Argentine beef has found a market in the United States willing to pay for quality, origin, and a different shopping experience.
Silvio Siracussa and Martín Ghiozzi, two friends and entrepreneurs with experience in agricultural and livestock production and the meatpacking industry, built their business on this opportunity. In 2018, they created Total Carnes in Bahía Blanca, and four years later, they took the international leap with the opening of their first store in Miami.
Now they have four locations and a meatpacking plant and have begun designing an expansion model through franchising. The project was born with the premise of transforming the traditional Argentine butcher shop into a format closer to international models, with portioned, packaged, and ready-to-eat products, while maintaining the distinctive character of Argentine beef.
“We work with Argentine production. Since the animal isn’t shipped whole, we also source from exporting meatpacking plants that meet our standards. Essentially, what we do is a quality screening process to ensure we only get top-quality products,” explains Ghiozzi.
The company maintains a strong connection to the production source. In Bahía Blanca, it operates with its own livestock and stockpiled cattle, a structure that allows it to participate in the various stages of the supply chain and ensure a specific selection of the product that reaches its stores.
The expansion into the United States marked a turning point. In 2022, they opened their first store in Miami and launched their own processing, storage, and distribution plant. The initial investment reached US$1.4 million and allowed them to build an infrastructure adapted to the demands of the North American market.
The plant is certified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the highest sanitary standard in the United States, and has a storage capacity of approximately 120 tons. From there, the company processes and distributes the merchandise, a system they consider key to scaling the business.
“In the United States, we understood that selling a good product isn’t enough; you have to build a brand, an experience, and a system capable of consistent growth,” says Ghiozzi. Growth has been “rapid.” In just over three years, the company reached a sales volume of around 160 tons annually and projects closing this year with revenue close to US$9 million.
Total Carnes currently has four branches in Florida (North Miami, Aventura, Key Biscayne, and Pinecrest). The plan for the coming months includes opening five new company-owned locations and, in parallel, developing a franchise system. The company centralizes sourcing, processing, and distribution from its Miami plant, allowing future franchisees to focus on business operations. “The idea is to create a scalable, efficient, and easily replicable model, without losing the experience and quality that characterize the brand,” Ghiozzi maintains.
He specifies that the estimated investment for a store will range between US$200,000 and US$250,000, depending on the location and the chosen format. Stores must be between 110 and 120 square meters; the franchise fee will be around US$30,000. According to Ghiozzi, the majority of the investment corresponds to refrigeration equipment, representing approximately 60%. There will be “support and training” at every stage. The company developed a smaller version of the business, Total Carnes Express, a modular format designed to reach smaller areas and facilitate expansion into other US states starting in 2027.
In addition, the company recently launched its e-commerce platform, with refrigerated deliveries in less than 24 hours throughout the United States. “Our goal is to bring a quality Argentine experience to more consumers, but with a professional structure that allows for growth,” Ghiozzi summarizes.
