Tuesday is the final day Essential Foods Direct is operating its popup meat sale in the parking lot outside the CVS Pharmacy in Swampscott. Amid complaints about upselling and misleading advertising, Assistant Manager Gabe Seale told the Swampscott Tides that the promotion was “not bait and switch.”

“We try to make you not see it before you come into the tent,” Seale said. “It’s not bait and switch. It’s just how steak prices are.”

Essential Foods Direct advertised on Facebook – and through targeted ads, according to Seale – that a popup in Vinnin Square would sell 20 ribeye steaks for $40. Seale said he and his team would not allow the Swampscott Tides to photograph the products because they wanted to preserve customers’ first impression of the deal.

“They’re nothing crazy,” Seale said. “They’re just $2 steaks.”

While the advertisement depicts large cuts of beef, the steaks shown to the Swampscott Tides were roughly palm-sized and less than a pinky finger thick. 

“People are coming in thinking they’re going to get a 20 oz,” Seale said, adding that people should expect the smaller sizes because “a Slim Jim costs $4 at the gas station.”

Swampscott’s Director of Health Jeff Vaughan and Board of Health Chair Gargi Cooper did not respond for comment about the safety of the food at the popup. Vaughan did confirm that the group “had a temp food permit and approval of the property owner to be there.”

The set up in Swampscott was pretty basic, with a refrigerated truck stocked with products a few wooden tables staffed by Seale and another worker. Music played from a speaker as cars drove by and parked within the Vinnin Square lot.

Essential Foods Direct operates similar popup meat sales across the country. The organization, which the Swampscott Tides learned is connected to other meat sellers, makes identical posts on Facebook for popups in different states.

Essential Foods Direct’s Facebook page currently promotes popup events in Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Florida, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, including one in Salem.

Seale said he will not be at the Salem event but will be elsewhere in the state.

The operation starts in Kansas, Seale said. Seale said Essential Foods Direct flash-freezes its products before distributing them to sales teams around the country.

Seale said all he has to do is rent the truck.

“The company sends everything to us,” Seale said.

The truck was recently restocked on Tuesday, Seale said. The Swampscott Tides saw cardboard boxes with images of chickens, steaks and others with fish on them. When the truck doors opened, cold air spilled out into the parking lot.

Although few customers were present when the Swampscott Tides visited Tuesday, Seale said about 500 people stopped by over the weekend. He said the line quadrupled the length of his truck.

“People were loving it,” Seale said. “It only happens like that once in a while.”

Essential Foods Direct also did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Swampscott Tides regarding criticism from residents, food safety concerns and questions about its business practices.

When reaching out over Facebook, the company automatically responds that it is inundated with messages and in the meantime to check out a website under a different name, Stampede Ranch and Farms.

Stampede Ranch and Farms’ preview in Google shows it as another meat wholesaler by the name “Essential Food Sales” which again connects back to “Essential Foods Direct” after a second search. The stampede site states that it will “worry about dinner so you don’t have to” with its “prepackaged, portion sized gourmet meat options.”

“Stampede Ranch & Farm is a small family owned and operated business. We are based out of the Midwest US, but service the entire country,” the site reads. “We travel to cities big and small with one agenda… to drive down high meat prices one customer at a time. We’ve partnered with the largest premier distributors in the US to provide premium product to the communities we serve.”

The Stampede Ranch and Farm website, which has a non-interactive map with dozens of pinpoints to show “places we serve,” does also include a photo of a popup with the 20 ribeyes for $40 marketing push.

Even still, a fully separate website, EssentialFoodsDirect.com, shows a frozen prepackaged meat delivery service with what appears to be a variety of stock images.

“As a small family-owned and operated business, we’re on a mission to bring quality meats to families all across the USA,” the website reads. “Sourced exclusively from trusted Midwest Butchers, our Premium Steak, Pork, and Chicken are All-natural and Ethically Raised. From our family to yours, we understand the importance of gathering around the dinner table for delicious meals.”

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) lists a scam of $297.67 by Essential Foods Direct in Edgewood, Maryland in May. Another BBB complaint links Essential Foods Direct to Cattlemans Choice LLC, a non-accredited business whose website redirects to a Facebook page for Americas Best Choice Meats LLC.

“Do not do business with these people,” another BBB review from May reads.