MONTGOMERY CO., Va.—
A local tradition is not only putting food on the table for families.It's also turning out to be profitable for a Montgomery County butcher.
Harvey Hill has 21 years of experience as a butcher.
His wife got sick of him bringing deer into their home to butcher for friends.
So, he opened his own shop, Harvey's Meat Processing.
It started out slow here five years ago, but his business is already up 75% from last year.
It's mostly deer and even some bear this time of year.
"Two weeks of rifle season, I'm here day in day out. 7 o'clock, 11 o'clock at night," explained Hill.
A few years ago, Hill had a tough time keeping up.
He's a full time butcher at Kroger in Blacksburg.
So, he hired about 10 people to meet the demand.
And they work fast. Harvey's staff can actually take an entire deer, butcher it and package it in about 10 minutes.
"November 5th, opening day of muzzleloading season, I'm not going to be processing anything. I'm just going to be receiving deer in and the way actually this season has looked, I'm thinking it's going to be close to 100 deer come in that day," Hill said.
He's busy 9 months out of the year.
But this is the peak of the season, October through January.
"Everybody here I consider like my family. I've got a heck of a crew. They can run it with me or with me not here.:14 and that's what makes it a success," said Hill.
It's not just the quality of work that brings them back.
Knowing his customers on a first name basis and the friendly atmosphere probably have something to do with it too.
