Brooke Helsel was helping her family go through her grandpa’s belongings, after his passing, and stumbled upon the inspiration for The Beef Boutique, a western fashion retailer and now, a place for customers to purchase her family’s historic Dot Seven Ranch beef.
“It all started with the ‘Make Mine Beef’ slogan. When my grandpa passed away, we were going through his stuff and he had a hat that we found that said ‘Make Mine Beef.’ It was a 70’s style hat and was really old and falling apart. He was my hero and it was my way of honoring him. We started with that slogan on hats, t-shirts, mugs and decals.”
“After coining the phrase “Make Mine Beef” in a blog post, I received requests for hats with that phrase on them. Surprisingly, people from all over the US were buying these hats… and from there this boutique was born.”
The blog that Helsel is referring to, was called “Meet Your Beef.” She created the blog after realizing her passion for connecting consumers to the beef they buy.
“After working in the industry a few years out of college, I quickly developed a strong desire to bridge the gap between producers and consumers. That’s when this little dream of mine began.”
Helsel began sharing stories of the ranching life, and just a few years later, has established herself as a respected advocate for the beef industry. However, she had many more goals in mind for The Beef Boutique than selling clothing and writing blogs. One of those goals was to offer Dot Seven Ranch beef products through home delivery and local pickup.
“Selling beef has always been one of my goals and it was an idea I had a long time ago, along with that came my passion for advocating my industry. I wanted to start small and wasn’t able to sell beef at the time, but I had an entrepreneurial spirit and I wanted to learn how to start and run a successful business and so The Beef Boutique was born because I had a love and passion for our industry and wanted to promote it.”
For the first few years of TBB, Helsel focused on selling apparel, but in April 2019, she and her family started working on selling beef through the boutique.
“My husband and I took the idea, to sell beef, to my mom in April of 2019. We figured out how to work it as a business- we could buy the cattle from her, take them to market weight and determine processing facilities and then sell the beef.”
“The goal is to bring awareness to the beef industry as a whole, while also making a name for the ranch. Someday my brother(Brett) and I will be the next generation of the family operation so it is a way to put money back into the ranch, which will benefit us in the future.”
“I feel like we have a great product. I am passionate about telling our story and want people to know where their food comes from. If they are interested in learning more, then I want to be there to tell them.”
Helsel knows that making connections with her followers on social media is how she can educate consumers and promote her products.
“I want there to be a personal connection. I don’t want people to feel like a number. I want to interact and be conversational. I feel like when I go comment on other people’s photos then it comes back full circle. When I am busy, then I’m not getting a lot out of Instagram as far as sales go. It’s about the pretty pictures, but it’s also about making connections with people and that’s what I aim to do.”
Helsel has a great team of supporters and knows how to prioritize each aspect of her life in order to help them thrive in the best way they can. Between her full-time job at an animal health company, raising her son, Jaxon, with her husband, Reed, and helping her father, mother and brother continue the Dot Seven Ranch legacy, she keeps pretty busy.
“I prioritize my most important things to least important each day. It goes family, career, Dot Seven then TBB. I fit it in when I can. I would love to do more, but I have had to learn to give myself grace. I hate not doing everything 110 percent, so I have learned that I have to ask for help, from my mom and husband, plus, I have Katie McDougald who handles The Beef Boutique side to help with marketing, events and the website. And my dad is instrumental in helping us with Jaxon, or on the ranch during big days, even though he’s always owned an insurance business and worked in town.”
“My mom is instrumental in carrying on traditions of what my grandfather started. My goal is to be able to continue the tradition and love for the industry so Jaxon can have that opportunity. It’s important for Reed and I to be able to provide him the option. That is what I am most grateful for; my mom saw it as an opportunity for my brother and I to carry it on.”
“We all love anything with cows, my whole family is obsessed, and it brings us together as a family. It is enjoyable to see the other side and get to know where our product ends up. We love knowing when customers love our product and it’s rewarding.”
Be sure to follow The Beef Boutique on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. If you are curious about any of the Dot Seven Ranch beef, or TBB apparel, head to www.thebeefboutiqueca.com and look for them at local events in the community!
