Kinder’s BBQ in California is one of many restaurants that use beef tallow instead of seed oils to fry menu items.

Other restaurants include Tallow Organic Grill in El Dorado Hills, Moresi’s Chophouse in Downtown Historic Clayton, Norm’s Place in Danville, The Peasant & the Pear in Danville, The Little Pear in Walnut Creek, The Bourbon Pear in Livermore, The Yard in Brentwood, and The Park Street Tavern in Alameda.

Kinder’s

Justin Kinder, CEO and president of Kinder’s Meats-Deli-BBQ, told The Epoch Times via email that his restaurant tested out using beef tallow in November last year at one location before rolling it out to all Kinder’s locations the Monday before Christmas.

Kinder’s has locations in the California cities of Walnut Creek, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Brentwood, Chico, and Hercules.

“After hearing about some of the potential negatives associated with seed oils and blends that everyone else uses, we decided we’d do our part by leading a charge in what’s sure to be an industry trend and subsequently, an industry constant in the coming years,” he said.

Kinder noted that cooking with beef tallow gives the food a noticeable and significant increase in flavor depth and texture quality.

He said they use the tallow to cook their tequila lime seasoned French fries, tequila lime seasoned sweet potato fries, hickory brown sugar seasoned tater tots, and an entree called Loaded Tater Tots that is topped with barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, avocado, and house fry dip sauce and comes with a choice of ribeye, chicken, pulled pork, barbecue beef, brisket, or hot links.

“The feedback we are getting after changing to beef tallow is massively positive,” Kinder said. “A handful of vegans and vegetarians weren’t pleased with the new recipe but outside of that, we are told they’re the best fries they’ve had since McDonald’s fries in the 80s.”

McDonald’s stopped using beef tallow in its fries in 1990.

Kinder said the current tallow his restaurant uses is made by Coast Packing Company, but he is also exploring different options.

“Options are increasing alongside the popularity and demand, which will likely help drive costs down a bit,” he said.

He supports U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to bring beef tallow into restaurants. Kinder said there are hurdles but he believes the mission is achievable.

Kennedy, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the second Trump administration, has criticized the use of seed oils, which have taken the place of saturated animal fats in restaurant fryers.

“People who enjoy a burger with fries on a night out aren’t to blame, and Americans should have every right to eat out at a restaurant without being unknowingly poisoned by heavily subsidized seed oils. It’s time to Make Frying Oil Tallow Again,” Kennedy posted on X in October 2024.

Kinder said the industry’s constant reduction in quality ingredients in exchange for margin and shelf stability (which also equates to margin) has damaged the perception of the food industry.

“Unfortunately in a hyper competitive market like we are in, it’s not as simple as opting for healthier/higher quality ingredients when your competitor(s) are taking advantage of the opposite and selling menu items at 20–30% less,” said Kinder. “Fortunately, we are sturdy enough to make bold moves, but I understand why others are reluctant.”

He believes survival is a major consideration for most restaurants when it comes to this topic, given the reduction in the number of folks eating out as a result of rising food prices in the last four years.

“Most concepts are in survival mode, so the idea of increasing the cost of goods by way of higher quality, cleaner and healthier ingredients with an already maxed out price at the register, is unfortunately just that ... an idea,” he said.

Kinder’s was originally founded as a butcher shop by Justin Kinder’s grandfather John Kinder in 1946. He is the third generation Kinder to run the company.

Tallow Organic Grill

Tallow Organic Grill CEO Graham Honig, who founded his restaurant with his wife, Nicole Honig, told The Epoch Times in an email: “We use 100% regeneratively raised, pasture-raised and grass fed beef tallow. Ours is 100% pure with no additives, bleaching, or anti-foaming agents like most other restaurants.”

He said they make all their fries in-house to avoid the seed oils that lace all prepackaged and frozen fries available to restaurants currently.

“We aren’t just 100% seed oil free. We are free from any artificial additives, use organic ingredients, source pasture raised and regeneratively raised grass fed proteins, limit microplastics, use RO water, and SO much more! We aren’t cutting any corners,” he said.

Their restaurant will reopen in May 2025, but they have not announced their new location yet, he said.

Tallow Organic Grill launched as a pop-up in October 2024 and in four months reached 50,000 followers on Instagram without spending anything on advertising. With the restaurant’s growth and popularity, the Honigs have raised their first round of outside capital and are now in the process of scaling nationwide.

They are also coming out with their own line of beef tallow that is pesticide free, grass fed, and pasture raised utilizing regenerative practices. It should be available for pre-order in the coming weeks, Honig said.

Outback Steakhouse, Buffalo Wild Wings, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, and Smashburger also use beef tallow and have locations in California.

Benefits of Beef Tallow

Beef tallow is rich in fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K, and these are bioavailable and readily absorbed by the body, according to Judy Cho, a board certified holistic nutritionist and functional nutritional therapy practitioner.

“Vitamin A is essential for maintaining healthy vision and immune function, while vitamin D supports bone health and calcium absorption. Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant, protecting cells from damage, and vitamin K is important for blood clotting and bone health,” Cho’s website states.

According to Cho, many vegetable oils oxidize when heated, producing free radicals that can exacerbate inflammation and chronic illnesses, while beef tallow remains stable.

Robin Stebbins, a registered nurse who has worked for over 35 years in the healthcare field, told The Epoch Times that beef tallow is simply rendered fat from various locations on the animal.

She said the process of rendering involves slowly heating the fat to separate impurities, leaving a pure, creamy substance that is similar to butter and has a shelf life of a year or more if stored properly in a cool and dark location.

Stebbins said that beef tallow has health benefits, being rich in essential fatty acids, and the saturated fats in beef tallow support hormone production and cellular health.

Stebbins said its high smoke point makes it suitable for high-temperature cooking, so it can create crispy foods while preserving the nutritional content without degrading into harmful compounds.

“I think it is important to note that frying foods on a regular basis might not be a good idea, as it leads to an excess amount of fat in the diet,” Stebbins said. “Everything must be in balance, as we know anything in excess can be harmful.”

She said beef tallow can be used for flavor enhancement, making it suitable for browning meats and sautéing vegetables.

“I have converted many friends to kale, collards, and mustard greens by introducing them to flash sautéing in tallow with sea salt on high heat,” she said.

Stebbins said she now uses primarily bison and buffalo tallow, as the beef industry often uses low-quality feed along with chemicals. These bad ingredients are stored in the fat of the animal, thus ending up in the tallow, she said.

She said commercially grown livestock, specifically cows, are fed a premix of vitamins and supplements up until the day they are harvested, and the synthetic vitamins and supplements are made with chemicals such as coal tar, ammonia, acetone, and hydrochloric acid.

“To solve the problem, I started to render my own tallow from chunks of fat I would get from a local beef share,” she said. “Beef tallow has a stronger flavor and scent, so I started experimenting with bison and buffalo and was more impressed with the taste as well as the richer emollient qualities. ... Also, it was easier to find bison and buffalo that ate primarily grass and lived a happy life on a pasture.”

She said people need to use discernment with anything that gets popular, like tallow, and is listed as a superfood or wonder ingredient.

When this happens, she said, a counterfeit industry usually takes hold; for instance, some people may sell hydrogenated oils as tallow, wanting to cash in on this latest trend.

“Also, making the change to tallow is just one part of a lifestyle change,” she said.

Stebbins currently does in-home health and hospice work and makes her own health products using tallow. She also educates patients on the importance of food as medicine and using chemical-free products.