When a group of local businessmen purchased the 40-year-old operation two years ago, the plan was to provide the same services. Principle ownership partners Charlie Caputo, Roy Williams and Michael Parrish succeeded in continuing the traditions, but now with a revamped name, a brand new location, progressive ideas and an expanded vision for the business, The Meat Center has become a one-stop Nirvana for foodies, restaurateurs, family chefs, curious culinary adventurers and the community's growing number of newcomers hungry for a taste of home.
The Meat Center, at 491 Williamson Road in Mooresville's Harbor Square, is now a combination butcher shop, restaurant supplier, lunch counter, deli, grill, farmer's market, dessert mecca and beer and wine boutique constantly tweaking its inventory and, in the words of Operations Manager Bill Hamilton, doing whatever it takes to meet customer requests.
During a busy Friday afternoon last week, while greeting regular and first-time customers, verifying orders over the phone, dishing up samples of freshly made pasta salads and other house specialties — all while keeping a running conversation going with some of The Meat Center's other employees — Hamilton explained that listening is the key to matching supply with demand.
"We make an effort to have a wide variety of items and when somebody asks for something in particular, I try to find it," says Hamilton, referred to by other members of the staff as the world's greatest salesman. "I'll usually write it down and start looking. If we can find it, we'll get it."
Meat and cheeses, as you would expect from a business sprung from "old-timey butcher shop" roots, are the headliners, but the list of other items and services available at the store is extensive and ever-changing.
In addition to chilled six- and four-packs of hard-to-find imported and micro-brewery beers and a corner shelf fully stocked with wine selections, The Meat Center also has counters, shelves and refrigerated units filled with items like seafood tortes, coffee, crackers, soups and soup mixes — including special varieties for "chowda" and gumbo fans — breads, olives, dressings, marinades and dips. And don't miss the pasta aisle where, as the result of customer inquiries, a complete, three-shelf display is devoted to Sclafani Italian food products including pasta varieties, sauces and more.
"These are some of the items people kept asking about," Hamilton, a 40-year veteran of the food and restaurant industry, says in reference to the Connecticut-based company's products. "They have varieties of pasta nobody else has."
At the meat counter, cut-to-order steaks are just one of the house specialties. A wide variety of beef choices are on display along with pork and poultry products, lamb and veal, as well as an assortment of seafood entrees, including lobster and crab. Exotic sausages — venison with blueberry and buffalo chipotle, just to name two — are also available.
Customers can still call ahead and place bulk orders and shoppers can also get a grilled to order hamburger, sandwich or lunch item while they shop. Those pressed for time can even call ahead for a "pick it up hot" meal.
"You can call us and tell us what type of steak you want, how you want it cooked and what you want to go with it," Hamilton says, "and I'll walk out and hand it to you in the parking lot as you drive by. We still have people who think we're just a regular butcher shop," he adds, "but the word's starting to get out."
Laura Baker, stationed at the front counter at The Meat Center, agrees with Hamilton's analysis.
"We get a lot of New Englanders and other people from places up north who long for a neighborhood butcher shop," says Baker, who greets customers and helps them find the products they seek. "That's what they are used to, a place to get fresh, cut-to-order meat. And it seems like a lot of them are telling their friends and family about us."
The Meat Center opened in late August at the Williamson Road location, not far from Exit 33 at I-77 and the daily flow of Brawley School Road commuters. But Hamilton, Baker and others at the store are seeing signs that the store's reputation has spread beyond Mooresville.
"We get a lot of people from Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson," Hamilton says, "but we've also had customers from Concord, Kannapolis, Statesville and even Hickory."
Hamilton says many of The Meat Center's regulars are people who have moved to the Lake Norman region from other places and are seeking a little taste and atmosphere of their previous homes, but many of the store's products are home-grown.
Yah's Best selection of salsas, from the Crawford family farm in Huntersville, and sausages from the McLaughlin operation near Mooresville, are among The Meat Center's regional suppliers.
The store's staff, along with its inventory and services, is also an eclectic mix. Melissa Brotherton and Rachel Wood, two of the many behind-the-counter faces at The Meat Center, have extensive cooking and catering backgrounds while Eric Powell's background is a diverse blend of information technology and ministry, tossed in with a fascination and imagination for cooking.
But in the food prep area, all ideas are equal. Last week, Brotherton and Powell concocted a new recipe for ultra-cheesy macaroni and cheese and, after spooning out some samples and agreeing on a few tweaks, added it to that day's deli counter offerings.
"It is sort of free-wheeling, trial-and-error cooking," Brotherton says of the assorted salads and side dishes staff members add, "and the best part is we get to eat our mistakes."
She says that keeping up with the recipes is the toughest, but most important, step. "You don't want to make something wonderful and then forget how you did it," she says.
Judging from The Meat Center's popularity — the deli's soup and sandwich specials draw a daily crowd at lunchtime and orders have been steady for Thanksgiving turkeys and other holiday menu items — it appears Hamilton and the rest of store's crew have created something special and, with a primary ingredient of devoted customer service, found a tasty recipe for success.
A place to meat
The Meat Center, 491 Williamson Road, Suite 104 in Harbor Square, is open weekdays 9 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sundays 10 a.m.-5 p.m. More information is available at www.themeatcenter.com. Call 704-799-1081 or fax orders to 704-799-1093.
