Questions, plainly answered.

Listing is free. The platform fee is a small per-lb-hanging amount baked into the all-in price the buyer sees — it does not come out of your farmer rate. You set your $/lb hanging rate; we add processing, kill share, insurance, and our fee on top. You see the full cumulative breakdown when you list.

Funds settle after the animal is dropped off at the processor and accepted (the processor confirms via QR check-in, and the state machine flips the reservation to "in-process"). Payouts are routed via Stripe Connect to your bank account, typically within 2 business days of acceptance.

Inside 7 days of drop-off, the buyer owes the full balance — you still get paid. Inside 21 days but outside 7, the deposit is forfeit (held by the platform) and we re-list the share. Outside 21 days, the buyer cancels free and we re-list with no impact to you.

No. The first purchaser locks the price for that animal — same for processor selection. This protects buyers who reserved early and protects you from the awkwardness of mixed prices on one animal. If demand is strong, that's pricing intel for your next listing.

The processor performs an ante-mortem inspection. If they refuse the animal (visible illness, condition, etc.), no kill fee is charged, the buyer is refunded from the pool, and the animal goes back home with you. We don't flag farmers for one-off events; only repeat ante-mortem rejections (3+ in 12 months) trigger a review.

Yes — a refundable dropoff deposit ($100 flat or 10% of processing, whichever is greater, capped at $300). It's refunded automatically when you check the animal in via QR scan at the processor. If you no-show, the deposit goes to the processor to compensate them for the locked slot.

If a fraction hasn't sold and drop-off is approaching, you can flip "Donate this fraction" and route it through the same processor pipeline as a paid sale. Program funds cover the processor's kill fee. You receive an IRS-compliant tax acknowledgment letter (final amount based on actual hanging weight). The meat goes to a qualified institution — school, food bank, or government feeding program — through the Donation Depot.

Free tier: 4 bookings per month, basic calendar, customer messaging. Paid tiers add unlimited bookings, advanced scheduling, automated customer comms (drop-off reminders, cut-sheet nudges, ready-for-pickup notifications), and the Outlook-style Queue View. Final pricing is in the active policy decision queue. The first 25 processors lock in a discounted lifetime rate.

When a buyer reserves through the platform, the all-in payment is split via Stripe Connect: the processor's portion (cut + wrap + vac-pack on the customer's hanging-weight share) routes to your account on the same payout cadence Stripe gives you. The kill fee is split across all buyers of the animal and routed similarly.

When a farmer arrives with an animal, you scan their booking QR code from your dashboard. That single scan is the source of truth — it flips the reservation state to "in-process," releases the farmer's dropoff deposit, and starts the customer's countdown to "ready for pickup." This replaces farmer self-report and prevents the "I dropped it off / no you didn't" disputes.

Yes. The Processor Config dashboard lets you set: species you process, available cuts, smoking offerings (and whether bacon is pork-only at your plant), grind ratios you offer, and any upcharges (vacuum seal, ground-in-chubs, stew meat, etc.). Customer cut sheets read your config — buyers only see options you actually offer.

Post-mortem condemnation is covered by the insurance pool. The buyer gets a pro-rata refund on the affected primal portion. You receive your full kill fee plus processing on the salvaged portion. The state machine handles email and refund automation; you just enter what was condemned.

Calendar view → select range → Block out. Existing reservations stay in place; new bookings can't land in the blocked period. We email any buyers attempting to book that range with the next available slot.

Schools (K-12, child nutrition, Farm-to-School), government agencies (state-run feeding, tribal nations, veterans, corrections), food banks and food shelves (501(c)(3) and equivalents), and similar charitable feeding programs. The qualification step verifies tax-exempt status or government authorization, storage capacity, and recipient-eligibility compliance.

Visit /donation-flow and tap "Apply as institution." It's a one-time form: institution type, EIN or government auth, address, contact, weekly volume served, cold-storage capacity, accepted species, and pickup capability. Most applications are reviewed within 3 business days.

Three options on application: self-pickup from the processor (most common, fastest), delivery from program funds (cost shared, available where local courier coverage exists), or pickup at the central depot for high-volume institutions. We confirm the window after you request a specific donation.

Yes — every donation routes through a federally-inspected plant. The establishment number is on every package. This matters for school nutrition programs and government feeding programs that require USDA inspection.

You'll see real-time inventory of what's available within your service radius. Default cuts on donated animals are typically ground (most flexible for institutional use), but several donations are pre-portioned for school lunches or have specialty cuts. You request what fits your program; we match what's available.

Active reservations: Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota. Listings are expanding into Iowa and Illinois. The Hardware (processing systems) line ships nationwide. Donation Depot recipient institutions are accepted in any state where we have processor coverage.

A CSA gives you a recurring assortment of cuts; a meat box gives you a curated package. Protein Outfitters lets you reserve a specific named animal, pick the processor, customize the cut sheet, and pay one all-in price that already includes processing. You buy from the farm, not a re-seller.

Only with insulated cooler + dry ice from licensed shipping partners, when local pickup or delivery isn't viable. Most reservations are picked up at the processor.

For producers who want to process their own animals, we source mobile harvest units (MHU) and modular processing systems. Free 30-min discovery call → $40K consultation phase → 50% non-refundable down → balance prior to delivery. Full details and the de-risk thesis (10K → 2,300 processor gap) at /hardware.

General questions: hello@proteinoutfitters.com
Donation depot: depot@proteinoutfitters.com
Hardware sales: mychal@proteinoutfitters.com