Social media sells meat

The Carey family from Opunake are selling their meat all over the country thanks to social media and online shopping.

They raise and butcher meat from their farm through their family-run business, Green Meadows Beef, which is then sold directly to customers online.From Mangonui to Waiheke Island, Bluff, Greymouth and even Franz Josef, customers around the country are buying their meat online.Nick Carey said they identified Twitter as a medium to connect with people who were interested in food.

“Someone will see a post about dinner and then we can have an order within ten minutes from someone who’s seen that post.

“So Twitter is really fantastic for us in terms of being able to show what we’re doing and also letting everyone see what other people are doing with our food.”

Carey said they attribute a lot of their success just to answering questions.

“People have questions, we can answer them. We give them tips on how to cook with their products, where different cuts come from, educating them on eating different cuts rather than just eating steak.”

Carey said being transparent has also helped them to build a following.

“A lot of them are wanting to make informed choices about where their food comes from, like to know more about the products and also have that connection with the grower which is becoming more and more important, which often you can’t get from traditional retailers.

“People really react to connecting and obviously we’re a family business so we treat our Twitter scene as basically an extension of the family.”

“It’s often tidbits of what the family is up to, what’s happening on the farm, what’s happening in our butchery and what’s happening with recipes and food in our kitchen as well.

“We’re really taking charge and it’s working well for us so far.”