Fort Worth family marks 90 years in meat-packing business with new Stockyards plant
Four generations of the Rosenthal family have stewarded the Standard Meat Company through ups and downs of business throughout the company’s 90-year tenure in Fort Worth.
The company started with a stand in the Public Market building on Lancaster Street, but the meat was supplied and deals done in the Stockyards.
Now the company is opening up its newest plant just outside the Historic Stockyards district with a 180,000 square-foot facility at 1101 NE 23rd St.
Around five million head of cattle ran through the Stockyards in the early 1950s, said company co-president Ben Rosenthal, speaking at a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday.
The area hasn’t seen that kind of production since the Swift Company plant closed down in 1971.
“We are bringing meat production back to Fort Worth, Texas,” Rosenthal said.
The location of the company’s new facility was initially being vetted by filmmaker Taylor Sheridan as a possible production studio, however, its proximity to the nearby railroad tracks caused the deal to fall through, he said.
Bringing meat packing back to Fort Worth was important to the Rosenthals, along with the prospect of locating the facility close to employees who live in the surrounding northside neighborhood.
The facility had to be in a location that was good for employees, Rosenthal said.
He emphasized the importance of their employees to the company’s long-term success.
Rosenthal’s sister and co-president Ashli Rosenthal Blumenfeld recounted a story of when their father Billy Rosenthal took a competitor through a plant showing all the company’s secrets.
She said the one thing the company’s competitors don’t have are its people, adding that it’s the secret sauce that has made Standard Meat Company so successful.
The plant will house the company’s sous vide cooking line, which is the French method that involves vacuum-sealing meat in bags and cooking it under water at a consistent temperature.
Standard Meat began its search for a new production plant after its facility in Dallas reached max capacity, Rosenthal Blumenfeld said.
The new Fort Worth plant will be able to process about twice the amount of meat as the Dallas facilility to start, and could top out at 125 million pounds of meat, Ben Rosenthal said speaking to reporters after the event.
In addition to its sous vide line, the Fort Worth plant will also supply roast beef to Arby’s, Rosenthal Blumenfeld said.
The company got started in 1935 with a stand in the Fort Worth Public Market, and a building at the corner of West Vickery Boulevard and Lipscomb Street.
It initally supplied steaks to hotels and local restaurants, but eventually grew shipping meats across the country aided by the development of cryovac technology, and automated portioning techniques.
This newest plant is the company’s most technelogically advanced, according to a press release.
Not only does it scale the sous vide method of cooking, but is also highly adaptable to meet the needs of individual clients, the release said.
Since taking the reins in 2019, the Rosenthal sibblings have expanded the company from two facilities to five, and earning recognition as 2025 entrepreneurs of the year from accounting firm Ernst and Young.
The company’s other plants are in Saginaw, Dallas, Ponder and Irving.
The Fort Worth plant employs 100 people currently, but could expand to as many as 500 when the building reaches max capacity, Rosenthal said.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker celebrated the plant opening Thursday saying it makes the Stockyards not just a place for visitors, but a place for Fort Worth residents to call home and open businesses.
She thanked the family for their 90 year history in Fort Worth and their committment to the future of the city.
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 7:46 PM.
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