Bacon and doughnuts: Two local food makers team up

Breakfast and dinner are about to get more exciting for cooks in and around Davidson.

Carolina Craft Butchery, the local-meat butcher shop started by Lee Menius of Wild Turkey Farms, announced Wednesday that he will team up with Courtney Buckley of Your Mom’s Donuts to start offering coffee and doughnuts at his location at 605B Jetton St. in Davidson. The coffee is from Pure Intentions.

The shop had closed earlier this month but will hold a reopening celebration 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday with free doughnuts and coffee while supplies last.

Menius had opened the shop last March, offering custom cuts and whole-animal butchery using locally raised animals, many from his own farm. But he closed the shop temporarily earlier this month, saying that the lack of steady customers through the week was making it hard to continue.

“Perishability really hurts us on meat,” he said. “The bulk of our business was Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, people grabbing stuff for the grill when the weather was nice.”

He and Buckley had been talking about teaming up for a while.

Buckley’s bakery is at 11025 Monroe Road, on the edge of Matthews, but she’s been working at getting more locations for her doughnuts. In addition to a shop at 217 N. Hayne St. in Monroe, she recently added a kiosk at Park Road Shopping Center, in the small building that used to be a key shop.

Having Buckley’s doughnuts and Pure Intentions coffee available seven mornings a week will give more people a reason to stop in, Menius says. And that will increase visibility for his shop.

Opening in a newly developed area of Davidson away from Main Street had made it difficult to get a following during the week, he said. However, more new food businesses have opened near the butcher shop and he hopes that will also draw more traffic from people trying to avoid the parking difficulties in downtown Davidson.

After Saturday’s reopening, the shop will go to new hours starting Sunday: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 11:57 AM.