King City’s Lieschen Beretta the star of A&W’s new grass-fed beef ads

By Julia Galt

Frequent visitors to Beretta Farms may see a familiar face pop up in A&W's newest advertisements.
The star of the burger chain's new grass-fed beef campaign is Lieschen Beretta, ranch manager of the King City farm and daughter of Beretta Farms founders Mike and Cynthia Beretta. Working with A&W to promote their commitment towards using 100% grass-fed beef was a natural step for Lieschen and the Beretta brand, which has raised organic, grass-fed, and antibiotic and hormone-free meat since conception.
“The crew spent the whole day on the ranch with me. I showed them all around, from the cattle to the grasslands and everything in between,” said Lieschen. “It was a full day's work.”
The ads, which were filmed in August, feature Beretta on the rolling hills of the family farm, espousing the benefits of grass-fed beef. In both commercials, she talks about the co-dependent relationship between cattle and their grazing lands, saying they need each other to thrive. Ross Macdonald, a Beretta Farms rancher from Lake Alma, Saskatchewan, features in the spot alongside her.
Beretta's two appearances in A&W's grass-fed beef advertisements are not the first time she's worked with the brand in a media-facing role. Previously, both her and Mike were featured in Grass Farmers, an internal A&W documentary that examines the benefits of regenerative agriculture and low-impact ranching. Those particularly sharp-eyed may also have spotted Cynthia and Lieschen's split-second cameo in the “Dancing for Change” brand campaign, celebrating the ethical changes A&W has made to their business over the past several years.
Media appearances aside, the working relationship with A&W stretches back further still, with Beretta Farms supplying grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone-free beef to the chain for the past eight years.
Between their work with A&W and their own success with the Beretta Farms' social pages, it's safe to say the Beretta family is more than media-savvy. On Lieschen's part, a camera-facing role is something she's open to exploring more in the future.
“I do hear I have a nice smile for it, and good energy,” said Beretta. “I am a bit camera shy, so I'm doing my best to adapt. But I do have great role models in my mom and my dad, who are both very good at it.”
Currently, Beretta is taking time to enjoy the success of her A&W campaign. She's glad that the commercials gave her an opportunity to promote generational farming and regenerative agriculture, two causes close to her heart, as well as helping to raise brand awareness of Beretta Farms. On a day-to-day basis, she's continuing to manage daily operations at the farm, caring for the cattle, pigs, and chickens in her role as ranch manager.
Despite COVID-19 complications, she's happy to report that the brand's online e-commerce is growing quickly, with their bi-weekly farm gate markets every other Saturday still as popular as ever.
“We've had to make some guidelines and restrictions for the market, but it's still a great success,” said Beretta. “People get that local feel, and get to be outside and enjoy the farm in a safe way.”
For more information, visit https://berettafarms.com/.