BUSINESS STRATEGIES The evolution of What started as an artisanal butcher shop has matured into a thriving business with balance BY ERICA SHAFFER eshaf fer@sos land.com L ocal Pig, Kansas City, Mo., started as a somewhat " romantic " venture - an artisanal butcher and sausage shop tucked away in the city's East Bottoms neighborhood near the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers. Alex Pope, a former restaurant chef-turned entrepreneur opened the shop 11 years ago with business partner and co-owner Matt Kafka. Back then, Pope and his " dudes " made sausage by using an old-fashioned hand-cranked meat grinder along with a manual sausage stuffer. Visitors to the shop could walk through the door and watch Local Pig employees break down a side of beef or whole pig. 24 MEAT+POULTRY | 09.23 | www.meatpoultry.com Kansas City wasn't exactly a Mecca for artisanal butcher shops. Residents of the barbecue haven didn't have readily available options for buying locally sourced meats. But in 2023, Kansas City and the greater metro area, including suburbs across the state line in Kansas, boasts at least 20 brick-and-mortar meat shops. And there are almost too many to count e-commerce sites selling everything from grass-fed, grass-finished beef to meats sourced from heritage breeds fed organic diets. With a few mouse clicks consumers can purchase meat bearing any label claims they might desire and have it delivered to their doorstep. Local Pighttp://eshaffer@sosland.com http://www.meatpoultry.com