Nick Chase shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Nick, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about your customers?
Because I run a butcher shop I spend all day thinking about food. Almost exclusively, from the moment I drop off my kids at school until I get home from work and finish cooking dinner, I think about food. From individual cuts of meat, to composed dished, to the restricted weekly menu I wrote for my kids because they are extraordinarily picky eaters. It’s Wednesday morning and I’ve been thinking about dinner since 9 am. It’s BBQ night, so the menu is grilled chicken, baked potatoes, and mac and cheese. It’s been that same meal for 8 months because it’s something my kids will eat and it’s relatively healthy (in the context of the entire weekly menu). I’ve been thinking about what little thing I’ll change today. I try to change one little part of the meal each week to add some variety and get my kids to branch out. It also help me from falling into depression because I am So! Incredibly! Bored! with eating the same thing every week.
That’s what I’ve learned about my customers. They don’t spend even one tenth the amount of time thinking about food as I do. I forget that for most people their lives don’t revolve around what they want to cook tonight. For a lot of people, it’s an annoyance and a chore. That’s a big part of the reason Friendly Nick’s Butcher exists, to help ease some of my customers daily stresses and make their meals better. I guess my point is that I don’t know the day to day lives of my customers and how meal preparation fits into their schedules. I wonder what my life would have been if my first jobs had been in construction, or office work, or some random big box retail job.
Since I first stepped into a professional kitchen, 30 years ago, I knew that I wanted my life to revolve around food. Personally, I enjoy the time I spend cooking each day. And because I enjoy doing it, my kids get interested, and I get to teach them some life skills. And that’s what food is to me, cooking or eating it, it’s a way to share time with the people I love. I find I have to remind myself that my customers don’t obsess over food and it’s my job to help them relieve the stress of cooking so they can still have those moments with the people they love.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Howdy, I’m Friendly Nick. I’ve lived in Fort Collins since 2012, when my wife moved out here to finish her Master’s at CSU. I like her so I thought I’d come too. I was a chef in a previous life, and after a failed business investment here, I wanted to do something that still revolved around food and people but not the insanity that restaurant life brings. Over martinis at Elliot’s, my friend suggested that I open a niche grocery store. A few hundred pages of business plans later, it became a butcher shop.
We focus on supplying the high-end meat market. I spent a lot of time developing relationships with amazing local ranchers. I love to work with smaller farms and businesses so our money stays in the community. It also allows me to have more information about how our meat is raised. I felt there was a disconnect between customers and suppliers about where the meat comes from, what it’s fed, how it’s treated, and what impact that has on our environment and community.
These ideals led me to create a shop that pursues whole animal butchery. We bring in several whole cows, pigs, and chickens weekly. Everything gets broken down here in an “open kitchen” style floor plan. I want my customers to be able to see how their meat is treated and how clean the shop is, and I want to develop trust in myself and my staff that we are supplying them with the best possible meat. To that end, I want my customers to have access not only to great meat but be able to find value in what we do. I believe everyone should have access to healthy, sustainable food.
Pursuing whole-animal butchery allows us to find lesser-known, undervalued cuts that can make excellent meals. Not everything has to be a ribeye or tenderloin. It allows me to keep my ground beef prices down so people don’t have to break the bank to access great quality meat. We also accept EBT/food stamps because everyone should have access to good food. I want my business to be a positive force in the community.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
My first notable food experience was in France. I spent a few weeks outside of Paris as part of a student exchange program. We were out at the family farm having a picnic and part of the meal was a fresh radish split into quarters and smeared with that fabled, uber-rich, French butter. The spiciness of the radish perfectly complimenting the rich, creaminess of the butter. I didn’t know it then, but on that day, at that table, with the light breeze and the warm sun, it was one of the most defining moments of my life.
That radish started me on a journey that has led me through one of the best culinary schools in the country, through 7 years of cooking in New York City, through grueling years in world renowned kitchens, under internationally famous chefs. I have eaten in the best restaurants in the country and still, that radish is more memorable than any dish I’ve made or eaten. There was something magical about the way it all came together. They grew radishes, so we ate radishes, they raised cattle, so we churned butter. They loved and cared about the land and the animals and it showed in that exquisitely simplistic flavor combination.
When I recognized the need for a traditional butcher here in Fort Collins I knew that I could take this philosophy of care and love for the animals and the land and promote it through the butcher shop. Because we eventually slaughter and eat these animals I am committed to sourcing my meats through farmers that use humane and sustainable practices. I am committed to using all of my care and skills to create beautiful and delicious food for you and to not waste or disrespect the life of the animals we consume. Ribeyes or radishes, if we don’t care for and love the land and the animals that we raise or grow we risk losing a valuable part of our culture and traditions. I started Friendly Nick’s Butcher to help bring us back to a way of eating that connects us to where our food comes from.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I don’t really like the way this question is worded because it doesn’t really ask the question it wants to. What you’re asking is; have I, or can I, be courageous enough to overcome my problems and where did I find that courage? And my answer to that is through honesty.
I have a 3 year old and a 6 year old so I read a lot of kids books. There’s a theme that pops up a lot; courage and bravery. And while the plot of the books revolve around someone being brave they don’t really explain what being brave is. I had to find a way to explain it in terms my kids could understand. So, I narrowed it down to “doing something even though you’re scarred.” And if that isn’t the definition of opening and running a business, then I don’t know what is. Being scared is a type of emotional pain and the only way I know of to alleviate that pain is through honesty.
For most of the existence of Friendly Nick’s Butcher I’ve had no idea what I’m doing. The work and effort of building and growing the shop has rested on a foundation of honesty and communication between me and everyone I’ve worked with; my staff, my wife, my purveyors, and my customers. So when I didn’t know what I was doing I would just say so. I would present the problem to whoever was listening and, more often than not, we could come up with a solution. That’s been instrumental in building the trust I need to attract and grow my customer base. People want to trust that the food they buy is good quality and the people they buy it from are honest. Our commitment to open, honest communication with our customers allows us to build that trust and that’s not something you can get from a sparkly marketing campaign. That level of honesty lets us work through problems and turn the pain of being scared about not knowing something into the power of building connections and relationships. And I think it’s the most important quality that has helped us succeed.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
I don’t have the time or energy to present a separate version of myself to the public just for the sake of professionalism or marketing or whatever. It strikes me as odd and weird when people create a different version of themselves to present online or in public. I’ve been on tv a few times and been around enough chefs that did marketing promos for their tv shows or cookbooks and, from an off camera /behind the scenes point of view it’s all carefully constructed to present a “real” version of the world that doesn’t exist. It’s exhausting.
But then, I’ve built my business by being extremely open and honest about myself, my meat, my farms and my animals and I can’t envision spending my energy trying to create a false narrative to… do what, boost my sales a little? It’s dishonest and it’s selfish. It’s saying “look at me, but only in this particular light because what I’m selling you doesn’t exist and if you don’t realize I’m lying to you I can get some of your money and run away before you figure it out.”
That’s not the world I want to live in. I like building community and relationships, but I want those relationship to be built on honesty and not Tik Tok marketing trends. So, I’m just me. My social media is just me. My primary goal on social media is to let people know that I exist. I’m not always trying to sell a certain product or even promote the shop. Sometimes I just tell funny make stories or make bad jokes. I wanted my customers to connect with the people who run the shop and reinforce that we’re not just nameless schmucks. We’re borderline professional people that truly enjoy working with food, talking about it, and helping other people find joy in cooking. You know, real people.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
That I care about it.
There’s a Jack London quote that gets thrown around and the passage it’s from is a little more interesting.
“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
The reason my butcher shop exists is to make money. Not to be crass about it, but that’s the purpose of all businesses. But I’m not looking to accumulate unimaginable wealth, I’m looking to create a balance that allows me to really enjoy my life. I demand from my business that it provides me and my employees the resources we need to have full, enjoyable lives outside of work. I want to use Friendly Nick’s Butcher to create relationships and community. I want my business to grow enough to help me lift up the people around me, whether that’s my employees, my customer, or my family I don’t want to do this job until I die, but when I do die, I want what I’ve built here to be a foundation for someone else to grow and help lift up the people around them. And at that point, it’s not my legacy, it’s just a new community of people and relationships. So I don ‘t want a legacy, I just want a life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fnbutcher.com
- Instagram: @fnbutcher
- Facebook: @fnbutcher
