MAY 202 I f there’s one thing Arcadia local Nick Addante knows, it’s meat – but his journey into the butcher industry didn’t start there. After college, Addante went on to work in real estate. After a trip to Spain, he realized he wanted to do something that would benefit people and the food they eat. His shop, Arcadia Meat Market, has provided the Valley with organic cuts and other culinary treats for six years. Not at all. After graduating from UofA, I got a job with a family friend who did foreclosure wholesaling, fixing and flipping, and stuff like that. Before I was getting ready to graduate, I was also studying for my LSAT – which, I didn’t even want to go to law school – so when a friend offered me a job in San Antonio, I took it. I moved after I took the LSAT and learned how to flip/buy and sell residential real estate. I did that for three or four years, and then the crash happened, so I moved back to Phoenix and did the same thing until around 2010. One of my cousins, a huge health nut, lived in Austin while I was in San Antonio, so we got closer. When I moved back here, he became an investor in my business. I stopped buying houses in 2013. My cousin was a silent partner in Arizona Grass-Raised Beef (in Camp Verde). When I stopped buying real estate, I told him I wanted to get in on the company. I had previously taken a trip to Spain, where I met a woman who opened my eyes to organic food. Being from Europe, she knew all about it. She was a fanatic and taught me everything. My cousin told me I shouldn’t get involved because, in his words, ‘We don’t make any money,’ and I told him, ‘Yes, I do. This is where food needs to be!’ I’m afraid of not having access to clean food. I’ve done the whole not-taking-care-of myself thing; I was ready to change that. I was prepared to do something that would give me a purpose, so I wrote a letter of intent to invest in the beef company, took the money I had saved, and opened Arcadia Meat Market. Before the building, I sold products at the Old Town Farmers Market. People would come over and say, ‘This is the best (fill-in-the-blank) I’ve ever had,’ and I had enough of that. By January 2017, I started hunting for a building. Before I found this spot, I was going to be in the Club Pilates building (on 38th and Indian School). The building we’re in now was going to be a nail salon. That fell through, so I swooped in and signed the lease. I had zero experience in the industry, and I’ve never been a butcher. All I wanted to do was provide clean food for people, and I figured I’d learn everything else along the way. Every week that summer, I would go to our USDA plant in Chino Valley, sleep in a fifth wheel, and work in the cut room with the other guys. That’s how I learned how to do what I do. It was a crash course. I went out and toured all the farms and met all the farmers we work with in Arizona, California, and Nevada – around 24 butcher shops – to research and learn everything I could before we opened our doors in January 2019. All of our beef comes from Arizona ranches. We have 40 producers who signed affidavits that their farms are only grass-fed, grass-finished. The name of our certification is the American Grass Fed Association, so we’re certified. My partner, Tim, got different ranchers to participate in our program so that they could provide us with beef when needed. We work with four or five tribes and a bunch of generational ranchers. Tim has six ranches and a few land leases where he has cattle grazing, and we’ll move cattle around during different times of the year. So we’re constantly picking up cattle and bringing them to our plant to process and ship directly to consumers, our shop, and another shop. We’re also distributed through Shamrock and Sysco. Our lamb, pork, chicken and beef are all Arizona-raised. We sell Australian and Japanese wagyu. Our salt is from Jacobsen Salt Company, which is out of Oregon. Our olive oils are Italian. We have salsa, Arizona microgreens, Crow’s Dairy cheese, Twisted Honey, Noble Bread and Blue Sky produce. When we first opened, I wanted all Arizona products, including our wine and beer selection. However, the Arizona wines didn’t sell much, so instead, we rotate between some Napa, Sonoma, and Spain-based wines. Our eggs come from a farm called Chiricahua Pasture Raised Meats in Willcox. Josh raises our turkeys for Thanksgiving, and we use their pork and lamb. We’ve used his stuff since day one. I wish there were 10 of him in this state [ laughs ]. He produces really clean food. George Lucas had a herd of wagyu at Skywalker Ranch, and I was able to get six or seven of those cows. It was really expensive, and the cows were huge. All of the cuts flew off the shelves. There was a six-month stretch where we were able to sell our ‘Jedi Beef.’ We’ve also had ostrich, rattlesnake and rabbit, but we buy that already packaged. Every week, we do different sausages in the meat case but we have our staple with Nick Addante of Arcadia Meat Market 3950 E. Indian School Road arcadiameatmarket.com In the Kitchen WE HAVE MOVED 4600 E Shea Blvd | Suite 100 | Phoenix, AZ 85028 NW corner Tatum and Shea | West of Trader Joes 602.955.8700 • FPSAZ.com IN PRACTICE CELEBRATING EXPERT DOCTORS AND PRACTITIONERS. CONVENIENT SERVICES. EXTENDED HOURS. Our Family Caring for Yours
Y 2024 cuts – New York, bone-in, ribeye – there are a lot! Hot Italian sausage is our biggest seller. We also do sandwiches every Friday, and that rotates each week. It’s a roller coaster. It’s a lot, but my favorite part is the customers. Interacting with guests, those relationships make it worth it. I had an old producer that I was buying from one time that I was complaining to, saying, ‘I’m in here scrubbing the floors until 3 a.m., and then I’m back at 6,’ and he said, ‘Nick, at least they’re your floors.’ I have to remind myself that all of this is for the people. It’s not about me. I have a son now, too, so it’s really not about me anymore [ laughs ]. It’s been humbling. There are good and bad days. My least favorite part? Scrubbing the floors! Depends on the day. On Monday, we’re sausage-linking and making burger patties. We have a grinder, mixer and linker which helps cut production time. Sometimes, I’m doing admin, or I’m at the plant working in the cut room, or I’m grinding or working on the meat case. Oh yeah. Michael Phelps comes in all the time. A bunch of baseball, basketball and football players come in – like JJ Watt. I haven’t seen him in a while, but he came in and bought bone broth by the case. We sell it in the shop and it helps you heal big time – it’s loaded with collagen and nutrients. He’s only three [ laughs ], but I hope not. I hope he does his own thing – whatever he does, I’m all for it. My wife and I are both entrepreneurs, and I feel like he’ll find his thing when the time comes. I try to hit the trail as much as I can. I’m either on the trail or I’m cooking. I love a good tri tip with roasted vegetables and a salad. When I go out to eat, which isn’t often, I like to go to the places that use our cuts – The Parlor, Pomo, The Porch, Pa’La. Get a bigger boat! I want another location so we can serve more people. I’m investing in one of our ranches, but we’re also trying to build a ranch by Alamo Lake. We’ll have a farm that grows organic feed that has cattle, so we can feed animals on our own property that come from my partner’s ranches and sell them here. Now You Can Sip While You Shop! For details & participating restaurants & retailers, scan below