Jason “Kyle” Crowder recently opened The Butcher Shop, a retail store selling cuts of pork and steak in addition to other products like hamburger patties, next to his barbecue restaurant in Powhatan. (Jack Jacobs photos)
With a few years of restaurant experience now under his belt, the owner of a Powhatan barbecue joint is growing his business with a new retail market and additional seating.
Jason Crowder has opened The Butcher Shop, a market and butchery next door to his barbecue spot Smok N Pigz at 2090 Anderson Highway. The shop sells cuts of pork, steak and chicken as well as house-made sausage, bacon and hamburger patties.
Crowder described The Butcher Shop as a neighborhood market with an emphasis on meat products, which he said he saw an opening for in Powhatan. The store also has a butcher, one of Crowder’s employees who splits time between the shop and restaurant.
“With the butcher shop, we’re just looking to do something neat,” he said. “We wanted to give people a good local option for a meat source.”
The Butcher Shop opened on Wednesday and occupies a 700-square-foot space that was formerly a hair salon. Crowder took over two storefronts next to Smok N Pigz and knocked down dividing walls between them to give the business room to grow.
While the store is its own brand and concept, it operates under the same LLC as the restaurant and shares the same street address. The shop sources its meats from Seven Hills Food Co. in Lynchburg and Performance Food Group. It also features a salad bar and expects to add more items in the future.
The Butcher Shop shares its address with Smok N Pigz at 2090 Anderson Highway, Suite A.
The new retail offering comes after Crowder completed a renovation of Smok N Pigz’s space, which now has expanded seating and occupies 1,400 square feet. The expanded dining room opened in December and gives the restaurant seating for up to 60 diners, whereas it previously could seat about a dozen people. Crowder said the restaurant’s previous capacity handicapped its dinner business.
“Lunch is our market out here. At nighttime we were struggling with sales at the restaurant. When four people went out to eat, we were immediately eliminated (from consideration),” he said.
A former tax prep storefront was transformed into the additional seating at the restaurant.
Smok N Pigz and The Butcher Shop are located in the Rams Plaza shopping center. The center is also home to the headquarters of gasoline distributor Rams Petroleum, which owns the property.
The Smok N Pigz restaurant opened in 2018 at the center, following a food trailer that launched in 2014. The food trailer ended operations during the pandemic.
Rams Plaza is next to the Food Lion-anchored South Creek Shopping Center. Across from South Creek, Starbucks recently opened its first cafe in Powhatan.
Jason “Kyle” Crowder recently opened The Butcher Shop, a retail store selling cuts of pork and steak in addition to other products like hamburger patties, next to his barbecue restaurant in Powhatan. (Jack Jacobs photos)
With a few years of restaurant experience now under his belt, the owner of a Powhatan barbecue joint is growing his business with a new retail market and additional seating.
Jason Crowder has opened The Butcher Shop, a market and butchery next door to his barbecue spot Smok N Pigz at 2090 Anderson Highway. The shop sells cuts of pork, steak and chicken as well as house-made sausage, bacon and hamburger patties.
Crowder described The Butcher Shop as a neighborhood market with an emphasis on meat products, which he said he saw an opening for in Powhatan. The store also has a butcher, one of Crowder’s employees who splits time between the shop and restaurant.
“With the butcher shop, we’re just looking to do something neat,” he said. “We wanted to give people a good local option for a meat source.”
The Butcher Shop opened on Wednesday and occupies a 700-square-foot space that was formerly a hair salon. Crowder took over two storefronts next to Smok N Pigz and knocked down dividing walls between them to give the business room to grow.
While the store is its own brand and concept, it operates under the same LLC as the restaurant and shares the same street address. The shop sources its meats from Seven Hills Food Co. in Lynchburg and Performance Food Group. It also features a salad bar and expects to add more items in the future.
The Butcher Shop shares its address with Smok N Pigz at 2090 Anderson Highway, Suite A.
The new retail offering comes after Crowder completed a renovation of Smok N Pigz’s space, which now has expanded seating and occupies 1,400 square feet. The expanded dining room opened in December and gives the restaurant seating for up to 60 diners, whereas it previously could seat about a dozen people. Crowder said the restaurant’s previous capacity handicapped its dinner business.
“Lunch is our market out here. At nighttime we were struggling with sales at the restaurant. When four people went out to eat, we were immediately eliminated (from consideration),” he said.
A former tax prep storefront was transformed into the additional seating at the restaurant.
Smok N Pigz and The Butcher Shop are located in the Rams Plaza shopping center. The center is also home to the headquarters of gasoline distributor Rams Petroleum, which owns the property.
The Smok N Pigz restaurant opened in 2018 at the center, following a food trailer that launched in 2014. The food trailer ended operations during the pandemic.
Rams Plaza is next to the Food Lion-anchored South Creek Shopping Center. Across from South Creek, Starbucks recently opened its first cafe in Powhatan.