You Can't Market Manure at Lunchtime

Lesson Four

How to Fix It When You Fall Short

“Hey yo, what up. This is Evan. I work at Belcampo Meat in Santa Monica. I just want to let you know, everyone know, this company claims to be selling meat straight from their farm. That’s not true. They’re fucking lying to you.”1

So starts a video posted to Instagram by Evan Reiner, who shows photographic evidence of beef and poultry from a variety of producers in the Belcampo walk-in refrigerator—even though the high-end meat purveyor claimed to raise all their meat on their own farm.

Then he shows USDA Choice–stamped beef on the cutting board of the shop that boasted only organic and grass-fed beef product. “Their shit’s not local. It’s from Tasmania,” says Evan as he holds up a tenderloin sealed ...