CHAMPION, Ohio – When Michael Carney tasted his first Wagyu, he knew he was no longer going to raise anything else.
“A good friend of mine got me a piece of Wagyu, and once I tasted it, wow, no comparison, no comparison,” Carney said. “So why am I messing around with this other stuff?”
The Carney Wagyu Cattle Ranch, a third-generation family cattle farm in Trumbull County, now raises only 100% Wagyu.
And that’s exactly what you will find at its latest endeavor, the Carney Wagyu Butcher Shop at 115 State Road NW, Champion.
Family and friends held a ribbon-cutting at the butcher shop storefront Monday, and a grand opening celebration is slated from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday. That event will have sample products and a chance to win giveaways.
Carney and his family turned the Trumbull County farm they inherited, where his father-in-law had previously raised Herefords and a few Angus, into a Wagyu-only operation. They went to Kansas to get a couple cows and calves.
Now the family raises 300 head, and younger family members, such as his grandson, Nicholas Carney, are learning the skills to raise the specialty cattle.
Carney said he knows the lineage of his cattle and full-blooded Wagyu are DNA tested, so they know they are getting full-blooded Wagyu. There will be a stamp on the packages denoting the meat to be authentic Wagyu.
“It’s pretty extensive,” Carney said. “I’m excited about the store opening.”
Before the opening of the shop, Carney Wagyu Cattle Ranch was selling its Wagyu only online. Most of its customers were some of the best restaurants in the Mahoning Valley area, including the Grand Resort, Gatsby’s and the Avalon Golf & Country Club.
Wagyu is world-renowned for superior quality, tenderness and taste. But the shop will offer even more, such as other fresh meats like ground chicken and sausage, as well as frozen seafood, a full deli, seasonings, Italian staples, eggs and specialty fresh baked bread from the Stone Oven Bakery in Cleveland. The store also will offer bundles of items so people can create a meal.
Jason Lemmon, who brings 30 years of butcher experience to the new shop, said the ground meats are being blended fresh in the back of the shop, with natural ingredients added – like celery powder – instead of synthetic nitrates.
“Probably 95% of these recipes are built by us,” Lemmon said. “We want to be unique. We don’t want to be a cookie-cutter meat shop that everybody else is doing.”
The Carney Wagyu Butcher Shop will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.
Pictured at top: Michael Carney stands inside the Carney Wagyu Butcher Shop in Champion.