March 28, 2019

Matthew Wakiak, founder and former COO of Blue Apron, has launched Cooks Venture, a next generation food company rooted in regenerative agriculture and transparency. In connection with its public launch, Cooks Venture has also announced its acquisition of an 800-acre farm in Arkansas and two processing facilities in Oklahoma.

“Regenerative Agriculture” refers to a holistic method of production that rebuilds soil health and organic matter, restores biodiversity, improves the nutritional profile and resilience of crops, improves the water-holding capacity of soil, and sequesters carbon to draw down atmospheric CO2 levels.

Through its business, Cooks Venture will begin the pre-sale of what it states is the most impactful food:  pasture-raised, heirloom, and slow-growth chickens, through both direct-to-consumer, and retail channels, in July of this year.

One of the founding principles behind the launch of Cooks Venture is the knowledge that sequestering just one percent more carbon on agricultural land can reverse climate change. Through its business, the company aims to improve the agricultural supply chain through the integration of regenerative production methods at all stages, for a completely transparent process.

Included on its 800-acre, wooded farm in Arkansas is a hatchery, pedigree chickens with unrestricted access to the outdoors, barns, and the country’s only biodiverse vertically integrated poultry operation, making Cooks Venture the only company of scale in the U.S. of its kind.

“In order to feed the population and reverse climate change, we must move to regenerative systems,” said Matthew Wadiak, founder and CEO of Cooks Venture. “I’ve spent ten years partnering with thought leaders and scientists to perfect farming methodology and working diligently to regenerate the sources of food consumption.”

The company will also operate a novel online grocery store that will be the first to sell high quality food produced from regenerative agriculture sources that are sequestering carbon. Customers can begin immediately ordering chickens that are priced at: two (3-4 pound chickens) for $40; four for $70; and six for $90. Chickens will be delivered frozen, prepackaged in recyclable packaging with free shipping. Plans are also in place to supply brick and mortar grocery stores and restaurants by this summer.

Not Alone

Another large-scale company pivoting its business model toward regenerative ag in 2019 is Applegate, a provider of natural and organic meats, which was acquired by Hormel in 2015 for $775 million. The company is launching a regenerative agriculture platform that will see all of its meat sourced from animals that are pasture-raised.

Using the Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) program developed by the Savory Institute to quantify the initiative’s effects, Applegate aims to improve soil health and water quality, and increase biodiversity through its operations. It also plans to work together with the Savory Institute to train and offer support to producers shifting into regenerative methodologies.

Under the premium brand THE NEW FOOD COLLECTIVE™, Applegate will sell culinary-inspired products from hogs that have maximum access to the outdoors, foraging in woods and pastures during the grazing season, and raised by farmers that develop a pasture-management plan that supports biological diversity, soil fertility, and natural resources.

“At Applegate, we want to change the meat we eat, and this launch propels that mission forward,” said John Ghingo, president, Applegate. “We’re making a big bet on regenerative agriculture as one of the paths to show the world that raising animals and eating meat doesn’t have to be a problem. Animals can and do play a vital role in a healthy food system.”

A Team of Experts

A regenerative agriculture venture necessitates a management team of particular experience, and to lead Cooks Venture, Wadiak has brought together:

Richard Udale: as director of genetics. Udale is the top expert in  slow-growth breeding in the modern poultry industry. He is the twice former president of the Poultry Breeders of America and former chairman of the Poultry Breeders Roundtable Symposium.

Blake Evans: executive vice president, and founder of Crystal Lake Farms, where his career centered on cultivative, breeding, and building a farming system to produce superior chickens.

Mark Fisher: vice president of operations, and a U.S. Army veteran who has 26 years experience in the poultry industry, will be tasked with running Cooks Venture’s facility operations and two processing plants.

“Richard and I began this journey over a decade ago to breed the best tasting, slow growing chicken in America,” said Blake Evans. “This journey has led us to the partnership with Matthew and Cooks Venture. We are excited to have created an entirely new category and standard that goes far beyond the current green-washed buzzwords like ‘organic’ and ‘sustainable.’ Our team at Cooks Venture knows we can make a global impact and look forward to paving the way for a system encompassing better tasting food, more humanely raised animals and more biodiverse soil, our greatest national resource.”

~Lynda Kiernan