A Prospect Heights butcher is setting up shop in Greenpoint. Prospect Butcher Co. 2 (113a Nassau Ave.) is aiming to open its second location by late April.
Prospect Butcher Co. is a specialty butcher shop that focuses on whole animal with local pasture-raised meats from farmers the owners know personally. The shop also carries homemade sausages, bacon, and sandwiches, plus a diverse and varied selection of dried goods.
Prospect Butcher Co. was founded by Corey Hammond and Greg Brockman, who met in 2019 and chatted about opening a butcher shop right before the pandemic. After giving their idea a break for a few months during the lockdown, the duo got back on track and opened the first Prospect Butcher Co. in Prospect Heights in 2021.
Three years later, after much success in Prospect Heights, the team is expanding to a second location in Greenpoint. They plan to keep the shop similar to the original, but are open to new ideas.
“We are going in with an established idea of what we want to do, but we are not married to anything,” Brockman told Greenpointers.
The Greenpoint outpost, located across the street from Greenpoint Fish and Lobster, will be larger than the original space in Prospect Heights. This will allow the team to offer classes, such as demonstrations of beef breakdowns or a class about how to make sausages.
Brockman said a lot of what makes the store special is that the staff listens to customers’ suggestions and tailor the shop’s offerings to meet neighborhood demand. “A lot of what we offer is responsive to what people are looking for,” Brooks noted.
“It’s such a product of the staff. The way we operate is a result of the people we have on staff,” head butcher Rebecca Brooks told Greenpointers.
Some employees from the original location will transfer to Greenpoint if it’s a better fit for them. Brooks added that one unique point about Prospect Butcher Co. is its worker ownership model. Staff are an integral part of the business and have a strong sense of authorship. She feels this helps them be approachable.
Prospect Butcher Co.’s most popular hits at its original location include rotisserie chickens, sausages, pork pies, lard biscuits, fresh sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies.
The cookies are made in-store with lard from pigs, a nod to Prospect Butcher Co.’s whole animal philosophy. Brooks called the cookies a “sleeper hit” and a “fun way to experiment with whole animal model,” adding that they always sell out.
Brooks told Greenpointers that the rotisserie chickens also sell out almost every night, and the sandwiches are “wildly popular and delicious.”
Some popular sandwiches are the rolled beef, which is a homage to roast beef, and the chopped liver. Brooks also noted that the full sandwich menu may not be available on opening day in Greenpoint.
At the Prospect Heights location, there are regular customers who visit several times a week and ask for a recommendations if they are bored of their usual cuts and looking to be challenged. Brooks often recommends brisket or short ribs to them. Other customers already ask for unusual meat like lamb neck and other cuts of lamb, that Brooks admitted she was not expecting.
Prospect Butcher Co. also carries dry goods that are unique and often difficult to find. The dry goods range from speciality sauces to canned fish to coffee. Examples include Wonderburger ketchup, imported canned fish from Portugal and Spain, Cafe du Monde coffee, and Alabama white barbecue sauce.
The original location of Prospect Butcher Co. started a meat subscription last year that includes dried goods hand-selected by Brooks or Brockman.