Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gary Wall. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Gary, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I grew up on my parents’ dairy farm in Wisconsin, surrounded by farming from a young age. Dairy farming focused on milk production, but as I got older, my brothers and I wanted to branch out into raising beef cattle and pigs. We had extra space on the farm, and with my dad’s approval, we started raising livestock. Initially, we used the meat for our family, but as neighbors and friends began asking for it, we started selling to them as well.

When I later moved to Minnesota, friends in the city began asking me for farm-fresh meat. However, there were challenges. They didn’t have the freezer space to store the larger quantities we were selling, and I didn’t have an easy way to get it to them. Around the same time, COVID hit, and supermarket shortages created an even greater demand for farm-fresh meat.

All these factors came together, and I saw an opportunity to start a subscription box business focused on delivering high-quality meat. From there, it was a steep learning curve. Figuring out how to ship meat across the country in the middle of summer, finding other farmers and butcher shops to partner with—none of it was easy. There were countless phone calls, emails, Google searches, and YouTube videos to learn the ropes.

Through trial and error, including some shipments that arrived unfit to eat, we refined our processes. Eventually, we reached a point where we could successfully ship meat to places like Florida in the heat of summer without any issues. As we built out our supply chain, finding farms mostly through word of mouth, we focused on getting the word out and letting people know Dude Food was officially in business.

Gary, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m the founder of Dude Food, a subscription box service that delivers high-quality, farm-fresh meat from local American family farmers directly to customers all over the U.S. I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, so agriculture has always been a huge part of my life. My journey into the meat business started when my brothers and I added beef cattle and pigs to our family’s dairy farm. What began as providing meat for our family grew into supplying our neighbors and friends, and eventually led to the idea for Dude Food when I saw a demand for farm-fresh meat from friends in the cities.

Dude Food focuses on two main goals. First, we support local American family farmers. We believe in creating a more stable and sustainable meat system, one that moves away from corporate factory farming. By working directly with family-owned farms (and utilizing our own farm), we’re not only providing healthier, more humane ranching practices for the animals and the soil, but we’re also helping ensure that these smaller farms can thrive. Most of todays meat you find in the supermarket comes from overseas or is controlled by giant, international corporations. These companies do not care about you or the farmers, they only care about the profits. We are here to put a stop to the 1,000’s of family farms going out of business every year.

Second, we provide a trusted, clean, and healthy source of meat for men across America. Whether you’re working toward specific health goals or simply want a premium source of meat to impress your friends at the grill, we’re dedicated to delivering the best. Our products are 100% free of additives, preservatives, and artificial ingredients, so our customers can feel confident about the food they’re putting on their plates.

What sets us apart is our commitment to quality—both in the meat we sell and the mission we support. Unlike the mass-produced meats found in most grocery stores, our customers know exactly where their food comes from. We’re proud to be part of a movement that promotes better farming practices while providing customers with a source of meat they can trust.

What I’m most proud of is the positive impact we’re making for both farmers and consumers. It’s incredibly rewarding to know that Dude Food helps support family farms while also delivering premium meat that can elevate any meal. For potential clients, followers, or fans, I want them to know that our brand is about more than just selling meat—it’s about creating a better, more sustainable food system for everyone.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

A lot of people are intimidated by the costs of starting a business, but the truth is, it’s simpler today than ever before. It’s not like back in the 1950s when you needed to rely on a giant factory to make your product and TV ads were the only way to reach customers. I launched Dude Food without any outside capital—not a single penny from friends or family. I started with just a couple thousand dollars I had saved up.

Instead of focusing on how to raise a lot of money upfront, I concentrated on building a profitable business from day one. If you have a product people want and you provide great service, you can grow your business one customer at a time. Get that first customer, reinvest the profits into getting a second, and keep building from there.

Social media is also an incredible tool. You can find someone with, say, 3,000 followers, ship them your product for $10, and odds are they’ll post about it. Right there, your product gets exposure to 3,000 people for just $10. Plus, you get a review, user-generated content, and a potential relationship that could lead to more.

It would be amazing if you could just put $1,000 into Meta ads and generate $10,000 in sales, but that’s not as common anymore. You need to get creative and be willing to grind, but you definitely don’t need a million dollars to start a business. If you focus on the basics—making a great product, providing excellent service, and using tools like social media strategically—you can make it work with a lot less than people think.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

Here’s a refined version of your answer:

One of the biggest risks we took early on was choosing the name “Dude Food.” It’s definitely a polarizing name. I came up with it while brainstorming around 100 different names on a piece of paper, and when I wrote “Dude Food,” I had a lightbulb moment—it just felt right. But when I started telling people, I got a lot of laughs and questions about why I’d use a name that seemed to exclude half the population (women). Even now, people still find it funny. But that was the point.

I started this company with just a couple thousand dollars, competing in a meat industry dominated by multi-billion dollar corporations. If I had named the company something generic like “Gary’s Farm Fresh Meats” or “Premium Meat Company,” we wouldn’t have stood out at all. The name had to be memorable. I knew we were onto something when we attended our first trade show. Almost everyone who walked by saw our name, paused, repeated it to themselves, and then laughed. It was sticking in their minds, which is exactly what we wanted.

Our goal was to capture a specific niche. If we could resonate with even 0.01% of the meat-eating men in the country, we’d be in a position to drive hundreds of millions in sales, supporting countless family farmers in the process. Since then, we’ve fully embraced the brand. People either connect with it and want to buy, or they think it’s silly or off-putting—but either way, they remember us, and that’s what matters.

For anyone starting out, you have to be different—you don’t have a choice. You can’t compete by simply outspending your competition at the beginning. You need to take risks, do something bold, and stand out from the crowd.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dudefoods.co
• Instagram: @dudefoods.co
• Facebook: @dudefoods.co
• Linkedin: @dudefoods.co
• Twitter: @dudefoods.co
• Youtube: Dude Food

Image Credits

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