About | Better For Butchery

Why We Exist

A Stronger, More Decentralized
Meat Economy.

American meat used to be regional. Years of consolidation stripped most independent farmers and brands of the downstream infrastructure they needed to reach customers as themselves — not as anonymous commodity rolled into someone else's system.

By combining a long-standing DTC business with newly acquired processing, co-packing, cold storage, and fulfillment capabilities, Better For Butchery is building an integrated platform designed to help farmers, brands, and institutions scale with more control, more consistency, and more local value creation. It is a model rooted in the belief that a stronger, more decentralized regional meat economy is not just possible — it is necessary.

The goal is not just more capacity, but better alignment between the people who raise the product and the people who buy it.

Who We Are & How We Operate

An Operating Platform,
Not a Commodity Processor.

Better For Butchery is a vertically integrated meat company with three connected sides: a direct-to-consumer business with deep operating history shipping pasture-raised beef and pork to households across the continental US; a USDA-inspected processing and co-packing operation; and a cold-storage and fulfillment arm built to support both — and any partner ready to run the same playbook.

USDA-inspected hand-cut butchery at the Princeton facility

Processing & Co-Packing

USDA-inspected processing, cut, fabrication, and packaging for beef and pork. Your spec, your label.

Multi-temp cold storage and fulfillment operations at the Princeton facility

Cold Storage & Fulfillment

Multi-temp USDA cold storage, B2B and DTC outbound, 3PL logistics inside a 500-mile radius.

Direct-to-Consumer

A national DTC business with deep operating history — the proof the platform reaches end customers.

We are not built to push anonymous commodity volume through a line. We are built to execute to spec, protect quality, and help programs hold together as they grow.

Real Execution, Not Promises.

Standards.

USDA-inspected, with cut quality and packaging standards built from a decade of running a high-bar craft butchery program. The cut sheet is executed to spec, or it doesn't ship.

Discipline.

Real plant operations leadership. High-volume protein experience, cold-chain compliance, cost control through ownership transition. The operating depth that gives partners confidence the work will be done right.

Alignment.

Farmer-direct relationships, structured so the people who raise the product participate in the upside their work creates. The Rittenberry farmer-buyback is one example — farmers receive the specialty-cut value of their animals, not just the carcass weight.

Leadership

The Operators.

A small team with a long operating record. Plant, brand, and growth — each with someone accountable.

Chris Roach

Founder, CEO & Principal Owner

Chris Roach is the founder, CEO, and principal owner of Better For Butchery. He splits his time between Princeton, Kentucky and Capitola, California, grew up outside Nashville, and attended Middle Tennessee State University. He brings more than 15 years of experience building growth through strategic partnerships, go-to-market execution, and operator-led scale. Before BFB, he held leadership roles at Netflix, Coinbase, Edgenet, Conviva, and Anschutz Entertainment Group, helping generate more than $2 billion in sales and create more than $500 million in new company valuation at Edgenet and Conviva. He has long followed Porter Road and its history, giving him a direct appreciation for both the brand and the platform behind it. At Better For Butchery, he is focused on growing the company's DTC business while building an integrated operating platform that gives farmers, brands, and institutions a stronger downstream partner.

Ryan McIntyre

EVP, Business Operations

Ryan McIntyre is EVP, Business Operations at Better For Butchery. He was the founding operator of PorterRoad.com, hired by Porter Road's co-founders to scope, stand up, and launch the business. At BFB, he helps connect plant reality, commercial strategy, and operating execution — translating what the business can do into programs, partnerships, and growth that can actually hold together.

Linda Pennington

General Manager, Facility Operations

Linda Pennington is General Manager, Facility Operations at Better For Butchery. She brings more than 20 years of experience leading high-volume food manufacturing and protein-processing operations, including USDA-inspected facilities producing 20–30 million pounds annually and teams of 250+. Her background spans meat fabrication, value-added production, cold-chain logistics, compliance, cost discipline, and leadership through ownership transition — the kind of operating depth that gives partners confidence the work will be done right.

James Peisker

General Manager, Co-Packing & Butchery

James Peisker is General Manager, Co-Packing & Butchery at Better For Butchery and co-founder of Porter Road. He brings deep butcher's craft, product judgment, and program-building experience, with a perspective shaped by helping build one of the most recognized brands in craft butchery. At BFB, he helps bridge cut quality, standards, merchandising logic, and real plant execution so programs work not just on paper, but in production and in market.

Built to Help Independent Meat Work at Scale.

A Stronger, More Decentralized
Meat Economy.