Damian’s Craft Meats

Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI 48106
Michigan / Washtenaw

Our mission is to celebrate all parts of the animals we process, in all their glory, returning to a closer connection with our food. We offer traditional cuts of meat and customized cuts through custom-exempt on-farm processing services. We customize any order for any occasion!

For the past eight years, in partnership with local farmers, consumers, and distributors, Damian's Craft Meats has been working to bring local meat to the table in Southeast Michigan. This project is driven by life and business partners, Damian Rivera and Rosemary Linares, Co-founders and Co-owners of Damian’s Craft Meats. Collaboratively with others, they are leveraging public and private investments to actualize their vision for a more equitable and sustainable local food system.

At present Damian’s Craft Meats has partnered with local farmers to provide on-farm slaughter and meat processing services in this region. In this capacity, Damian processes custom-exempt products that are not required to go through USDA inspection. The scale of this work is an important step on the road to advancing Damian’s Craft Meats’ vision of launching a new USDA-inspected slaughterhouse in Southeast Michigan. Based on the findings in our feasibility study and the growing interest amongst local farmers to expand local meat processing, Damian’s Craft Meats will be a lynchpin in the local meat value chain. There is a quantifiable gap between the local demand and local supply of meat within Southeast Michigan. Damian’s Craft Meats is addressing the bottleneck that connects the two - processing.