Terri over at Bill the Butcher HQ tells us:
Our Grillin’ Grand Opening for our Wallingford shop (4612B Stone Way N.) will be this Saturday, August 3rd starting at noon. There will be meat, a marimba, and more!We will fire up the grill to serve and sample a variety of grilled meat to celebrate our opening and the neighborhood.
Ed Hartman, our neighbor from The Drum Exchange will bring his marimba over for live music performance from 1pm to 3pm.
In addition, there will be a few more surprises, some games and raffle prizes. (Knowing your beef cuts might just provide some rewards).
I will not be a customer. This “J” Amy person is pretty shady. Just read for yourselves;
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/mystery-meat/Content?oid=4040872
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/05/25/bill-the-butcher-responds-sort-of
http://seattle.eater.com/archives/2011/07/27/bill-sues-bill-the-butcher.php
http://www.ethicurean.com/2010/05/16/buyer-beware/
I agree with B Dub. If you want to support a real, local butcher – go to Better Meat Company.
Hi B Dub & Lauren,
We would like to invite you to stop in our Wallingford Shop, or any of our other five locations to judge for yourself who we are and how our meat stands up to your expectation of real and local. We have certainly gone through some growing pains in our 4 years, and the articles you cited are from three years ago.
If you stop in the shop today, you will find pork from Nelli Farms out of Duvall, WA, lamb from Hawley Ranch, Cottage Grove, OR, grassfed/grass-finished beef from Great Northern Cattle Co which is in Montana, and poultry from Nicky Farms in Oregon. Our staff in each shop can tell you where every cut came from, how it was raised and provide cooking suggestions. We work hard to live up to our mission and to create sustainable business that supports local farmers and ranchers who are doing good things. That work is ongoing, but we are proud of where we are today. Please decide for yourself though with a visit to our shops.
Terri Ann Johnson
Social Media & Community Manager, Bill the Butcher
Nicely done, Terri. I remember those articles.. very smear job done. To reposition yourself nicely politely and positively. Kudos
B Dub & Lauren – I had read most of those articles and was skeptical too. But I have had nothing but positive experiences from my 5-6 visits to the Wallingford location. Personally I give anyone credit for sticking thru opening a unproven totally unique butcher shop – they made some mistakes but have clearly learned and adapted . I really hope you do go and inform yourself and ask your own questions directly . If you still feel the same way I’d be surprised !
Given Bill the Butcher’s history of not being 100 percent straightforward, I am incredibly skeptical of the last comment by “Alex Grand” who is both (a) a totally new user never seen here before, and (b) has posted an example of the “feel, felt, found” technique straight out of a marketing textbook:
http://www.tomhopkins.com/blog/presentation/the-feel-felt-found-strategy
Has Bill the Butcher turned over a new leaf? Maybe. But given their history, seeing this kind of response makes me more suspicious, not less.
I’m ambivalent about the privacy implications of answering that @Michael’s question, but I will: they are not the same IP.
Sorry Michael H! You are wrong bro. I work at Microsoft. I have lived in Wallingford for years, I have posted on here elsewhere, and my opinions are 100% my own. If you want to email me directly you are welcome to ([email protected]). It saddens me on one hand what you said..and that my positive comment seems to get dragged down into the vitriol that many of these posts succumb to. But on the other hand, I do agree that it’s hard to ever know for sure. But in this case you are dead wrong. Sorry.
Is Bill the Butcher, Inc. still owned by J’Amy Owens? If so, I will be spending my hard earned dollars at a butcher who is owned by people who have a food background, not a retail and marketing background.
Hi Lauren,
J’Amy Owens is the founder & CEO of Bill the Butcher, but as a publicly traded company we have many, many owners. I wish you had taken opportunity to stop by the Wallingford Shop on Saturday so you could have met J’Amy in person. Her work background and experience might be retail-driven, but it is her grandparent’s ranch & reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma that drove her to write the Bill the Butcher business plan in 2006.
Terri Ann Johnson
Social Media & Community Manager, Bill the Butcher
Oh, I’ve met her before. Hence my decision to shop elsewhere.