In Episode 32 of the Killer Growth Podcast, Samuel sits down with Matt Carselowey of Walnut Valley Packing to unpack the business of meat processing, retail expansion, and building a vertically integrated brand in rural Kansas.
Matt shares how he grew up selling pork at farmers markets in fifth grade, watched his dad purchase a struggling processing plant in 2004, and learned the business from the ground up—boning out beef, cleaning floors, and eventually stepping into leadership.
The conversation pulls back the curtain on:

• What actually happens inside a USDA-inspected processing plant
• Why there’s a federal inspector in the building every single day
• The economics of co-packing vs. owning the retail margin
• How a Black Friday ground beef sale turned into traffic control chaos
• Why a $4.50/lb ground beef strategy transformed their retail model
• Creating signature products like the Grizzly Burger
• Balancing custom processing, wholesale, and direct-to-consumer sales

Matt also opens up about leaving for corporate life, coming back to the family business, tightening systems, and building something valuable enough to sell—even if he never plans to.
This episode is a masterclass in operational grit, customer experience obsession, and evolving a blue-collar business into a scalable retail brand.
And yes… it ends the right way.Learn more at https://killergrowth.com