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When I hear the word “yield,” I don’t think percentages. I think disparity. There are two tri-tips on a cow. Two seven-bone rib roasts. Two briskets. Two tenderloins. Certain cuts are naturally limited, no matter how large the animal is. Yield, from my perspective, isn’t just about how much meat an animal produces. It’s about how unevenly that meat is distributed. ⸻ The Other Side of the Animal Most people don’t think about this part. A cow does not turn into steaks. It turns

Every so often someone will look at the case and ask, “Why is that steak $X and this one $Y if they both come from the same animal?” It’s a fair question. The short answer is that not all parts of an animal are produced in equal amounts, and not all parts are demanded equally. That’s where things get interesting. ⸻ Let’s Start With Filet Mignon Filet mignon is the easiest example. It is, anatomically, the most tender muscle on the cow. That’s not marketing. That’s just how th

Every so often someone will pick up a steak and say, “This one has a lot of fat.” The tone varies. Sometimes it’s concern. Sometimes it’s disappointment. Sometimes it’s just observation. But underneath it is usually a question about value. For a long time, fat was perceived as something that subtracts value. I was born in 1977. For most of my life, the messaging was clear and consistent. Fat wasn’t neutral. It was bad. If a steak had visible fat, it wasn’t just extra, it was

One of the most common questions we hear is, “Do you have anything else in the back?” It is a reasonable question. Most grocery stores operate with significant storage space and excess inventory. If something is missing from the case, there is often more of it waiting behind a door. That is not how we operate. ⸻ There Is No Hidden Abundance Early on, someone in the industry asked me, “Why don’t you have a walk-in?” My distributor can deliver up to six days a week. So the real

Occasionally someone will look at our case and ask, “Why is this so expensive?” Most people aren’t forward enough to say, “I can get this cheaper somewhere else.” But the perception lingers. I once had a woman question the price of ribeye. I asked her what she normally paid. She said she had no idea. That interaction taught me something. Sometimes “expensive” isn’t a comparison to a known number. It’s a comparison to an assumption. And once a small business develops a reputat

The Word Is Broad. The Realities Are Varied. The word “butcher” sounds simple. Someone who cuts meat professionally. That’s technically true. But like most trades, it exists on a spectrum. If someone thinks about our shop, they might picture trimming steaks or grinding beef. Move upstream and you’re breaking down primals or quarters. Go further and you’re talking about harvesting. That’s a different category entirely. It deserves respect. The word is broad. The realities are

Before this became my life, I was working for a microphone company. This was around 2010 to 2011. It was a stable job, a good job, not the kind of situation that suggests leaving everything behind and starting over. And yet, somewhere in that season, I found myself doing something I never would have expected. I started writing a business plan. Putting pencil to paper. Trying to make sense of an idea that would not quite leave me alone. At some point, I said to my girlfriend,