Jered Standing, a popular Los Angeles butcher and advocate for ethical and sustainable meat sourcing, died last week at age 44. According to a report from the Los Angeles County medical examiner, he was found dead in his home on February 22.
In 2017, Standing opened his Standing's Butchery store in Hancock Park, which quickly became a benchmark for both sourcing and service. It wasn't unusual to find himself standing behind the counter, recommending cooking techniques for each cut in the meat case or showing off the latest flavor of his rainbow of homemade sausages.
The former vegetarian built his company on the premise of animal welfare, sourcing directly from farmers who prioritize free-range habitats, heritage breeds and exclusively grass-based diets. He exercised a zero-waste program at Standing's that incorporated selectively cut leftovers, bones and other byproducts into broths, chili and high-quality dog food and treats. He also taught customers the importance of closed-loop farming and other sustainable practices through intimate butchery classes in-store and online through his social media channels.
Standing wasn't always in love with the craft. An early job at a local grocery store exposed the future butcher to industrial agriculture and what he called “the mistreatment of animals” when they were raised for marketed meat, a big boost to his years of vegetarianism.
He later felt that implementing change could come in the form of more conscious consumerism and allowing him to eat meat again.
“Not eating meat doesn't put any pressure on the industry to change like being a conscious meat eater does,” Standing told Los Angeles Magazine. in 2016. “If you don't eat meat, as a meat seller, you're just not my customer. But if you're buying someone else's meat and not mine, and I'm watching, then the pressure is on me to see what I'm doing and why you're buying from that guy.”
As he set out to learn more about the meat trade and proselytize a more sustainable meat system, he slept in his $500 Toyota Corolla and on a friend's couch while he found financial footing. A stint in the meat department at Whole Foods helped him learn the basics of butchery and saw him search refrigerated trailers, headlights on, to find 28- to 30-pound turkeys for customers. on thanksgiving.
He supplemented this education with shifts at Salt's Cure and watching butcher breakdown videos on YouTube in the evenings, until he eventually became Belcampo's head butcher. A few years later he left to open his own business, Standing's. His butcher shop on Melrose Avenue became a beacon for the community, whether for its praised sidewalk burger pop-ups or for help serve Los Angeles during the pandemicespecially since big box retailers were running out of meat and pantry staples.
He had planned to open a butcher shop on the west side and aspired to own a restaurant.
“At best, I hope it's inspiring,” he wrote about his life story in an Instagram post from 2022. “I remember how impossible it seemed when I set out to open my own business. It seemed like everyone I asked how they got started already had a lot of money or had a rich relative who wrote them a big check. I grew up on the free lunch program at school and worked a series of low-paying jobs since I was 15.
“But, by that time, I had already seen how much really hard work can really pay off. Who knows? I am an ambitious person. As such, I spend much of my time focused on the future. Thinking about everything I want and still don't have. But every once in a while I take time to look back and reflect. “To see how far I've come.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
