Findley's Takes Meat Seriously

Findley’s Butcher Shop at 151 W. Main St. is a full-service butcher shop offering all-natural meats including certified Angus beef that is grass-fed, Berkshire all-natural pork, free-range chickens and exotic meats.

Cartersville Patch recently sat down with manager Mike Velon to learn more about what his small business has to offer the community. Here's what we asked and he answered:

Q: What is the history of this store?

A: We’ve been trying to get in this store for two years. At one time it was a floral shop, but then Ray’s Butcher Shop moved in here, and then another company came in called The New Butcher Shop. They closed in January, and we opened in June.

Q:  Why were you trying to get into this spot?

A: We think it’s a good location. I’ve always lived around Cartersville, and I’ve always like the area. Dave Widawski, the owner, thought it’d be a great location, and we both like the city. We’ve got another shop in Acworth.

Q: Where do you get the meat that you sell here?

A: We get most of our meat from Buckhead Beef. We also get some of our pork and other stuff from Sherwood Foods. We order specific things from them, and we sometimes have to go outside of those distributors to get some of the exotics that we get, but we can get any protein item you want. We’ve got ostrich before, we’ve got elk. Regularly in our cases we have rabbit, venison, alligator, crawfish tail meat, bison. …

Q: If someone has a hankering for some, for example, alligator, what would they do? Come in and put a special order in?

A: We carry the alligator fillet all the time. It’s in a 1-pound bag. So we have that all the time. If there are any strange exotics, we can get it. Depending on how exotic it is, it might take us up to two weeks to get it, but we can get it.

Q: And how do you prepare and store the meat here?

A: All of our meat is pretty much custom, cut-to-order. As far as the exotic meats and all, they’re all frozen. They’re all vacuum-packed and frozen, to keep the freshness. All our seafood is all wild caught, except for our tilapia. All of it is vacuum-packed and frozen so you can thaw it quickly in your sink. Same thing with our free-range chickens. We keep the boneless breast on display at all times, but the rest of the pieces, when they come in, we vacuum pack them and freeze them so you thaw them in the sink quick and you don’t have to let them sit on the counter or in the refrigerator overnight.

Q: Is the meat organic?

A: Pretty much. The beef is all grass-fed, and Berkshire pork is natural, but you can’t really say that it’s totally organic. Anything that’s out there eating grass may pick up something, but it’s not like they’ve been on the feed lot being fed all the corn and the grains and everything. That’s where most of your pesticides and everything get into the meat ... because of the grains.

Q: What is your most popular selling item?

A: Our steaks are very popular, especially the ribeyes and filet mignon. We sell a lot of pork chops, bone-in and boneless, because it’s hard to find a bone-in pork chop that’s thick anywhere around here. Our sausages and our jerkys are also really popular, especially with people that knew us from our other shop. We had people that drove all the way to Acworth from up here to just get the jerky and the sausages, either the smoked or the fresh-link sausage.

Q: Why should somebody shop here for their meat, rather than a traditional grocery store?

A: All of this stuff is all natural. Unfortunately, most of the grocery stores, not all of them but most of them, sell products that contain a solution as a preservative. Also, most of the stores don’t cut anymore. There are a few grocery chains that do cut meat, but most of them have their meat pre-cut and shipped, and in order to do that, they have to add preservatives. So you’re getting into a whole lot of stuff you don’t want when you buy meat at a grocery store.

Q: What’s your background in this industry, and why did you choose to get into this line of work?

A: I’ve been cutting meat for 40 years. I started cutting on the farm. I’ve worked in grocery chains; I’ve been a meat merchandiser for a couple of different grocery chains. Dave, at the other shop, he’s been a meat merchandiser for other chains. Between the two of us, we’ve got almost 80 years experience.

Q: Is there anything you want people in Cartersville to know about this store that they might not know?

A: That we’re open, we’re here, and we sell a quality product. Our prices are pretty competitive if you look at other stores. We’re not gonna beat their sale prices, but their everyday prices, we’re pretty much in line with them.

Findley’s is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. You can reach the store at 770-334-8755. Visit the website for more information.