A Prime Tradition
A&R Customer Butchering, A Family Legacy of Quality Meats and Service…
The family-owned A&R Custom Butchering Retail Meats and Deli has deep roots in the Northern California area. It all started when Cottonwood-native Dwayne Casteel got a job at a nearby meat shop when he was just 15, gradually learning the trade of custom butchering.
Casteel went on to become a manager of the meat departments at local supermarkets before taking over A&R Custom Butchering on 1055 Main St. in Red Bluff in 2009. Since then, the small custom butcher shop has grown to include a full-service meat counter (complete with frogs legs and alligator); a retail space stocked with locally made sauces and seasonings; and a deli serving up award-winning tri-tip sandwiches.
Nowadays, Dwayne’s son Cole is stepping into his dad’s role, and he’s been personally involved with the business cutting beef, wrapping meat and working the counter since he was around 12. A&R Custom Butchering has close to 1,000 clients it works with to go out and slaughter and process their meats. Most of them live in the Red Bluff/Chico area, with their furthest client being in Fall River Mills.
Cole says the weirdest animal they’ve ever processed was a yak. “The guy killed it in Oregon. We cut it up the same as anything else, it just looked different,” he says. “We’ve done a couple of buffalo, a lot of deer, a lot of elk. We cut up a moose from Canada before.”
Cole has friends who have gone into deals raising cows for beef with their neighbors because they’re grass fed, cheaper, and they know where their food is coming from. “Some benefits of raising your own animals allows you to see the hard work that goes into creating a good product. You also get to know what is in your meat and how to get it to taste the way you like.”
A&R added a deli to its custom butcher shop in 2016, and the tri-tip sandwich is easily the most popular, and his favorite thing to eat. “We smoke our tri-tip in house and put the meat on a sourdough roll coated in garlic butter and toasted on our griddles with barbecue sauce and cheddar cheese. The sandwich won the People’s Choice Award at the Beef N Brew here in Red Bluff,” Cole says. They only sell them on Fridays, and hot sandwiches come with about seven ounces of meat. “It’s really simple but has a lot of flavor,” he says.
Cole loves animals because they feed his family, but he says the most common misconception of running a butcher shop is that he eats meat all the time. His favorite aspect about being involved with the butcher shop is about getting to work with family. The Casteels (now in their fourth generation) are originally from McCloud and most of his family now lives in Red Bluff and Cottonwood. “We have a tight-knit family; my grandma, a few cousins, my mom, my dad, and my brother have all worked here,” he says.
When asked about his goals for the future of A&R, Cole says, “I would love to grow it into a destination spot. I look at Granzella’s (in Williams) and we could easily incorporate that kind of model here, being right off the freeway. I’d like to gear the store to be able to fit all generations, for older people who might have grown up shopping at an old-school butcher shop that has a small-town feel, but also for the younger generations that want to go to a place that’s more in style and clean with friendly help. We would like for people to want to come, have a place to go and be comfortable to hang out in a social atmosphere.•
A&R Custom Butchering
www.arcustombutchering.com
