ButcherBox chief executive Mike Salguero is finally getting that national brick-and-mortar retail rollout that he’s been seeking for several years.
As it turns out, he found the answer at his daughters’ favorite department store: Target.
On Thursday, ButcherBox unveiled a partnership that’s placing five different fresh, grass-fed beef products supplied by Salguero’s Watertown firm on the shelves of nearly 1,500 Target stores across the country.
Salguero cofounded ButcherBox in 2015, as a way of shipping healthier, more humanely raised meat and seafood products to consumers via a subscription service. That core business has gone well lately, with 10 percent year-over-year growth in 2025, and revenue exceeding $570 million, by tapping into a base of nearly 450,000 US subscribers.
In 2019, Salguero realized ButcherBox was missing out on an important market by not selling through a retail partner, and the company began exploring the idea. He hoped the ButcherBox credo would resonate not just with subscribers, but with potential retail partners as well.
“We represent a different way of doing meat, a more ethical way, a more conscientious way,” Salguero said.
In recent years, the firm ran a limited trial of selling frozen meat products through BJ’s Wholesale Club in the Northeast, and another involving local upscale markets such as Volante Farms in Needham and Pemberton Farms Marketplace in Cambridge, without much success.
Last year, ButcherBox chief commercial officer Reba Hatcher established a link with Target, by starting to sell meat through the Minneapolis company’s Target Plus online marketplace. That relationship blossomed into the retail launch taking place this week. Salguero said Target has been open to showcasing other direct-to-consumer brands, such as Harry’s razors and Casper mattresses.
Now, ButcherBox has joined the ranks of former online-only brands showing up on Target store shelves — with its fresh cuts of beef selling for $8 to $14 a pound.
“It took a lot of work and a lot of luck,” Salguero said. “It’s the right place at the right time with the right partner.”
Plus, now he can brag about his day job to his three daughters the next time they go shopping together for clothes. He said: “They think I’m a hero now.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
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