{"id":2551,"date":"2026-07-01T13:36:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T13:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2551"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T13:36:17","slug":"grilling-on-fourth-of-july-how-a-rock-hill-area-butcher-shop-fights-high-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2551","title":{"rendered":"Grilling on Fourth of July? How a Rock Hill area butcher shop fights high costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a Saturday morning during grilling season, the hardest item for shoppers to find at a butcher shop off Lancaster Bypass<\/a> may well be a parking spot. Lancaster locals and out-of-towners roundup and file in, looking for deals on steaks and roasts.<\/p>\n

Read more Robert Harrington becomes Charlotte mayor today. He\u2019ll face 4 challenges right away<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of the month, and sometimes when we have crazy deals going on, you\u2019ll pull a crowd in here,\u201d said Brian Everall, who owns The Meat Center<\/a> at 657 Lancaster Bypass East. \u201cSometimes we do have to limit people at the door coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locals know Everall\u2019s place from its 40 years in business. Folks from Rock Hill, Fort Mill and Indian Land know it from their drive through Lancaster headed to the beach. Social media influencers are learning what shoppers have known for years, that The Meat Center is the place to find a deal.<\/p>\n

Customers can find meat there that\u2019s sometimes $2 to $4 per pound less than at other area grocery stores. Weekly bundle deals and specials often include ribeyes, T-bones, porterhouses and filets. The Meat Center also has chicken, pork, seafood, deli cuts and frozen items.<\/p>\n

At a time when the price of beef and the gas needed to get there are soaring, a little relief at the cash register keeps people coming to Lancaster.<\/p>\n

Ground beef, steaks and chuck roasts are up between 13% and 22% from last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>. Gas prices in South Carolina<\/a> top $3.50 a gallon, and spent much of the year above $4 per gallon.<\/p>\n

Everall openly shares the secret to his business \u2014 it\u2019s focusing on the bottom line for customers, not just the store.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we have to make a profit to keep this place open? Of course,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the same time, we don\u2019t have to be greedy. We don\u2019t have to want to make a killing off of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ann and Leon Boss opened the store in 1986. Ann\u2019s brother Billy Everall joined them. The Meat Center operated at the end of a strip mall across the highway until 2016, when a move to the current spot quadrupled its size.<\/p>\n

Brian Everall, nephew of the past owners, runs it now with his daughter Savannah Burgess.<\/p>\n

The store has about 25 employees. They unload 18-wheelers that arrive every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5 a.m. Summers are busy thanks to the \u201cgrilling holidays\u201d of Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of burger, a lot of steaks, a lot of ribs,\u201d Everall said. \u201cA lot of chicken to throw on the grill.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, though, Everall will take one of his busiest days off. He expects a wild July 3, because he isn\u2019t opening on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s July 4th,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s 250 years for this country. And the employees here, they need to be home with their families enjoying what they want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

High food, gas and other household costs tend to bring business at The Meat Center rather than drive it away. Along with the grilling holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, for instance, other dates have become busier as people look to save on the cost of a night out by cooking at home, Everall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cValentine\u2019s Day, we sell a lot of ribeyes,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just one of those crazy things, you\u2019d think everybody wants to go out to eat for Valentine\u2019s, take your honey out to eat and let somebody else cook.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people hear low prices and wonder what\u2019s different about the meat.<\/p>\n

Quality and cleanliness aren\u2019t where The Meat Center finds its margins. The store sells Certified Angus Beef<\/a>, mainly choice with some prime grading. It also operates under a Clemson University processing program that requires daily inspections.<\/p>\n

Read more Religious instruction, public schools and the NC budget: 5 things to know<\/a><\/p>\n

Lower prices at the Lancaster store are simply an effort to bring more people in, more often.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to give you a fair price for a good product, and you know what?\u201d Everall asked. \u201cIf you\u2019re happy, you\u2019ll come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 65% of customers come from Lancaster, he estimates.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of Charlotte customers come down,\u201d Everall said. \u201cWe have Rock Hill of course, Fort Mill, Columbia. I would say within a 100-mile radius, that\u2019s our crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locals may stop by a time or two a week, he said, while other shoppers are easy to spot. They can overflow buggies to make the long drive worth their trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe out-of-towners, it makes sense for them to load up for at least a couple of weeks, or some of them do a month\u2019s shopping at a time,\u201d Everall said.<\/p>\n

Certified Angus isn\u2019t the cheapest route, but Everall likes the consistency and quality it provides. Meat comes from farms across the U.S., but only the U.S. Everall doesn\u2019t want to supplement stock with Brazilian or New Zealand beef, even during expensive times for the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to support the United States farmers and help them,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout them, we couldn\u2019t do what we do. The country would be in a bad situation without the farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everall has a fairly simple test when deciding what products to sell in his store.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s something I wouldn\u2019t want to take home to my mom, you know what? I don\u2019t want to sell it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

About 90% of Everall\u2019s business is the retail side customers see when they shop with him. The rest is restaurant business.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s set up to serve any restaurant in South Carolina, and has about 30 customers. Most are within a 30-mile radius.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them just come in and get French fries and chicken strips,\u201d he said. \u201cBut a lot of them we do their hamburger, we do their pork chops, we do their steaks. Sausage, a lot of restaurants do breakfast. We make our own sausage.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the occasional emergency call that a restaurant an hour or two away needs 100 pounds of hamburger. Everall doesn\u2019t want to expand the restaurant side, since that would take away from the main retail business.<\/p>\n

And focusing on those customers, from their family budgets to the meals they want to feed their families, is what Everall sees as the key to the store\u2019s next 40 years in business.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as that crowd keeps coming, we\u2019ll keep on doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said. \u201cWith all them people coming in all day long like that and keeping us open, we must be doing something right.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 5:10 AM<\/span> with the headline “Grilling on Fourth of July? How a Rock Hill area butcher shop fights high costs.” <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney, rebuked over pantless claims, surfaces in Italy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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