One World Beef Continues to Expand

Agriculture

By Lloyd Miller

Mar 19, 2018

Updated Apr 16, 2021

BRAWLEY — One World Beef Packing (OWB) in Brawley is a custom beef processing facility. Its owner and CEO, Eric Brandt, is passionate about his plant and the people who work there. For Brandt, it’s all about the team.

"I’m very grateful for what the team, specifically our employees, have accomplished," said Brandt. "We have come a long way. We continue to uptick about two to three percent a month. We are just taking baby steps. We recently promoted Terry Hall to facility manager."

Hall, now one of the first female beef plant operators in the country, has taken a lot of pressure off of Brandt so he can focus on growing the business. That is where he thinks he can add the most value, but admits he likes to "still keep my eye on the ball here."

It’s obvious Brandt knows every facet of his operation and he knows almost every one of his 300 employees. Every employee he passed, or came in contact with, got a handshake, fist bump, thumbs up, or a pat on the back. He said it is important to treat his employees, or team as he calls them, with the utmost respect. The employees responded positively to Brandt as he passed them.

"Besides processing the brands that we own, we are processing for outside customers," continued Brandt. "That segment of the business is growing faster than what was anticipated. We are a custom processing facility, like a custom winery. We have five other labels we are processing for. We have Wagyu cattle, grass-fed cattle, etc. We have more coming. The word is getting out that we are providing a great service. We are one of the few plants this size that offers these custom services to smaller producers. We have specialized producers coming from all over the country, like the Wagyu beef. This shows that the team is doing an exceptional job."

Brandt said OWB offers more than many other plants, like exporting capabilities. "The food safety here is second to none," he concluded.