Inside Jedd Yuin’s playbook for growing a meat brand online

The Fat Butcher co-founder shares how smart marketing, clear focus, and customer insight helped turn a small startup into a growing food brand. 

Selling meat products is often not the first priority when starting a business, particularly for young entrepreneurs who are chasing social media trends. But 28-year-old Jedd Yuin made it work by turning The Fat Butcher, a meat and seafood retailer, into a relatable and accessible brand.

Founded in 2020 by Yuin and his brother James, The Fat Butcher started by selling premium cuts like steak through Facebook. In just four years, they’ve grown to three retail stores in Quezon City and Parañaque, with 20 regular employees handling quality control and deliveries.

Here’s how the brothers have made the business work so far—and how they plan to grow the brand further.

Adapting to a changing marketing landscape

Yuin’s first lesson: stay adaptive to where your customers are.

He made sure The Fat Butcher was visible on every major e-commerce platform—Shopee, Lazada, Grab, TikTok—and ready to join emerging ones. Today, the bulk of their sales still comes from online channels.

Before entering the meat market, Yuin ran a distribution business for local baking appliance brands like Kiowa, Hanabishi, KitchenAid, and Oster.

“We would spend so much money on advertising those brands, but our own name wasn’t growing,” Yuin told radar Business. “That’s when we said, if we channel those expenses into our brand, then that’s what will grow in the long term.”

That pivot—from being a distributor to being a brand owner—reflects a common trajectory among Filipino entrepreneurs seeking more control over margins and identity. Instead of building visibility for others, they build equity for their own brands.

The Fat Butcher’s advantage lies in offering imported-quality meat at local-friendly prices—a balance that helped it stand out in a market crowded with resellers.

Knowing your customers

But even strong marketing can fail without the right audience in mind. Yuin said it’s crucial to know who your customers are and what drives them to buy.

He discovered that The Fat Butcher’s most loyal segment wasn’t who he first expected—it was mothers.

“They’re the ones making sure their families eat well,” Yuin said. “Once we realized that, we adjusted our messaging—less about indulgence, more about quality and value.”

That insight underscores how family-oriented marketing remains powerful in the Philippines, where household decision-makers—often women—account for the majority of food purchasing decisions. For emerging brands, understanding these emotional and practical drivers can make the difference between clicks and conversions.

The value of “tunnel vision”

Before The Fat Butcher, Yuin juggled multiple ventures—selling appliances, fried chicken, and more.

“At that time, I thought if I planted many seeds, they’d eventually grow. But it’s wrong,” he said. “You can only handle so much.”

He discovered the importance of establishing a “tunnel vision,” which involves concentrating on a single business, a single brand, and a single strategy until it expands.

It’s a reminder that in the SME landscape, spreading resources too thin is a common trap. Many Filipino founders pursue parallel ventures too early, instead of strengthening one scalable model first.

Scaling smartly

But focus alone isn’t enough. Growth requires a clear plan for expansion. Yuin said his goal is to open five more retail stores outside Metro Manila, starting with Cebu.

This expansion shows a rising appetite for regional market penetration among Metro Manila–based SMEs, driven by logistics improvements and growing middle-class spending in urban centers like Cebu, Davao, and Iloilo.

As Yuin moves toward a nationwide presence, The Fat Butcher’s challenge will be maintaining quality and consistency while adapting to local market preferences—a balance that separates short-lived startups from enduring brands.

For Yuin, entrepreneurship entails a strategic approach that involves swift adaptation, thorough market analysis, and unwavering dedication to a single vision. His story offers a familiar but powerful blueprint for Filipino startups: build your brand where people are, listen to who’s buying, and grow with intent.

 

 

For Yuin, having a “tunnel vision” mindset means channeling all your time and resources into growing one business at a time.

 

 

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