My name is JEAN-CLAUDE SETIN and I grew up in Nice, France on the French Riviera. I was apprenticed at age 14 to a well- established local butchery family, where I learned the old-school mastery: all cuts, whole animal maximization and most of all–respect for the animal. At 16, I was the youngest apprentice to ever pass certification in Nice, and at 24, I was hired to manage my mentor’s butcheries including overseeing meats selection at the slaughterhouse and quality control. I purchased my first store at age 30 when I walked into a bank with nothing but a big dream and a fistful of confidence. That banker trusted me with a modest 3-year loan. But it was a fortune to me! It was enough to enable me to buy my first stall in an open market. I worked day and night, paid the loan back in six months and went on to own two highly successful Gourmet Butcher Shops in Nice.

I met my American wife, SUSAN, in 2007 when she walked into my shop to buy some Parmesan. The rest is history. Inspired by the growing demand for Grass Fed meat and the need for qualified butchers, we moved to L.A. with the commitment to bring locally raised, 100% Grass Fed and pastured sustainable meats to local neighborhoods and to teach authentic French butchery to the groundswell of young American butchers eager to learn French Artisanal Butchery—the most respected and sustainable in the world.

Le FRENCH BUTCHER is on a mission: to bring 100% Grass Fed, humanely raised local meats to local neighborhoods and to help Americans eat healthier and more sustainably in the process.

“LFB” is not just a butcher shop. We’re a multi-pronged food enterprise. We have a “hub n’ spoke” commissary model with a USDA approved central kitchen. This enables us to sell retail, wholesale, online and eventually ship nationwide. Our kitchen also serves as a training facility—the only one in the US—offering classes for home chefs and professionals, as well as the Le FRENCH BUTCHER certified training apprenticeship program, teaching the same Centuries-old, methods that I learned when I was a boy—to the next generation of up and coming artisanal butchers.

Opening a 100% Grass Fed whole animal butchery in Los Angeles hasn’t been easy. For one thing, there was no place to cut whole carcass! We were lucky that some innovative developers name CIVIC ENTERPRISE were launching their 52,000 Sq. Ft. state of the art facility–L.A. PREP–at the exact time we were getting started. They wanted to create a space where innovative food start-ups would actually have private kitchens in which to work! We signed our lease before the walls were even up and were recently granted our USDA approval—which now allows us to vacuum seal, sell wholesale and ship interstate.

From Millennials to Boomers, our customers all have one thing in common: They love delicious food and they want their choices to make a difference.

We have a big vision for the future: to help impact the health and wellbeing of Americans by providing humanely raised, Grass Fed meats to local neighborhoods. And it’s doable! Industry experts predict that Grass Fed meat is on track to claim 25% of the beef industry within the next 10 years–growing completely by popular demand.

We’re proud to be part of the Eat Local, Farm-to-Table and Grass Fed Movements. And we’re also proud to be able to bring a vital and unique element that is crucial to changing the way meat is produced in America—namely, French Master Butchery: the most sustainable and healthy in the world.

Currently, we are selling at Farmers Markets and have just launched an “order on line platform / pick-up at markets” platform.

With out mission to bring healthy and delicious, 100% farm fresh meats to local neighborhoods—starting in Los Angeles–we are now looking to launch our full E-Commerce online store. This loan will help us do this. Specifically, it will enable us to purchase:

• Much needed inventory
• A 2nd rail needed to hang the increase in volume
• Sustainable packaging for shipping