Groveland Twp.- Art Davis found his career path when he was 15, he just didn’t know it at the time.
It was 1976 when Davis? parents opened a butcher shop in Lapeer.
‘I didn’t think I was learning anything at the time, but I was learning a trade,? says Davis, now 44 and a meat cutter and head of the seafood department at Bueche’s. ‘I kept going from there.?
Davis learned how to cut meat at his parents? shop and also learned what not to do. He recalls speaking to a customer while slicing bacon when he was 16. He didn’t put the slicer’s guard down and peeled back the skin on his knuckle, a wound that required sixteen stitches and a brace. On another occasion, he stabbed the back of his hand while he was ‘messing around,? a mistake that also needed stitches.
‘I learned everything you’re not supposed to do while working there,? laughs Davis, standing behind the meat counter at Bueche’s, wearing an immaculate white plastic apron and white butcher’s coat with no sign of blood from either himself or a cut of meat.
Davis left the Lapeer butcher shop in 1984 and went to work as a butcher at the Hamady Brothers Supermarket in Flint for seven years. When they closed, he went to work for the Ortonville Food Center for seven years. A year before that store closed, Davis made a detour off his career path when he decided to help family open a bakery in Mio. But he would soon return to the meat business.
‘I didn’t like it up there,? he says. ‘I came back and have been at Bueche’s since 1999. I’ve always gone with the flow.?
At Bueche’s, Davis sets the seafood counter, which includes putting the seafood out, and pricing, rotating and ordering it. He also works as a butcher, cutting meat to fill what is empty on the counter, as well as more for the remainder of the day and some for the next day.
‘In the grocery business, you never know what buying patterns are going to be,? Davis says. ‘It changes from week to week and month to month. You take a guess on how much you sell and watch how the product moves.?
When Davis worked at his parents? shop, meat used to come as what he calls ‘swinging beef,? when meat came by the sides and quarters. Now, it comes fresh in a box. In the room where the meat is cut, beef and pork in vacuum-sealed packages line shelves. Davis also cuts lamb and veal on occasion. Steaks and roasts are cut to about an inch and a half cor the butcher counter, and about three-quarters of an inch to one inch in the self-serve counter. The most popular cut of meat is New York Strip Steak.
Davis? favorite is a good rib-eye steak, which he likes medium rare, although he says he’s not much of a cook.
‘I’m single, so Wendy’s does most of my cooking,? he says, smiling.
Davis enjoys his job because he likes working with people and customers.