Small Business Spotlight: A Discussion with Aubry Walch, co-owner of The Herbivorous Butcher

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

Aubry Walch

In 2016, siblings Aubry and Kale Walch opened the country’s first vegan butcher shop, The Herbivorous Butcher, in NE Minneapolis. It was audacious, but the two had build a reputation at local farmers markets and knew the demand for their tasty plant-based products. We talked to Aubry about the history of the business, their best sellers, and how to follow their news. Stop by at 507 1st Avenue NE during business hours and try some of their delicious creations!

Above and below, the welcoming shop at 507 1st Avenue NE.

Q:  What’s the history of The Herbivorous Butcher? What inspired you to become a vegan butcher and to begin your business?

A:  We started at the Minneapolis Farmers Market with a six-foot table, a small counter top fridge, and a dream. We were cooking out of Kindred Kitchen, which is a community kitchen in north Minneapolis. Both of us had day jobs, zero experience, and no money - but we cooked on Thursday and Friday nights after work, and with the help of our mom and my husband we made it work. We sold food at the farmers market both Saturday and Sunday mornings. We sold out our first day at the market and knew we were onto something, so we made a little more every week and still kept selling out.

We were inspired by climate change and the increasing need for cleaner proteins - cleaner for both our bodies and the environment. And we were both vegan and feeling very uninspired by the options that were on the market back then. We knew we could do better and create proteins that both vegans and their non-vegan friends and family members would love. It’s important for everyone to have foods that they can share with the ones they love, even if they’re vegan. 

Q:  How do you approach replicating the flavors and textures of traditional meats?

A:  When we started, Kale had gone vegan only a few years before so it was still fresh in his memory. Plus, we had our omnivorous friends and family who willingly tried all our successful and not so successful trial recipes. We had a lot of input!

Huli Huli Ribs

Large Charcuterie Board

Pepperoni

Smoky house ribs

Q:  What’s the most popular item on your menu? 

A:  We have several heavy-hitters but I think it’s still between the Korean ribs and our Pastrami - both very classic recipes which I think people like. However, it seems like our fried chicken is coming in pretty strong as a popular product, too, and for obvious reasons, everyone LOVES fried chicken!

Q:  What are the primary ingredients in your products?

A:  For our meats we typically use a high-protein wheat flour which is high in protein but low in carbohydrates, a nice clean protein. And then from there we use different juices, nutritional yeast for the good B vitamins, spices, etc. We also use a lot of jackfruit, which is a fantastic source of fiber and is gluten free. As far as our cheeses, they are soy and coconut-based for the most part, and we also have a few that are almond-based. And of course, everything we make is 100% cholesterol free. 

Q:  Do you offer cooking tips or recipes for your products?

A:  We do! Our website has a number of recipes, plus Kale and I put out The Herbivorous Butcher Cookbook a couple years ago. In the cookbook you’ll find not only recipes that you can use our products in, but also recipes for our favorite vegan meats and cheeses so you can make them at home if you wish.

Q:  How do you see vegan butchery evolving in the future?

A:  That’s a tough question to answer. A vegan butcher shop is very much a labor of love. This stuff can be mass produced just like anything else: Impossible Foods, Beyond, Daring, Gardein - they’ve all done a version of it, but with huge machines. 

I think and hope that vegan butcher shops, although few and far between, will continue forward.

The beauty of small batch vegan meats and cheeses is that we have room to be as inventive and experimental as we want because we don’t have limitations. And each and every item is handmade with love and artistry. The food tastes better because we’re using real ingredients and there’s an actual human making sure that what our customers are getting is the best product we can possibly make. I’m so proud to work with such talented vegan butchers in our kitchen.

Q:  How may we follow your news?

A: You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and our website.

Aubry's brother Kale with their pot roast product

The Herbivorous Butchers, Aubry and Kale Walch :)