This popular specialty market offering quality meats, more to open 2nd Middle GA spot

Amy and David Dean plan to open a second location of The Butcher Shop, a popular specialty market in Warner Robins.

Their market offers freshly cut, high quality meats, frozen vegetables, ready-for-the-grill sides, grab-and-go eats, desserts and unique food items.

The idea is to pick up everything needed for a delicious meal in one location and maybe take home something unique from the store as well.

The Deans hope to open The Butcher Shop at 4420 Forsyth Road, Suite 125, in Macon before the end of year — possibly in time for the Christmas holiday season.

“We want you to feel like you’re the only customer when you walk in the door,” said Amy Dean, who places an emphasis on customer service in addition to quality food. “When you come in, we want you to feel like you’re our family.”

The Deans plan to duplicate offerings of The Butcher Shop in Warner Robins as much as they can while also tailoring products and services to the Macon area, she said.

The Deans consider their meats “a cut above.”

‘A cut above’

When a customer walks into The Butcher Shop at 1057 Ga. 96, Suite 100, in Warner Robins, they’ll find a large selection of Certified Angus Beef cuts from the bistro tender to ribeye steak to the Japanese A5 Wagyu.

On a recent visit, the bistro tender was selling for $21.79 a pound, the ribeye steak for $33.99 per pound and the Japanese A5 Wagyu for $124.99 a pound.

The 80/20 ground beef is ground fresh daily on site. The Deans also offer hand-patted specialty burgers, including The Fromm burger named after former University of Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm, whose hometown is Warner Robins.

The half-pound burger is a mixture of their fresh ground beef and Fromm’s favorites of bacon, mushroom and Swiss cheese.

The Butcher Shop also offers a host of chicken and pork selections as well as sausage made in house from their recipes.

A popular sausage choice is Kristy’s Hawaiian Mafia Link, which is spicy Italian pork sausage with pineapple and bacon. Low country boil is another house blend of shrimp, crab, corn, red potatoes and sausage, Dean said.

Meats also may be ordered in advance in the store and online with marinades or rubs, cut to suit and vacuum packed.

The Deans also offer their own jerky in a variety of flavors as well as freshly fried pork rinds.

They also have shelves full of sauces and seasonings, including their own Double D’s Dirt BBQ Seasoning.

A large freezer offers a host of vegetables from butter peas to corn on the cob as well as ground lamb and a few other exotic meat options.

They also offer a variety of ready to microwave or bake foods from single to family meals, an assortment of dips like spinach and artichoke, and sides seasoned and ready for the grill such as bacon-wrapped asparagus, sliced squash and zucchini, cauliflower steak and stuffed mushrooms.

Customers may also want to try their jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon as well as their steak bites wrapped in bacon.

The Deans also have their own cheese such as their Red Dragon English Mustard Seed.

They also offer jams and jellies, homemade sweets like pecan pies, pound cake and bananas and local goods like Money’s Honey of Fort Valley and fingernut cookies from Wilson’s Bakery in Warner Robins.

Unique to the Macon store

At the Macon store, the Deans expect to carry more of the exotic meats such as lamb, veal, quail and duck.

They also plan to offer high end wines and specialty beers, she said.

The Macon store will also have a different look: a French country decor of black and white.

The Dean’s List, a popular weekly offering at the Warner Robins store of pre-ordered single and family meals via Facebook, won’t be offered — at least not initially.

Dean said she may offer a few of The Dean’s List products to grab and go in the Macon store, or other options like sandwiches, to test the waters and see what people in the Macon area prefer.

Something Dean said she thinks will be well received in the Macon area and that she plans to offer are charcuterie boards.

Hoping to open by early to mid-December, the Deans won’t be offering holiday meals at the Macon store this year but expect to be able to provide that service next year, she said.

Coming to both locations will be delivery, a service they’ll provide with their own employees.

“The person who is delivering is a reflection of our store,” she said.

For friends and family

The Deans started out catering for family and friends before opening a storefront in 2014 in a shopping strip anchored by a convenience store and gas station in Warner Robins.

The first Butcher Shop was located in the former Martins Meat Market spot that’s now a Stoner’s Pizza Joint at 1080 Ga. 96, Suite 500.

To open their market and catering business, David Dean left behind his construction work to go full-time. His brother is Michael Dean of the Macon Beer Company and Cluckin’ Great Deli and More.

Amy Dean also works full-time at their business while also continuing to serve as office manager for her father’s business, Allen’s Tree Service in Warner Robins.

The couple’s market and catering service grew by leaps and bounds at their larger Warner Robins location, and while other businesses struggled during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, they did well.

“We grew a lot of customers during COVID because of shortages at grocery stores,” she said.

The Deans have been considering opening a second location for some time, having been asked to consider other places like Savannah, she said.

But they decided on Macon primarily because they’re hands-on operators and Macon isn’t a far drive. They also expect to fill a void created when Hoyt’s Market closed, Dean said.

Moreover, The Butcher Shop in Warner Robins already has customers who travel from Macon and from the city of Forsyth and the Bolingbroke community in Monroe County, she said.

The Deans recently started renovating the Macon storefront.

They’re also hiring for both locations, offering on-site training and especially looking for college students as well as those with culinary interests. If interested in a job at either location, call the store at 478-988-9262.