70 years strong, meat market expands into Central, Eastern Kentucky grocery stores

One local market has been serving up some of the highest quality meats to Central Kentucky restaurants and customers from its butcher shops for 70 years.

And now you can buy Uncle Charlie’s Meats’ at Kentucky grocery stores.

The original butcher shop has been a Richmond staple at 607 Big Hill Ave. since 1952 and Lexington has been enjoying a meat market for a few years. But owner Keith and Taylora Schlosser wanted to take the company beyond its fleet of seven trucks and one tractor trailer that reaches 13 states for major restaurant distributors like Sysco, Broad Line Distributors, US Foods and Gordon Food Service. That’s where the idea for grocery stores came in.

“For a long time Uncle Charlie’s hasn’t been much about retail, it’s been more about food service for restaurants,” said Schlosser. “We’re beginning to push more into that sector now as a means of diversifying and further growing the business.”

In March, three IGA grocery stores and 28 Save-A-Lot stores across Central and Eastern Kentucky started selling Uncle Charlie’s packaged meat products. Frozen and fresh sausage patties, bacon, hamburgers hit the shelves and the Springfield IGA was featuring Uncle Charlie’s meats on its hot bar.

What meat does Uncle Charlie’s sell?

Easily the most desirable of it’s products is pork tenderloin. According to Keith Schlosser, the tenderloin stands out due to it’s unique seasoning blend and high quality of cut.

“There’s a lot of people out there who’ve tried to match our quality of tenderloin, but nobody has been able to get the flavor and tenderness the same,” said Schlosser. “Several of our employees have been around for decades as well, helping us to be even more consistent in delivering a high-quality product.”

Other high-quality meats available through Uncle Charlie’s include bacon, pork chops, ground beef, burger patties, chicken, country ham and more.

Does Uncle Charlie’s sell school pizza?

Uncle Charlie’s Meats has also sought to diversify by partnering with local school districts, about 15-20 in total, to combat supply chain issues in their cafeteria’s by stocking up on Bosco pizza breadsticks and other items to keep students energized as they go through their day.

“With us being a small company we’re able to react a lot faster than many of the bigger companies when it comes to meeting our client’s immediate needs,” said Schlosser. “I’ve called up contacts to help schools get cereal bowls and also recently started carrying breakfast burritos and pizzas to supply to them as well.”

But you don’t have to be in school if you want to relive your younger educations days and enjoy cafeteria pizza. At its Richmond and Lexington locations, Uncle Charlie’s sells school pizza — you remember that pizza you loved as a kid, right? Rectangle shaped, available in sausage or pepperoni and oozing with childhood memories.

While Uncle Charlie’s have found success with their recent product expansion, the last few years haven’t been without it’s challenges. Initially the pandemic presented it’s own set of issues, but more recently the supply chain and inflation have been the biggest issues. Schlosser pegs the problems more to labor shortages than a product shortage, which has caused delays in both the packaging and shipment of products.

On top of that the price he’s paying has and continues to increase exponentially by the week.

“We recently put in an order to one of our distributors and when it arrived everything on it was a minimum of 20% more expensive than when we last ordered it just three weeks prior,” said Schlosser. “It can be difficult at times, but ultimately I’d rather be doing this and be my own boss than anything else.”

Uncle Charlie’s Meats

Where: 1066 East New Circle Rd., Lexington; 607 Big Hill Ave., Richmond

Hours: 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, closed Sunday

Online: UncleCharliesMeats.com