As Waimea Butcher Shop marks its tenth anniversary, owner Mills Stovall reflects on a decade dedicated to quality, sustainability, and community. What began as a butcher shop with a mission to provide premium, locally sourced meats has grown into a beloved gathering place—complete with a bar, gril,l and restaurant—in the heart of Waimea town. 

Q: Could you share your background and how you got started with hunting?

A: I grew up around my granddad, who was a game warden, and hunting and fishing a lot as a kid in Texas. Food was always important to my family; gathering around the table at night was always a big deal. My mom was the best cook ever!

Q: How did you get involved in the culinary world?

A: I had always loved food, but I was in the arts and went to college for music. I was a vocal performance major and sang in several different opera companies, but I was always broke, so I would work in restaurants because I knew I would be able to eat if I worked in restaurants. While I was working in Santa Fe, I had an epiphany. I was 21 at the time, and it was great. I loved music, but at some point, you really must be in the right place at the right time to make a career out of it. So, I chose to get into culinary arts and worked at a few fine dining establishments. I had a couple of good chef mentors. I was accepted to the California Culinary Academy, which was established in the 90s, when you needed extensive experience working in kitchens before being allowed to attend culinary school. While in culinary school, I worked two to three jobs. Then, I left culinary school about a month before graduation because I couldn’t get the time off, I needed to continue working, and pay the bills. 

Q: How did you make the leap from working in restaurants in the continental United States to Hawai‘i?

A: I helped to open a few restaurants and worked in backstage hospitality for different venues. I was also working at several fine dining establishments, learning as much as I could, but by 1998-1999, I was kind of burnt out. I wanted to work on farms and ranches to gain experience with the food side of agriculture. I moved to the Big Island, where one of my friends from culinary school was from, and began working at several different farms. I then got a job as the executive chef for Roaring Lion Ranch and was their executive chef for 10 years, where we had a garden, orchards, and raised pigs, lambs, and cattle. I did that until 2014 when my daughter was born. 

Q: Where did you get the inspiration to open Waimea Butcher Shop?

A: I always had a dream of opening a butcher shop in our town because I thought the town needed one. I was always searching for good, high-quality, grass-fed beef, and stores did not have it. I started the process of opening Waimea Butcher Shop in 2015. The idea was based on a bet between a chef and me to see if I could open a business utilizing 100% locally sourced meats. We ran the shop for six months and proved that we could do it. It was difficult, and we needed to adjust all the time, but six months have now turned into 10 years, and that’s what we are most proud of: we are probably the only restaurant in the state that has 100% locally sourced proteins, and 70% of our vegetables come from the Big Island, too. 

Q: Before opening the shop, had you received formal training as a butcher, or was your experience gained through your work in kitchens?

A: Both. It started with me being a hunter and learning how to butcher the game I hunted. I knew how to butcher, and I gained knowledge in restaurants, but I did not call myself a butcher until about four to five years after we opened. I was first a chef who knew how to butcher, and now I would say I am a butcher who is also a chef. 

Q: What are some things that make Waimea Butcher Shop different from shopping in a grocery store or even from other butcher shops across the nation?

A: I tell our staff that people come to Waimea Butcher Shop for the experience. I am in the business of selling meat, but I am also in the business of selling trust. Trust is so important when you are feeding your family, and I want people to know that we are 100% transparent about where we source our products and how they are raised. I think we have a symbiotic relationship with the animals that we consume. If you are going to be a meat eater, in my opinion, you should be ethical and mindful about how you consume [meat], and it should be locally sourced and preferably grass-fed. That is why we are so passionate about that. At grocery shops, you will see cuts like ribeye, filets, stew meat, and stuff like that, but because we are a whole animal butcher shop, we offer our customers cuts that they can’t find anywhere else in grocery stores across the state, like flat irons, bavettes, dry-aged meats, and sausages. And we are the only butcher shop on the island selling locally sourced pork. Being in a small community, establishing a sense of community and trust is at the top of my priority list as a business owner. 

Q: What are some of your favorite cuts of meat?

A: My favorite cut of meat is ground beef because of how versatile it is. I would say my second favorite cut is bavette, a flat cut of meat from the belly. It has a great flavor and isn’t an expensive cut like ribeye. I like the cheaper cuts like beef hearts, and organ meats—the cuts that you don’t see in the grocery store. 

Q: What are some things consumers should look for when they are coming in to buy quality meat?

A: Sourcing—where their meat is coming from and how it is being raised. I love seeing the meat having a story to go along with a cut. Our pigs … I call them Poly-Ibérico. Ibérico pigs are fed acorns to finish, and we do a mac nut finish, so it’s Polynesian pigs done Ibérico style. All our charcuterie is made with wild pigs that we trap in macadamia nut pastures and then keep in a holding pasture for about six to eight months while they fatten on macadamia nuts.

Q: How do you recommend consumers store or freeze their meat products at home?

A: Ideally, you want to use fresh meat within three days. If you are not going to use it within three days, you should freeze it. We wrap everything in butcher paper, but we can also vacuum freeze it, which makes the products good for another week. It is good in the freezer for about six months. People like to say a year, but I like to say that it starts to lose its quality if it is not packaged right. 

Q: What are some hopes that you have for the future of the shop?

A: Getting people more hyped on grass-fed beef, which has gotten a bad rap because it tends to be tough. Sometimes that is true, but we are all chefs who work here too, so we can tell you the proper way to cook your meat so that you don’t get a tough, grass-fed beef flavor. Some people also do not like the flavor of grass-fed beef, so what makes us different is that we dry-age our beef for 28 days before we cut it up, and that gets rid of the mineral, iron, gamey flavor. I like to say grassy flavor. Our meat will differ from the grass-fed beef you buy at the grocery store because of the extra time we take to age it properly.

Ten years in, Waimea Butcher Shop remains a proud champion of responsible, locally rooted meat production on Hawai‘i Island. As a whole animal butcher shop, their cases are stocked with premium, island-raised meat, with each cut prepared with care and intention. For Mills Stovall, it has always been about more than just meat; it is about serving the community he loves. Whether you are picking up ingredients or sitting down for a meal in their restaurant, the team is dedicated to helping you get the most value, flavor, and connection out of every visit. 

Waimea Butcher Shop; Located in Kamuela Business Center; 64-1032 Mamalahoa Hwy., Suite 101, Waimea; (808) 657-4178; waimeabutchershop.com; Open Tuesday to Saturday with lunch from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Supper from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and kitchen last call at 8:30 p.m.