Owners offer prime cuts
at The Chopping Block
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – If you’re looking for a great cut of meat, look no farther than The Chopping Block.
“We’re a retail meat outlet,” said Shane Hill, who co-owns the Presque Isle business with Dan Grenier. “We offer fresh meats, quality grades and low economy grades. We cut to order … cut the meat right in front of your eyes. You can choose from our selection, or if you’re having a party or a special event, we can order meat to accommodate any size of gathering.”
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
DAN GRENIER, left, and Shane Hill recently opened The Chopping Block in Presque Isle. The retail meat outlet features everything from steaks, pork, chicken, hams, hotdogs, bacon and even homemade sausages. The Chopping Block is located at 127C Parsons St., next to Parsons Street Redemption Center.
The Chopping Block features everything from steaks, pork, chicken, hams, hotdogs, bacon and even homemade sausages.
“That’s been a real good seller for us,” Grenier said. “In terms of meat, we offer everything that a regular grocery store offers … except the groceries.”
“One thing we offer that they don’t is an in-and-out service,” said Hill. “With us, you don’t have to walk all the way to the back of the grocery store to get the meat that’s already precut in the meat department. You can come here, get it and get out much quicker.”
The business opened Dec. 8, 2010.
“I had been thinking about it for a couple of years,” Hill said. “We kicked the idea around together, and the opportunity came where employment for both of us was changing, so we decided to work for ourselves.”
Grenier has 30 years of experience in retail and meat cutting, while Hill has been working in the field for 20 years.
Relying primarily on word of mouth, Hill said business has been picking up.
“It was a little slow at the beginning, but it’s been picking up speed like a downhill snowball and we’re gaining customers every day,” he said. “Our numbers are increasing, and new faces are coming in all the time.
“We’re getting our feet underneath of us,” said Hill, “and now that we have all the kinks worked out, we’re going to begin advertising in different venues and target different demographics.”
Noting that their T-bones and ribeye steaks have been “some of our best sellers,” Hill said customers also like the ground products.
“What you see in our display case … say the ribeyes or T-bones … that’s what we’re trimming and that’s what’s in our hamburg,” he said. “We’re not buying hamburg stock; we’re actually making our own hamburg out of the meat that we get.”
The owners purchased a commercial grade vacuum machine which vacuum seals the packages of meat.
“It’s great for marinades,” said Grenier. “There’s no messy, wet packages. It’s a state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line vacuum.”
Since the owners order meat from wholesalers, they don’t have to overstock their walk-in cooler.
“Because we can get a delivery every day of the week,” Hill said, “we don’t have to pack that walk-in cooler and commit to certain items. We can change our items every day. If we get a deal on something, we can put it out there and pass that deal onto the public.
“We’re not playing pricing games like others do,” he said. “Our normal prices are usually what the competitors’ sale price is … maybe a little bit more, but not by much. We are below the normal range. We have a lower overhead, we own all of our equipment and we don’t have to pay 30 people, so we can keep our prices below our competitors’ normal price. We give our customers quality meat … give them what they’re paying for the way they want it … and that’s what keeps them coming back.”
Grenier and Hill held a contest on Facebook to help name the business.
“We got quite a few funny entries,” said Hill, “but Mike Michaud of Presque Isle came up with The Chopping Block. I thought of The Butcher Block, but The Chopping Block had a better ring. The prize was a steak dinner for two. It was a fun thing to do that helped generate some interest in the business.”
Located at 127C Parsons St., next to Parsons Street Redemption Center, The Chopping Block accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover credit cards. The store is open from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call 768-0858.
