How an NY Butcher Avoided Shuttering, Got Back in the Game

The City Room ran a heartwarming tale yesterday about Jeffrey Ruhalter, the owner of butcher shop Jeffrey's within the Essex Street Market, who brought his business back from the brink of closure. In the last year alone, nine restaurants that he supplied closed. He became depressed, considered closing shop, then went to therapy and committed to finding a way to drum up new business.

And so he walked the neighborhood to talk to restaurants: "I walked in cold to one and then another and another, found the chef and said: ‘I am Jeffrey. I’m your local butcher. I want your business. What can I do for you?'" He got 65 new orders, launched a popular sausage-making class, and started Dinner by Jeffrey, a line of premade dinners he sells to customers he likes. It's nice to see a third generation owner, in a shop in the same building for 70 years, soldier on.
· An Endangered Butcher Gets His Groove Back [City Room]