During the weekly Chamber Coffee Thursday, staff of the Butcher Block gave members of the community information about their product and services while the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed them with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Jeff Southwell, Rick Weber and their families and others began work in June on the building located where the Dairy Queen used to be on National Avenue, with the Butcher block opening its doors in August with the goal of providing quality and local meat to Fort Scott.

“We wanted to offer as much local product as we could,” Southwell said, saying they sell E3 meat, local elk meat and seasonings made locally.

They also make 15 kinds of brats and a variety of bacon and jerky that they have won numerous prizes for. Weber said some of the meats he makes he has been developing over more than a decade and has even given seminars on them around the state and in other states.

“I am proud of it,” Weber said of his work. “I consider us one of the five top producers in the state of Kansas.

The shop also provides other food products such as cheeses, pies, sauces and seasonings as well as chicken and pork. They sell both fresh and frozen meat. Bundle packages and gift certificates are also available.

Because of the amount of product they have, Southwell said they have begun to look for a self-contained storage unit that could store some of the meat as they are running out of room, preventing them from selling larger product such as Thanksgiving turkeys and lamb.

“We’ve outgrown our building already,” Weber said.

Southwell said they are still developing their image as well as their product after just a couple months in the business.

“We’re continually tweaking things…trying to see what people are wanting,” Southwell said.

“This is a blessing for Fort Scott,” Jake Gross of E3 Meat said of the Butcher Block. “You need to take advantage of this…Being able to get this kind of product in Fort Scott is a big deal.”