Are You a Belletarian?

I’m sure you’re familiar with vegetarian and vegan diets, and you may have heard the term “flexitarian” to describe someone who mainly eats plant-based foods with the occasional meat. But, have you heard of a Belletarian™? I’m here to tell you they exist!

A Belletarian is someone who eats a plant-based diet with the exception of Bell & Evans chicken. While Flexitarians are mainly concerned about the quantity of meat they consume, Belletarians care more about animal welfare and QUALITY meat. They only trust Bell & Evans chicken.

I’ve met many Belletarians throughout the years at new store openings, food shows and when they write to us. They aren’t shy about saying hello and thanking me for our company’s efforts to raise chickens humanely and our transparency. They taste the quality difference too. I’m grateful that Belletarians exist because it speaks volumes to our brand. Belletarians care about the things we care about. Real humane animal welfare. No antibiotics. Quality feed without animal by-products or hexane-processed soy and with no junk! Clean chicken houses. And the list goes on!

I believe the reason vegetarian and vegan diets are on the rise has a lot to do with animal welfare and consumers’ distrust of the meat industry. The greedy commodity producers have tarnished the reputation of animal proteins by cutting corners and growing animals bigger, faster and cheaper for decades. Consumers today want to know where their meat comes from and how the animal was treated, but that’s hard to figure out when most of the animal protein brands in the marketplace are owned by the same few big commodity producers that caused the distrust in the first place! How did we get here? Over the last several years, the big commodity producers recognized a growing demand for natural and organic chicken and, rather than invest in improvements to their overall operations, started purchasing small niche producers to enter these markets. You have to wonder about the integrity of most natural and organic brands now that they’re owned by a profit-driven commodity producer calling the shots. It’s no wonder consumers are suspicious!

Bell & Evans is the oldest branded chicken company in America and family owned. Belletarians trust in our 100% Rule, transparency and continuous innovation from hatch to harvest. We continue to invest in these areas because trust is so important to us. Take, for example, our virtual tours of the breeder houses, Hatchery and chicken farms on our website. They represent 100% of our operations. Not true for the big commodity producers. Their “peek” into operations only represents a small percentage of their business.

At Bell & Evans, we’re one brand, one premium operation, with one very high set of standards. We were doing things right (and for the right reasons) long before anyone expected us to!

If you’re a Belletarian, I would love to hear from you!