Rick Nicholas, who founded Newport Meat Co. in 1975 and sold it to Sysco Corp. in 1999, is back with a new meat venture—this time with son Adam Nicholas.
Last month, they launched Corona del Mar-based 35degreessteaks.com, an online retailer of high-end meat usually found only in upscale restaurants.
Rick Nicholas calls it a modern version of what he did at Newport Meat.
“When I sold Newport Meat, the Internet was still in infancy,” Rick Nicholas said. “There was no email. It was all new.”
The 61-year-old Rick Nicholas, who had been in retirement since selling Newport Meat, started 35degreessteaks.com with his 26-year-old son after he graduated from University of San Diego and persuaded his father to start a business together.
Rick Nicholas is technical director and partner at 35°. Adam Nicholas is managing partner.
“We learned that you can’t buy the same quality meat at a market, Costco or even a butcher shop that compares to what is available at a top-tier restaurant,” Rick Nicholas said.
Sysco and Newport Meat is supplying steaks, lamb chops, pork ribs and other products for 35°. Newport Meat provides meat to restaurants and hotels, including Spago, The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, Fleur de Lys Restaurant in San Francisco and The Daily Grill, among others.
Thirty-five Degrees selects the top meat from Newport Meat and ages it for three to nine weeks. Pieces are center cut and over trimmed, eliminating fat and bone, according to Rick Nicholas (see related item in Executive Dining, page 14).
The company’s products include a 10-pound single cut box, a pre-selected six to 10 pound assortment or a customized 10 to 12 pound box.
Prices range from $250 to $550. Customers can get various cuts of Agriculture Department Prime and Certified Angus Beef as well as Kurobota and Salmon Creek natural pork and Colorado lamb.
Overnight shipping is $25 to $50.
“People can pay a little more for the absolute best rather than pay for a hit or miss, which is characteristic of meat at your local supermarket,” Rick Nicholas said.
The company has started shipping local orders and plans to start national shipments this week.
Fresh Shipping
The products are shipped fresh using thermal packaging.
The Nicholases hope fresh shipping will set their company apart from Nebraska’s omahasteaks.com Inc., the biggest online seller of meat, which ships products frozen.
“There’s a chemical change with frozen meat,” Rick Nicholas said. “It explodes during the freezing process, which leaves the meat dryer, meatier and it just doesn’t taste good.”
Each shipment comes with recipes, instructions on how to store the meat and a thermometer for cooking.
The company’s website has information about meat, including recipes, a blog, details about grades of meat, and myths and facts about meat production.
Meat is in Rick Nicholas’ blood. He started Newport Meat shortly after graduating from the University of Southern California, selling meat from the back of a yellow Volkswagen station wagon.
When Newport Meat was sold in 1999, the company had about $100 million in yearly revenue, according to a Los Angeles Times article.
Under Sysco, the largest supplier of food to restaurants and others with yearly revenue of about $38 billion, Newport Meat has grown, moving into bigger offices in Irvine.
Using Newport Meat to fill orders was a given, according to Rick Nicholas, who has retained a relationship with the business he started.
He hired the company’s current president, Tim Hussman, and head cutter Larry Brouillette years ago.
“They welcomed me back,” Rick Nicholas said. “They think it’s so cool I’m teaching the business to my son.”
Newport Meat is one of five companies in the U.S. to get the top meat products.
“They have the capacity to handle our business,” Rick Nicholas said.
His goal at 35° is to reach yearly sales of $250 million and hand the reins over to his son while staying on as chairman or an adviser.
Startup Costs
The Nicholases funded the startup themselves. It cost about $300,000 to create the website and online store as well as additional costs to develop the “cold chain management” engineering and packaging with an outside company, Ernest Packaging Solutions in Commerce.
Newport Meat packages and ships products using 35degreessteaks.com labels and packaging.
The company plans to use traditional and online marketing to target luxury customers.
“The luxury buyer has returned in a lot of markets,” Rick Nicholas said. “We’re hoping that includes a return in the food marketplace.”
Gomez is a former Business Journal editor and freelance writer based in Long Beach.
