Working in the food world, lots of people come and go. Rates of turnover in food service are staggering. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that working on restaurant lines hasn’t changed much in the last 150 years - it’s arduous, hidden, volatile work. As a side note, if you would like a great book about working in Parisian kitchens in the early 1900’s, I highly recommend Down and Out In Paris And London by George Orwell. The world of butchery has changed dramatically over the past 150 years but we are clinging fast to the old world. We do have air conditioning, which really aids in talent retention.
Just off the top of my head, we have had employees move here from New York City, Miami, Salt Lake, and southern France for jobs. If you are into whole animal butchery, we have thankfully cultivated some level of name recognition. We love it when folks come and stay but we are used to someone doing a season or two and then moving on to the thing that’s calling them. The romanticism versus redundancy math starts to kick in pretty hard after about a year. Everybody leaves their mark on the shop in some way and some of my happiest days are when they come back through town and let us know what they are up to.
Nick, who moved down here to learn to break whole animals, stopped by the shop yesterday with his partner and they are living Blacksburg, Virginia where he is working on a PhD and managing a beef operation. He always was too smart for us. Mia left to travel the world and brought back tales of hunting in South Africa, butchering in Mongolia and getting trapped on a mountain in Portugal (this involved a helicopter rescue - what a kid!). Rodrigo and Anna moved to NYC and he is working at another excellent whole animal shop, Foster Sundry. As my dear friend, I love to rib him for moving to the most expensive city in America to do the same job. I hope with enough grief, they’ll throw up their hands and move back. Stefan and his wife started a bakery in Miami but have taken a year off to work in a renowned bakery in the UK. We have some really incredible folks move through this place.
But for now, you’re stuck with this hardened blue collar staff who have thankfully decided we’re company folks. I’m joking. We’re really nice and the work is awesome. We get some of the best animals you can find anywhere every week, play whatever music we want and eat really well. As long as you’re fine with the key benefit we offer being protein on the table every night, it’s a real gem. We really hope when you come in, you have the experience you’re hoping for and it makes you want to come back. After all, small, esoteric businesses in the middle of nowhere tend not to make it unless people really like to visit. Thanks for liking us enough to visit.
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