Fresh at the Market
Longtime Austin meat market expands offerings in bigger new location
Majority owner and operator Casey Rietz is overseeing a significant expansion to the business at this 3,500-square-foot shop.
An independent Austin butcher shop that first opened in 1892 has moved into a new space in South Austin. Longhorn Meat Market is now located at 9001 Brodie Ln., Ste. A-1., where it opened Friday, November 13. For now, it's in a soft opening phase, which means the team may still be finding their rhythm or adding and tweaking operations. A grand opening party this winter will celebrate the full opening.
The new location is bigger than the last, at 3,500 square feet. With the new space come many new opportunities for retail, wholesale, and culinary offerings.
Customers will still be able to find their favorite meat products, including the Longhorn Famous Sausage, brisket burgers, Prime ribeyes, and more. Those will be maintained alongside new ready-to-eat foods, marinades, beef tallow, bone broth, and seafood. Other additions to retail include produce, beer and wine, and an expanded selection of locally produced items. Finally, the space will also host pop-up dinners.
“We’ve always wanted Longhorn to be the kind of neighborhood market where people know they can come in, get a great product at a fair price and actually talk to somebody who cares about what they’re cooking,” said co-owner and new lead operator Casey Rietz in a press release.
He explained, “This new location gives us the room to do everything we already love doing, just bigger and better — from expanding what we make in-house to bringing in new products, working with more local producers and getting more creative with what a butcher shop can be.”
Rietz, who was born in Texas, first started collaborating with Longhorn when he was selling regionally raised meats as Texas Butchers. Longhorn was the business' production partner, and the two stores ultimately "decided to join forces," the release says. Now Rietz is the majority owner and operator, although Longhorn still does have James Leach (a descendant of founder William Leach) as a part-owner five generations later.
Part of the promise of the new space is experimentation. The store will still carry its harder-to-find cuts, the release says — including Denver steak, teres major, hanger steak — and it will offer custom cuts and special orders. It will also have greater capacity to work with Austin restaurants and chefs, with wholesale products cut each morning.
Longhorn Meat Market hours during the soft opening are 10 am to 7 pm Mondays through Fridays, and 10 am to 4 pm Saturdays and Sundays. Customers can stop by in person or order online for pickup, local delivery, and nationwide shipping.
