Walmart is no stranger to asserting its dominance in the retail industry. Ever since the first Walmart opened its doors in 1962, the chain has followed a highly effective model that utilizes strategies like competitive pricing, strategic store placement, and improving efficiency by streamlining supply chains. These strategies have not only helped the chain grow to a global retail superpower, but they are also evidenced in Walmart’s latest move: opening a beef-processing plant in Olathe, Kansas in late June of 2025.
Walmart is already known for stocking its meat department with high-quality beef, and this move will make it even easier for the chain to focus on controlling this product supply. It also helps the local communities of Olathe and surrounding towns, where it created approximately 600 new jobs as a result of opening this case-ready processing plant. The company sees it as a first step in providing what it calls an “end-to-end supply chain for Angus beef” (via Walmart). The beef processed and packaged at this plant was opened to supply beef to its stores throughout the Midwest.
Walmart is no stranger to beef
While this move could be great for Walmart customers who are accustomed to shopping at a chain that already charges lower prices for many items than some of its competitors (like Trader Joe’s), this move isn’t surprising (and not just due to the company’s approach at having a tight grip on its supply chains in an effort to control pricing and keep costs down). Walmart has also previously taken steps to involve itself more directly in the beef supply chain for its retail locations.
The company previously entered into a partnership with a meat processing plant in Thomasville, Georgia back in 2020. That move was twofold. From a customer standpoint, it was an effort to streamline manufacturing to offer more transparency and lower prices to customers. From a corporate standpoint, it helped to reduce the company’s reliance on the already heavily consolidated beef industry. Walmart also holds stake in Nebraska-based cattle company Sustainable Beef, which sources cattle in Kansas.
Regardless of whether or not there are good and bad days for shopping at Walmart, there is no doubt that customers will continue to enjoy affordable beef with its new Kansas processing plant. And with agriculture — particularly grain and livestock production — being the top industry for Kansas, Walmart customers in the Midwest can also enjoy the quality that is expected from Kansas-raised livestock.
