Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Susie Ann Lee, owner of Lee-Bone's Fine Meats, located in Glendale, AZ, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

We're a veteran and family-owned Butcher Shop. Our customers are those who prefer high-quality, fresh, and healthy meat and foods. Our beef is all Prime, and the pork and chicken are all sourced under natural branding. A lot of our customers have commented on it being the taste of the meat they used to eat as a child. It tastes like meat, the way it's supposed to and is not over-processed. We also hear a lot of our customers saying that they do not go out to eat as often now that they have found that our meat is higher quality and easily cooked at home. We also have twice-baked potatoes, hash brown casserole, aged white cheddar mac, and cheese, all house-made to pair with our meats. House-made pico, ceviche, dips, and compound butters are also regularly stocked in our shop. We also carry a large variety of local seasoning and sauces. Of course, we have all of our own Meat Duster and Polish products as well.

Tell us about yourself

The Meat industry was not ever a dream of ours until the COVID-19 pandemic. Lee-Bone's Meat Duster, our seasoning business, took off; more people were eating at home, and some local butcher shops who carry our seasoning were selling out of our product often. Jason was soon furloughed due to the pandemic. That was the beginning, one of the local butcher shops suggested we open one and… there it was, the seed was planted! The beginning of this beautiful story is still being written.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

The most significant accomplishment as a business owner is that we have been accepted and welcomed into this community, where we are able to offer our Fine Meats!

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

I think in our case, it was a little harder than "normally ."We started to pull all of this together at the height of the pandemic. There were limited avenues for help and assistance. After finally building out the spot, we opened the doors the last weekend in February 2021. We didn't receive our 24ft meat display cases until the second week in April. The cases were the first purchase made in October the year before. So the delays were just very difficult to deal with, but here we are today, open and accepted with open arms by the community!

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Make sure you believe in what you want to do.
  2. Taking the initial steps, getting started can be really rough but don't lose sight of why you wanted to start on this journey; that helped us continue pushing.
  3. Don't give up, give it your all, and don't be too proud to ask others, in/out of your industry, for tips. We don't always have all of the answers, all of the time. HA!

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

All of us at the shop would really like to say THANK YOU to all of our customers. We have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know a lot of our customers and their families since we opened. It has been a complete pleasure for us to become a small part of this awesome community. Without this great community, we don't exist. We are extremely fortunate!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://leebonesfinemeats.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeeBonesFineMeats/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leebonesfinemeats/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.