Old Salt Co-op has launched a processing plant, butcher shop, & two restaurants. They are proving the demand for local food by remaking the local food economy.
Old Salt Co-op has made incredible progress since our last loan campaign closed almost a year ago. The co-op is now operating a processing plant, a butcher shop, and two restaurants in downtown Helena—The Union and Old Salt Outpost. They are proving the demand for nutritious local food and building out the vital middle-infrastructure businesses to serve that need.
We are now reopening Old Salt Co-op’s campaign for additional participation from the Steward lender network. This will allow for more individual support of Old Salt while freeing up SRC's capital to support new projects.
Given enough time, the land is the hero of every story.
For generations, the founding families of the Old Salt Co-op have been ranching the sweeping hills and valleys in western Montana. The stories of these families are rich with people coming and going, animals coming and going, and ideas coming and going. But the land remains—the common thread uniting and sustaining all the generations that choose to write their stories there.
It is this generational perspective that shaped the idea that would become Old Salt Co-op—a community effort to produce not only incredible meat from sacred land, but also community, ecological abundance, economic independence, regional resilience, and respect for the gifts we’ve been given.
This rich mission of Old Salt stands in stark contrast to the predominant and profit-driven commodity meat production system that degrades entire regions through unchecked extraction—of land, animals, and people.
It is the rise of this consolidation model over the last 80 years that removed the vital food production infrastructure from the landscape. Today, the closest appropriately-sized processing facilities to the ranching families of the Blackfoot Valley are over 500 miles away. Historically, this left ranchers with no choice but to sell their animals into commodity markets for a fraction of their true value.
Thankfully, Old Salt Co-op is building a new way forward.
Old Salt’s new co-operative infrastructure model allows partnering ranches to keep their entire production chain—from pasture to purchaser—rooted in the local food economy. In addition to yielding the highest quality food for customers, the fully-integrated processing and sales outlets allow producers to create more local jobs, highlight the full diversity of their product offerings, and capture more margin to re-invest in the stewardship of their working lands, staff, families, and communities.
Old Salt Co-op is more than just a meat company.
Old Salt’s model is built on the idea that when producers have an alternative to a commodity system that makes their decisions for them and reduces their profits to razor-thin margins, then producers will also have more resources and capacity to invest in the ecological stewardship of their lands. Old Salt intentionally steers away from buzzword branding, which is constantly shifting and can cause division in agricultural communities, in an effort to build connection and investment in sustainable, regional food systems.
With an approved loan of up to $6.275M loan in November 2023, Old Salt Co-op has used $3,631,143.52 of financing from Steward alongside other capital from grants and equity investors. To date, we’ve offered $1,000,000.00 of that financing to participating lenders, while the balance ($2,631,143.52) has been held by Steward Regenerative Capital (SRC).
We are now reopening Old Salt Co-op’s campaign for additional participation from the Steward lender network. This will allow for more individual support of Old Salt while freeing up SRC's capital to support new projects.
We have two exciting updates to share from the Old Salt team:
1. The Union, Old Salt's new butcher shop and restaurant, received its final certificate of occupancy and is now open for business!
2. Old Salt has finally found a property that will allow them to co-locate both the slaughter and processing functions of their business.
The Union
Construction for The Union went smoothly, and we are grateful for your support in getting this local establishment up and running. The Union is an experience deeply rooted in local flavors and community connection. As a wood-fired grill and butcher shop, The Union invites community members to savor a delicious meal on-site or to select premium cuts of locally sourced meat to enjoy at home.
Both The Union and The Outpost, Old Salt's burger joint, are key components of Old Salt's business and enable them to move large amounts of ground beef through their vertically integrated meat business.
A New Property to Co-Locate Slaughter & Processing
After underwriting and approving Old Salt's loan in November of 2023, a unique piece of land came on the market that Old Salt couldn't pass up. Old Salt has spent more than two years looking for a property in the Helena area where zoning regulations would allow both slaughter and processing to be co-located, creating additional efficiencies and providing a long-term benefit to the business. This unique property came on the market earlier this winter, and Old Salt decided this opportunity is their best path forward for developing both slaughter and processing in-house. They purchased the property earlier this year, and Old Salt is now working with their consultants, architects, and engineers to develop plans for this new building.
While no hard construction costs were incurred and no upgrades were made to the previously selected slaughter and processing sites, we acknowledge this is a significant change to the locations and plans that were included in Steward's original underwriting analysis. Please note that there will be no additional construction disbursements related to this Steward loan, and your existing repayment schedule will not be impacted. Steward will separately underwrite any additional lending to the new planned co-located facility. Old Salt is also pursuing several local lending options to lower the cost of capital and is still waiting to hear back about a federal meat processing grant.
We are very excited about the future of Old Salt's business and will keep you posted as plans continue to develop. In the meantime, if you live in the area or find yourself near Helena, MT, we recommend visiting The Union!
Best,
The Steward Team
This loan will be issued to the Montana limited liability companies Old Salt Co-op LLC and all of its fully owned subsidiaries, Butchers Table LLC, Old Salt Meat Company LLC, and Old Salt Outpost LLC.
The total loan amount of $6,275,000.00 will comprise multiple, discrete projects, with funds disbursed across multiple Old Salt business units. Nevertheless, each project is a constituent part of a single loan. Steward will ensure all assets of the Old Salt family of companies provide security for the single loan regardless of the specific use of funds by (a) listing all entities as co-borrowers on the loan, (b) filing a general lien across all business assets at the parent company level, and (c) securing first mortgages on all real property assets.
Uses of funds for this loan include the acquisition, construction, buildout, and operation of a livestock processing facility and related enterprises, including a butcher shop and restaurant, on properties located at 2840 Bozeman Ave, 361 N Last Chance Gulch, 406 N Last Chance Gulch in Helena, MT 59601, and a third property with a purchase price of approximately $350K to be selected during the proposed loan term.
The borrower’s interest rate for this loan is 8%, with a net interest rate of 7.5% being passed on to the lender (accounting for a .5% servicing spread). The loan term is 60 months, with 24 months of interest-only payments starting the first month after the loan is disbursed (the first 18 months of payments are reserved and are being funded from loan proceeds). Beginning in month 25, loan payments will include interest and partially amortized principal payments running on a 20-year amortization schedule.
This loan was originated on November 8, 2023. The loan term is 60 months from this date.
Loan funds will be used to complete the acquisition, construction, buildout, and operation of a livestock processing facility and related enterprises. The capital stack for this project consists of Steward’s senior debt, a subordinate loan through USDA MPILP (Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program) funds administered by Great Falls Economic Development Authority, and borrower equity.
Funds will be used to fund various acquisitions, development, and working capital for the following Old Salt Entities:
Butcher’s Table LLC: approx. $3,470,000.00
Old Salt Meat Company LLC:
Processing: approx. $2,200,000.00 (inclusive of TBD land acquisition)
Abattoir: approx. $1,920,000.00
In total Steward’s senior debt will not exceed $6,275,000.00.
Months 1-24 - Lenders will receive a payment equal to one twelfth (1/12) of 7.5% of their outstanding loan balance. By way of example, a Lender with an outstanding loan amount of $100 would receive a monthly payment of $0.63; a Lender with an outstanding loan amount of $1,000 would receive a monthly payment of $6.25; and a lender with an outstanding loan amount of $25,000 would receive a monthly payment of $156.25.
Months 25-60 - Lenders will receive a consistent payment equal to one twelfth (1/12) of 7.5% of their outstanding loan balance and a repayment of principal following a 20 year amortization schedule. Due to this schedule the loan will balloon at the end of term at which point the remaining outstanding principal will be repaid to Lenders. By way of example:
$100 Participation
A Lender a $100 participation would receive monthly payments of $0.84, split between principal and interest. For month 25 the split would be principal: $0.17 and interest: $0.63. In the following months as the loan is paid down the portion of the payment toward interest reduces and the portion applied to principal increases until the end of the loan term when a $88.78 balloon payment is due.
$1,000 Participation
A Lender with a $1,000 participation would receive monthly payments of $8.36, split between principal and interest. For month 25 the split would be principal: $1.70 and interest: $6.25. In the following months as the loan is paid down the portion of the payment toward interest reduces and the portion applied to principal increases until the end of the loan term when a $877.77 balloon payment is due.
$25,000 Participation
A Lender with a $25,000 participation would receive monthly payments of $209.11, split between principal and interest. For month 25 the split would be principal: $42.44 and interest: $156.25. In the following months as the loan is paid down the portion of the payment toward interest reduces and the portion applied to principal increases until the end of the loan term when a $21,944.21 balloon payment is due.
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