Joshua Boyles is making the cut.
Together with co-owner Robert Coulman, Boyles launched New York’s Butcher Brothers at 12 Commons Drive, Suite 13 in Hartwick Seminary about a year ago. The shop offers custom and standard cuts of beef, pork, lamb and goat; seafood; specialty products and more.
Boyles, 38, said he brings decades of experience to the job.
“I grew up around Cooperstown … and I’ve been butchering now for 20 years,” he said. “I’ve worked in USDA plants doing harvesting and smoked meat and everything down the line. When it comes to the harvesting process, being good at it is a good thing and I stuck with it and I was ambitious. I was good at what I did and moved up. It’s a good-paying job and I like hard work.
“I ran the Green Cow in Cooperstown, then they closed down and moved the store back over to the plant in Hartwick and went to frozen meat,” Boyles continued. “I didn’t see a place in that, but then I seen this opportunity and I wanted to bring people good, quality products at an affordable cost, and New York state products. We’re going to stick to local and good quality, and everybody knows what they’re getting.”
Boyles said services and products run the gamut.
“We’ve got seafood and pork and shelf-stable products — noodles, pasta sauces, pancake mixes — and we have soaps and lotions from a woman in Fly Creek,” he said. “And any kind of cut you want when it comes to beef, and it’s all certified black Angus from Upstate New York. We’re a specialty shop and we can do anything; we sell half cows, and we offer processing. We will come and harvest and bring it back in quarters. If you want to purchase half a cow, then we get that USDA (certified) and bring it in and cut it up, but if you have a cow on your farm, we’ll come right there and process. And we’re in the process of trying to accept food stamps, too, because I want everybody to be able to come in and get stuff.”
Boyles said his custom sausage and steaks are among top-sellers.
“We do all our own sausage — hot Italian, sweet, chorizo, apple-maple, maple breakfast and Cajun andouille,” he said. “And we can do custom blends, so if you need it lower sodium, we can lower the sodium. Our rib-eyes (are also popular), and those have a lot of good flavor. If we put it out, it sells.”
Boyles said he plans to continue prioritizing quality while growing his business.
“I want to keep with the retail and provide the best product we can and keep the customer base and help out farmers,” he said. “We want to expand after a while and do another store, but we are just looking to give people the best product we can.”
New York’s Butcher Brothers is open daily, year-round and offers a 20% military discount.
For more information, call 607-282-4388 or find “New York’s Butcher Brothers” on Facebook.