The establishment by the Real Meat Company of a new ‘brand’ of meat where the quality, purity and welfare are worked up to a standard rather than down to a price is the embodiment of an ‘alternative production system’ for livestock. Any production system needs a market. As a fully independent as well as new company, expansion, development and occasionally survival have depended entirely on how this market can best be served.

It is possible to create a secure alternative production system. What is more difficult is to identify correctly the size, loyalty and expectations of the market and find a route to serve them that is convenient. The modern shopper likes easy shopping. No customer likes to take negative attributes into account when choosing a product. Invariably perceived by many as a green get-rich-quick scheme, the controls, attention to detail, complexities of the few retail routes for meat and then portrayal of the ‘message’ to the public have made the Real Meat Company trail at times slow and always arduous. Tor those who support the concept, including the founders, the progress, however difficult, is always rewarding.