Behind the Brandt Beef Legacy: The Imperial Valley Family Feeding the Festival
Three generations, one valley and a stubborn commitment to doing things the right way. Meet the family behind the beef you'll taste all week long.
Head east from San Diego, climb over the mountains and drop down toward the border, and after a couple of hours the desert suddenly turns green. Welcome to the Imperial Valley, one of the hardest-working farm regions in America, and the place the Brandt family has called home for generations.
If you've eaten a great steak at a San Diego restaurant, there's a decent chance it came from here. And during this year's San Diego Food + Wine Festival, Brandt Beef shows up just about everywhere, from opening night to the Grand Tasting's own Brandt Beef Experience.
Here's the story behind the brand, and why this family matters so much to the region.
Three generations in the Imperial Valley
The Brandt ranch sits outside Brawley, and it has stayed in family hands since 1945. That was an early moment for the California cattle business, when the idea of raising and finishing cattle in one place was still new.
It was the second generation, under Bill Brandt, that took the business to another level. Through the 1970s the ranch expanded many times over, and Bill went on to help lead the industry toward naturally raised beef. These days it's a family affair across the board: Bill's son Mark runs the farming side, growing the crops the cattle eat, and Mark's brother Eric is the managing partner of Brandt Beef.
Doing it the hard way, on purpose
More than 30 years ago, the family took a turn most of the industry wasn't taking. They committed to raising their cattle naturally: no added hormones, no antibiotics and no shortcuts.
They also chose to do almost all of the work themselves. Brandt focuses on one breed, the Holstein, and every animal is raised on Brandt land rather than farmed out to other operations. The grasses and alfalfa in the feed are grown on the family's own fields, where crops are rotated and pests are managed naturally. Nothing goes to waste, either: compost from the ranch ends up helping other businesses in the valley.
Keeping it all in-house means Brandt can follow every product from pasture to package, which is rare in the beef world. And chefs have noticed the difference. In blind tastings judged by the Master Chefs' Institute, Brandt Beef came out on top often enough to earn the organization's Seal of Excellence.
Meet Eric Brandt
Eric grew up around the family feedyard, the third generation of Brandts to raise cattle in the valley. He's also a San Diegan who makes his home in Olivenhain, in North County. With one foot in each place, he connects the fields where the cattle are raised to the dining rooms where the beef is served.
As managing partner, Eric has helped carry the family's reputation well beyond the valley, bringing Brandt Beef to top chefs and restaurants and into markets around the world.
Why the Brandts matter to the community
The Brandt story isn't only about great beef. It's about a family that keeps investing in the place it calls home.
Farming drives the Imperial Valley's economy, and good jobs there have never been easy to come by. So when Brawley's beef-processing plant shut its doors in 2014, the blow was felt everywhere. Hundreds of workers were suddenly out of a job, and ranchers who had sent their cattle down the road now had to haul them much farther away.
Eric decided to do something about it. Through his company, One World Beef, he took on the long and complicated job of buying the closed plant, restoring it and getting it running again. The doors reopened in November 2016. Workers came back, and the valley's ranchers, from large operations to small independent producers, once again had a place to bring their cattle close to home.
That's the kind of commitment that doesn't show up on a menu, but it's part of every bite.
Where to taste Brandt Beef during festival week
Brandt Beef is one of the most visible ingredients of the entire festival. Here's where to find it:
- Icons + Legends Presented by Blacklane (Fri, Nov. 6): Opening night's most decorated chefs put Brandt Beef in the spotlight at the weekend's most exclusive tasting.
- Smoke + Fire Zone, presented by the NASCAR San Diego Street Race (Grand Tasting, Sat, Nov. 7): Chef Jonathon Sawyer and a lineup of local pitmasters cook over live fire.
- Southwest Airlines® VIP Lounge (Grand Weekend, Nov. 7-8): VIP guests can taste Brandt Beef at the lounge's live-fire station, with premium cuts seared over open flames.
- The Brandt Beef Experience (Grand Weekend, Nov. 7-8): The family's own zone, and the place to go all in.
The Brandt Beef Experience
The Brandt Beef Experience is one of the Grand Weekend's signature zones, and it's built for lingering. Local celebrity chefs serve up family-raised beef, bartenders pour craft cocktails, and a DJ sets the soundtrack, all steps from San Diego Bay. It's the ultimate waterfront experience for anyone who takes their beef seriously.
