Stephenson Meats in Vancouver Business Journal

Stephenson Meats was featured in an article in the Vancouver Business Journal on April 12. Here’s some of the article.

A familiar voice comes on the radio emanating, “Beef: it’s what’s for dinner.” For the family that owns and operates Ridgefield’s Stephenson Meat Cutting, nothing about that motto could be further from the truth – unless of course they happen to be eating pork, sheep, alpaca, llama, emu or ostrich.

We’ve had a lot of interesting animals,” explained Marie Stephenson, who founded the family business more than 35 years ago alongside her husband, Art. Art Stephenson honed his meat-cutting skills working for food supplier Swift and Company. One day during a company remodel, Marie said her husband was given the opportunity to take home a cooler.

“They were demolishing this building and rebuilding it, so they wanted to know if he wanted that cooler,” she recalled. As Marie tells it, Art figured he could use the cooler for family use. However, its purpose quickly became greater than that, as folks continued to seek out Art’s butchering skills even after he left Swift and Company.

“He [Art] thought that we would eventually just (prepare meat for people) in retirement, but that was like 35 years ago and we have been in the business ever since then,” said Marie.

Over the years, Stephenson Meat Cutting has benefited from the conveniently located family home (near the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge) as well as word of mouth to gain a steady stream of customers. Their retail store now offers pepperoni, summer sausages, Canadian bacon, peppered bacon, beer dogs, and much more.

“I get a lot of people stopping in when they go to the refuge,” said Marie.

Stephenson Meat Cutting is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The family also sells products at the Ridgefield Farmers Market, which opens May 12.

You can read the rest of the story at http://www.vbjusa.com/en/spotlight/retail/4609-meat-your-neighbors