Omaha Steaks is cooking up a meet-cute or, um, a meat-cute, like no other product the 107-year-old company has previously released.

The direct-to-consumer food company’s debut novel, Certified Tender, is set to be published on April 1 as a hardcover and ebook. What initially started as an April Fool’s prank about Omaha Steaks pivoting to publishing has turned into a carnal-themed literary product.

The romance novel serves as promotional material for the company’s new Meat Cute Collection — a $99 date night-themed box that includes filet mignon, fries, and Cabernet Sauvignon. 

And what better way to get you in the mood to indulge in medium-rare steaks than with some smut hotter than ribeyes off the grill? Certified Tender is more PG than some current popular titles but capitalizes on the popularity of the romance genre, which is currently propping up the long-suffering publishing industry.

“ Reading books is kind of hot right now, right?” says Nate Rempe, president and CEO at Omaha Steaks. “ People like to share what books they’re reading and on social, and influencers are really involved. We had the idea to do the romance novel because honestly, food is love.”

Certified Tender, authored by Bianca Tournedos, a pen name alluding to tournedos Rossini, a French filet mignon dish, was created by Omaha Steaks’ in-house creative team (no AI here). 

“I’m a big geek about story structure,” says senior copywriter Michael Williams, the author of Certified Tender. “Anytime I can flex different creative muscles is great.” After brainstorming the company’s annual April Fool’s prank with the PR team and deciding that a fictitious press release would claim that Omaha Steaks is launching its own publishing imprint, the creative group collaborated to bring customers in on the joke: There would actually be a book. 

The premise: Single woman Kate, eager to expand her horizons, goes online in search of recipes and romance. She connects with OmahaSteakGuy1917, a butcher named Nick, in a meet-cute destined for the books (and filled with cooking tips sourced from Omaha Steaks’ blog, The Block).

This past winter, Williams happily wrote the novel after business hours, drafting the outline and entire chapters at night, unable to fully tap into his creativity in a corporate office. 

“A project like this gives us a chance to connect with an audience we’re not always connecting with in ways that are unique and may subvert or challenge expectations,” says Williams. “It’s fun to change things up a bit while still doing something within our brand voice and focusing on delivering exceptional experiences that bring people together. It’s a logical extension of our mission.”  

The brand-backed novel is filled with Easter eggs (or, as readers may call them, allusions) relevant to Omaha Steaks. For instance, the title alludes to the brand’s filet mignons’ rare distinction of being USDA Certified Tender. The character Uncle Todd is named after Todd Simon, chairman of Omaha Steaks and fifth-generation family owner. Should protagonists Nick and Kate decide on a couple name, they may be called “Nate” — referencing Rempe. Plotwise, when Nick collides with Kate and thinks he might have broken her phone, he offers to “replace or repair it. Whichever you prefer,” a reference to Omaha Steaks’ guarantee to replace or refund any order. 

“It tells the story of how food can bring people together, which is part of Omaha Steaks’ mission,” says Rempe. “ We’re not a food company, we’re an experiences company. Bringing people together over food is something that we’ve been doing for 107 years.”

Though Omaha Steaks hasn’t planned to publish more titles, reader response may lead to more titles. “If our customers love it, we’ll do whatever we need to do to make our customers happy,” Rempe says. He notes that he enjoyed reading the novel as an escape, even though his wife is typically the bigger romance reader in his household. 

With brands almost excessively offering clothing and accessories drops and the publishing industry far from its peak, can in-house book publishing be a new method for food companies to grab market attention? Will the next great American novel come out of the creative team behind Fishwife or Instacart or Taco Bell? With AI threatening writers’ careers, are corporations about to become the major patrons of brand-focused fiction? 

“Brands deepen relationships with their consumers through rich storytelling, and what better vehicle for storytelling than a novel?” says Matt Chisling, who runs the Bookstagram account @MattyandtheBooks. “Associating your products with themes often found in books — love, family, and special moments — is a surefire way to strengthen those ties in other aspects of the consumer’s life. After all, hundreds of millions of books are sold in the United States each year, and, hey, all those readers have to eat something.” 

Certified Tender will be available to download for free on Omaha Steaks’ website beginning April 1.