This episode was recorded live on stage at the 2025 Old Salt Festival in Helmville, Montana, where I had the honor of sitting down with two of the people at the center of this ambitious experiment in food, land, and community: Cole Mannix who is the President and co-founder of the Old Salt Co-op and Andrew Anderson who is the manager of the J Bar L Ranch.
If you’ve been following Old Salt, you know it’s much more than a beef company. It’s a bold attempt to rethink how ranching families, local communities, restaurants, and consumers can work together to create a food system that’s resilient, regenerative, and deeply rooted in place. What strikes me most about Cole, Andrew, and the Old Salt team is just how hard they are working to make this vision a reality. They’re juggling ranching, processing, restaurants, and festivals—businesses that are notoriously difficult on their own—and somehow doing it all with an open spirit of generosity, collaboration, and humility.
In this conversation, we dig into the early days of Old Salt, the failures and lessons that shaped it, and the risks of scaling up in an industry designed to squeeze out small producers. We talk about why they chose to take the harder road of building restaurants and hosting a one-of-a-kind festival, how they measure success beyond the spreadsheet, and why they believe community is as important a product as the beef itself.
Even if you don’t work in food or ranching, the lessons here resonate for anyone trying to build a purpose-driven business. We cover everything from balancing mission and margins, to leading with vulnerability, to learning how to grow without losing sight of your values.
Cole and Andrew are quick to admit they don’t have it all figured out, but their candor, persistence, and vision make this a conversation I know you’ll find as inspiring as I did. Enjoy!
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Header photo by Ed, headshots courtesy of Old Salt
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RESOURCES:
Topics Discussed:
- 0:00 – Intro, spirit of generosity
- 3:38 – Starting at the beginning of Old Salt with Cole
- 6:51 – Getting to know Andrew with J Bar L
- 10:18 – Ranching families coming together
- 14:51 – Lessons learned
- 19:29 – Getting to the festival, controversies
- 24:37 – Measuring success
- 29:20 – Realities of meat processing
- 34:47 – Restaurant business
- 38:49 – What we need to know (empower producers!)
- 42:11 – Start of audience Q&A, snack sticks
- 44:14 – Q: How did you forge this path?
- 47:26 – Q: If not the festival, what would the community touch points be?
- 49:42 – Q: Succession planning
- 54:41 – Wrapping up and thank yous
Information Referenced:
- Old Salt Co-op
- Cole Mannix
- Mannix Family Beef
- Andrew Anderson
- J Bar L Ranch
- Old Salt Festival
- The Good Food Store in Missoula, Montana was an early Old Salt seller. Here’s where else you can get their products.
- Meat processing complications during covid-19, High Country News article
- Yellowstone Grassfed Beef
- Andrew Mace, with roots in the Seeley-Swan and Helena, Montana areas, is the chef behind Old Salt, who also has restaurants that were nominated in Portland’s top 10.
- The Union, an Old Salt restaurant, was nominated for a James Beard award in 2025 for best new restaurant.
- The Blackfoot Challenge
- Hyperlocal coverage of the Old Salt Festival from the Seeley Swan Pathfinder
- Helmville’s Copper Queen Bar, a local institution.
- Old Salt Outpost in Helena, Montana, the original Old Salt Co-op restaurant with burgers and beef tallow fries.
- Groundswell regenerative agriculture festival in the U.K.
Enjoy this episode? Then you might like these too:
- Nick Offerman – Empathy, Nuance, & Good Hard Work
- David James Duncan – Live at the Old Salt Festival
- Kristine Tompkins – Nothing to Lose
- Jesse Smith – A Regenerative Approach to Land and Life
- Helen Rebanks – “The Farmer’s Wife” – Live at the Old Salt Festival
- Anna Borgman – Obsession, Curiosity, and Purpose-Driven Work
Visit the podcast page for a full, searchable list of episodes
