N.Y. Butcher Shoppe will add a Lake Norman location in June

But after he and business partner Brian Miller left Maggiano’s and opened their first Charlotte-area New York Butcher Shoppe in 2019, they had an idea: Cook the meat they sell, and feed it to people on a plate, kind of like a — oh no — restaurant.

What’s happening: Three years later, that idea has helped N.Y. Butcher power through. They’re expanding, too, adding a third Charlotte-area location in early June near Lake Norman in Cornelius.

Why it matters: Meat prices are skyrocketing these days and food costs broadly have killed many small businesses. But this local butcher seems to have found a winning formula.

How it works: The shop doubles as a restaurant where the main menu item — highlighted in a big red box — is simply “choose your own cut of meat, salmon or fresh catch from the butcher counter.”

• The staff prepare it and toss in some sides for a $15 charge.
• And customers often return and buy the meat to take home.

“I realized that grocery shopping and buying proteins is a very ritualistic process, built on routine,” Tillery tells me. “People go where they go and they don’t really break out of that. … But everybody loves trying a new restaurant. And we built our menu to give people a taste of the flavors that we offer in the store.”

What to expect: The Cornelius shop will have two patios, one north-facing, the other south. The front door is a roll-up garage that’ll be open on nice days.

• The shop is part of an overhaul of the 40-year-old Heritage Plaza Center at 20823 N. Main St. in Cornelius, just south of the line with the town of Davidson.
• It’ll be next to the second location of VANA, a popular Charlotte restaurant.

The big picture: Nothing’s cheap, groceries especially. Beef is up 20% over last year and chicken’s up 13%, Axios Emily Peck reported recently.

• Seafood is through the roof. Crab meat prices have doubled since before the pandemic, as we noted in our story about Lulu’s Maryland Style Chicken and Seafood last fall.
• “You never know where the prices are going to go from one week to the next,” Tillery says.

New York Butcher Shoppe has adjusted accordingly, educating customers on how to prepare lower-grade or less-popular cuts to save money.

• When the Dilworth shop opened in 2019, prime meats were top-sellers. Now, folks are going with choice, a step down.
• They’re also bypassing a filet for less expensive options like flank or Denver steak.

Backstory: Tillery previously lived in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, and on the first floor of his apartment was a Polish butcher who doubled as the landlord. Every day, Tillery walked past the butcher shop to get home.

• “I never had any perishables in my apartment,” he says, “because everything I ate I bought that day.”

Tillery moved south to Charlotte around 2003 and eventually became executive chef and senior director of operations at Maggiano’s Little Italy. His business partner, Miller, was the former general manager and managing partner of Maggiano’s.

They grew tired of the late nights and launched the butcher shop dream.

• At first they intended to run the butcher business under their own name, but when they met with the owners of New York Butcher Shoppe in Greenville, S.C., they realized that sourcing would be easier if they teamed up.

The company has 18 locations in five states now — and all of the Charlotte-area spots fall under Tillery and Miller.

• Each shop takes on the flavor of the area, with meat sourced from local farms and most packaged products from North Carolina makers.
• Different locations have different needs: At the shop in Indian Land, for instance, Tillery says they sell more prepared food options — lasagnas, chicken parm, mac and cheese — because the area is full of families and it’s an easy supper.
• At the Dilworth location, surrounded by well-to-do families and empty-nesters, they sell more things from the butcher counter to people looking to experiment at home.

The Dilworth shop was the franchise to run a restaurant with the business. Customers could not only come ogle things like their giant tomahawk steak, they could eat it on-site with a glass of wine.

What’s next: Tillery tells me he’s looking to grow to five shops in the Charlotte area before expanding to Raleigh.

• They’re already scouting locations in Matthews for No. 4.