Phillip Meece shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Phillip, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Always integrity. As a meat company we work with a product that is uniquely bioavailable and perishable as a result. Handling meat with integrity and discarding what isn’t up to standard is paramount in creating a brand people can trust.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Phillip Meece and I’m the founder of The Carnivore Bar. I started a Kickstarter in 2019 for people in the carnivore community who really needed a high fat, shelf stable, all meat and nothing but meat travel food. This is a bizarrely specific demographic and a bizarrely specific niche circumstance, but the need was acute enough I was able to start a business from it. I’m blessed to be supported by my community and I work hard to provide them with a solution that is exactly what they want and nothing they don’t.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
In our community our largest obstacle is chronic disease without a clear diagnosis or treatment. Unfortunately when medical knowledge fails, there’s an inevitable swarm of snake oil salesman waiting to take advantage of desperate and suffering people. So our community is the antidote to those who would take advantage of us. We are attempting to use diet and lifestyle to improve our lives to the best our ability and what we’re finding is a new normal that beyond just putting the symptoms of chronic illness and disease at bay we’re unlocking new levels of health we never thought possible. We share our stories and support one another to achieve the very best that life has to offer.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There have been many instances that I have almost given up. Almost too many to count. The problem for me with quitting is that I depend on my product for my daily life. I am actually a carnivore. I am very sensitive to a cheap ubiquitous food product: seed oils. Almost all processed food and food not made at home are cooked in it. It makes me feel very sick. Because of this it’s almost impossible for me to travel without making pemmican and if I quit the business then I have to make it in my kitchen to keep living this way. I’m just not willing to go back to sacrificing all of my weekends making pemmican again. To me it’s expensive personally for me to keep fighting for this business, but in the end it’s worth it. I can’t give up on it, and I know I’m not alone in that feeling as our wonderful customers continue to support us despite the rising cost of beef. Our fans are amazing.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I think where smart people are really getting the world wrong is that they’re under valuing quality food. Our world is extremely competitive and as it gets more and more competitive corners are cut that biologically that just don’t make sense for our health. Capitalism is basically a basically a game of monopoly where things inevitably consolidate until the most efficient and best investor owns everything. When it comes to food however this consolidation is causing a lot of unseen cost in the form of food quality. We live in a world where it’s never been easier to get calories but never been harder to get nutrient dense foods that are fresh and local. This modern paradox deserves more thought and more attention. As a brand we take food quality very seriously and so do our customers.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
I think a lot of people don’t understand that my business is primarily philanthropy. I may not make anything from my company for decades. A lot of founders are in the same boat that they are trying to build something in the world that makes a difference and that money is secondary to impact. My intended impact is to provide a meaningful and reliable tool to people with food sensitivities. If I someday get to retire from that then great but I’d be happy if I’m just able to make a difference in people’s lives. I’m happy to spend my life doing just that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://carnivorebar.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecarnivorebar/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-meece-14992a119/
- Twitter: https://x.com/thecarnivorebar
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecarnivorebar/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxZFMiYvePhxl11uMCHB5eA
