually time-poor.” 

Two core customer segments have emerged: health-conscious young families, and older empty-nesters with nostalgic ties to farming. Both demographics are united by a willingness to pay for transparency and a consistent supply chain.

Tarrant says that loyalty creates significant long-term value and serves as a reminder that subscription success isn’t just about acquisition - it’s about building trust that locks customers in beyond the trial period.

Digital-first storytelling

Our Cow’s biggest marketing spend is in digital, particularly TikTok and Instagram. But much of its success has come from organic reach, with posts focusing less on product and more on story.

“It’s not always about pushing the meat boxes,” Tarrant explained. “A lot of our traffic comes through organic TikTok, where we share stories about our employees or a day in the life on the farm. People find that interesting - and the meat becomes the byproduct of our brand.”

This approach contrasts with traditional supermarket advertising, which typically foregrounds price or promotion. For a challenger brand, founder-led storytelling has given Our Cow a distinctive voice that cuts through in crowded digital feeds.

Scaling from the regions

The logistics behind Our Cow are as demanding as the marketing. The business runs its own processing facility in Casino, distributing nationwide, from Darwin to Tasmania, often within a few days of ordering.

“It’s been a hell of an apprenticeship,” Tarrant said. “We’re not just importing t-shirts from China. We’re manufacturing food. You take a whole cow and turn that into mince, sausages and steaks. To do that on a massive scale is pretty challenging.”

The company employs butchers, packers, fulfilment staff, logistics and marketing specialists, reflecting the operational depth required to sustain growth.

As the paddock-to-plate model has matured, other players have entered the space. For Tarrant, that’s validation of demand, but she believes Our Cow’s scale and transparency set it apart.

“The thing that probably sets us apart is our brand and the way we turn up every day to our customers and on social media,” she said. “We’re a brand with a face. We tell farming stories and shed light on what it’s like to be in the meat industry. That hasn’t really been done before.”

While Our Cow is already the largest player in its category, Tarrant sees untapped growth in Australia - and the potential to expand globally. “We would love to look at export one day, maybe taking the model to the US,” she said.

For a business born in crisis, the next chapter is about scaling disruption. “When you start with nothing, you’re prepared to take more risk,” Tarrant said. “We didn’t have anything to fall back on. That grit and hustle is why bigger companies haven’t been able to do what we’ve done.”

From a single steer sold over Facebook to a $60 million-plus valuation, Our Cow has become a case study in how resilience, storytelling and digital-first marketing can transform a business. It’s also a reminder that authenticity and loyalty - not just scale - are what win in a market where trust has become the ultimate differentiator.