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Sunday, February 16th
Crowd Cow began in 2015 with a mission to bring delicious, sustainable food to customers from ethical farms worldwide. The company aims to help people enjoy great meals from home with food that's better for you, better for the earth, better for the animals, and better for hard working farmers. Crowd Cow says they taste-test every product they sell, from free-range organic chicken to pasture-raised beef.
27 steak varieties
The categories of meats you can buy from Crowd Cow include grass-fed beef, Japanese wagyu, pasture-raised chicken, sustainable seafood, heritage pork, American wagyu, and even bison, lamb, and duck. There are 27 varieties of steak available including filet mignon, New York strip steak, boneless ribeye, flank steak, Denver steak, and more. Prices range from $19.99 for a 16 oz flank steak to $34.99 for a filet mignon. Each product listed shows exactly what farm it comes from and its location. We like this transparency and it's not something we see from very many online steak companies.
Free steaks with subscription
For first-time customers, you can cash in and get free steaks for a year with your recurrent orders. You can choose between an A5 wagyu striploin, 2 mishima top sirloins, or 2 New York strips. You can create custom boxes at Crowd Cow or choose one of their curated options that include a mix of steak strips, tenderloin steaks, whole chickens, ground beef, ribeyes, salmon, chicken breasts, bacon, and other quality meats. The cost of custom boxes vary based on the meats and quantities you choose to add. All boxes can be a one-time purchase or become a recurrent delivery every 4, 6, or 8 weeks.
Subscribe and save
For every dollar spent at Crowd Cow, you can earn one point that adds up to save you money on future orders. However, if you're an email subscriber you get double points, so you can save more faster. 500 points could get you two sirloin steaks, $10 off an order total, two packages of ground lamb, or a filet mignon. If you earn up to 2,000 points, you'll be able to earn two Japanese Wagyu ribeye steaks, cold cracked wild Maine lobster, $50 off your next order, or another great product.
No explicitly-stated customer satisfaction promises
Most orders are shipped the day after they are placed and take 1-3 days to arrive. They are packed with dry ice, but Crowd Cow does say that unexpected transit delays could cause an order to arrive slightly thawed. As long as it is at 40 degrees or below, it is still safe to consume or re-freeze. Partial thawing may reduce the quality, but it's still safe to eat. Crowd Cow doesn't explicitly say they have a satisfaction guarantee, but they do recommend getting in contact with their customer service team by phone if you have any issues.
Some glaring issues
Crowd Cow has an "F” rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Yikes! Sometimes this is due to one or two complaints that have gone without responses, but in this case Crowd Cow had 31 complaints and failed to respond to 12 of them. What makes it even harder to turn a blind eye to this is the fact that their third-party reviews are just as bad. Most people are extremely disappointed with the quality of meat they receive here and some people even say they ended up throwing a lot of it away. For the price, customers complain that portions are small and packaging is terrible. Their customer service seems like it's mostly unreliable, which is extremely disappointing.
Unfiltered reviews
On the flipside, Crowd Cow allows unfiltered reviews on their products (hundreds of them). We found these to be incredibly insightful since the meats are sourced from different places and some people are delighted by a particular product and especially love all the meats that come from one farm or another. We aren't overlooking Crowd Cow's poor BBB rating and won't give them a pass on some of their issues, but they do have high ratings from people directly on their website and that's worth looking into if you're considering buying from this steak company.
Pros and cons
There are a lot of pros and cons with Crowd Cow. We like their selection, transparency with where their steaks come from, and how easy it is to mix and match products to create boxes for yourself. However, the steaks at Crowd Cow are not USDA-graded. Because of their small operations, the company says it doesn't make sense for them, but they stand by the quality of their products. USDA-graded meats like Prime, Choice, or Select usually fall into the top 1% of all meats and are known for their rare and supreme quality. This is something that many people look for when buying steak online, so it's important to note that you won't get it here. Some negative customer reviews and their poor Better Business Bureau rating are also concerning. Overall, Crowd Cow isn't a top pick for us, but it's a steak company we will keep an eye on in future years to see if they can improve their customer satisfaction all around.
Whether you're in a warm climate and anxious to start grilling up your favorite meats for your friends and family or want to make a classy, cozy, indoor home-cooked meal with some high-quality steaks, you'll need the right place to get them from. We don't all live close to a farm with a local butcher on call to supply us with all the cuts of beef we want, but that doesn't mean we can't keep our fridge and freezer stocked with juicy, sustainably-sourced, grass-fed ribeye or filet mignon.
Knowing where your food comes from is important, and it's easiest when you have highly-rated companies you can learn and buy from. Buying steaks online can actually be a much smarter way to shop since you can vet the company and get more information on the meat you're buying, rather than if you just grabbed something off a shelf at your local store.
Online, you can learn how a company started, where their meat comes from, what their cattle is fed, whether or not they follow organic practices, what types of experiences customers have had with the company, and so much more. When you're browsing through all the delectable options that a steak company offers, you may be surprised to find some other great perks as well.
Many companies offer free shipping, free gifts, loyalty points, and sitewide sales. Buying meat online is probably less expensive than you'd imagine. There are also options to add on other items like chicken, pork, turkey, seasonings, dressings, desserts, and anything else you fancy. You can get days or even months worth of meals delivered straight to your doorstep.
And last but not least, while you're stocking up on steaks for yourself, think about those people in your life who are hard to find gifts for. Steaks make an enjoyable, thoughtful gift that can easily be sent to anyone you want. Steak companies carefully package and prepare the meats they send in a way that ensures their freshness upon arrival no matter how far they have to travel. Wouldn't you be excited to find top-tier beef on your porch?
There are quite a few variables that come into play when choosing where to buy steaks online. No two companies are the same, so we have come up with a short list of things to keep in mind when you're deciding who to buy from:
Some of the highest-quality steaks are out there and ready for you to enjoy. Top Consumer Reviews has thoroughly researched the most important details about popular steak companies you can buy from online. We hope this information helps you find a company that will allow you and your family to indulge in tender, juicy steaks whenever you have a craving for them.
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