A Chiang Mai cattle ranch built on Thai-American genetics, 120-day finishing on peanut and cashew, and an obsession with the cold chain. Owned and operated by Meatha and Ben.
We are Meatha and Ben. We run a working cattle ranch in Chiang Mai that combines what each of us was raised with: Thai pastoral instinct and American beef-grading discipline. The result is the finest table beef being produced in Thailand today, and the only Thai operation we know of with a 2023 World Champion Black Wagyu bull standing in its breeding barn.
We don't outsource. We raise the cattle, finish them on a high-fat ration of peanut and cashew powder for the final 120 days, harvest with our own staff in our own facility, age in a sterile chill room for one week, break to primals in refrigerated rooms, and ship in sub-zero certified containers. Every step under our roof, with our hands.
We also judge cattle shows and mentor the next generation of Thai cattlemen. What we know is meant to be passed on โ to our customers, to our restaurant guests, to the young ranchers who will inherit this work after us.
"You can fake a label. You cannot fake a steak."โ Meatha & Ben Cunningham
founders.jpgEvery cut at Thai Beef has gone through the same four-step protocol โ from the moment a calf hits the grass to the moment a steak hits the freezer. The shortcuts that other producers take are exactly the ones that taste like shortcuts.
Calves graze open Chiang Mai pasture under managed rotation, on water and grass we monitor daily.
Months 0โ18For the final 120 days, mature cattle receive identical high-fat rations from local peanut and cashew powder โ the marbling shows up here.
Final 120 daysOur own staff at our harvest facility. One full week in a sterile chill room before any blade touches the carcass.
Day 1 โ Day 7Broken to primals and steaks in refrigerated rooms, stored sub-zero, shipped in certified frozen containers.
Sub-zero throughoutchampion-bull.jpgIn 2023 we acquired the World Champion Black Wagyu bull from a top farm in Chiang Mai โ the genetics that anchor our breeding program. He is not for sale, but his offspring fill our pastures, and his bloodline is what makes our marbling consistent across every cut we put a Thai Beef stamp on.
He is, candidly, the reason a steak from Thai Beef tastes like a steak from Thai Beef. Genetics decide what's possible; everything else is just whether we ruin it.
Buy direct from the ranch in Chiang Mai. Or eat what we grow at our restaurant โ same beef, on a plate, with a wine list.
Address coming โ call ahead
Chiang Mai Province, Thailand
Tours by appointment
Address coming
Chiang Mai ยท same-day reservations welcome
Open dinner ยท closed Mondays
"The best beef I've eaten in Thailand, and I have eaten a lot of beef in Thailand."โ Chiang Mai-based food writer
"I run a steakhouse and I source from Thai Beef now. The marbling is the closest thing to A5 Japanese I've found in this country."โ Restaurant chef, Bangkok
"Meatha and Ben gave us a tour of the ranch and it changed how I think about Thai agriculture entirely. Real ranchers, real product."โ Wholesale buyer, hotel group