Paul Wery relied on more than one type of crowdsourcing to help you connect the dots between farms and your dinner table with the butcher shop he opened last month. The 2019 graduate of Kewaunee High School recently opened Paulie’s Chop Shop after over a year of constructing his facility west of Luxemburg.

Growing up on a farm with hundreds of hogs and cattle, Wery knew all too well the struggles farmers have taking their animals to market. With only a few options available, farmers have to wait several months, if not over a year, to get a coveted spot at a butcher’s shop. Wery learned his craft at a local butcher through the youth apprenticeship program in high school, which inspired him to continue that journey at Madison Area Technical College, where he got certified in Modern Meat Butchery.

When an opportunity to buy a business did not materialize, Wery decided to start his butchering facility, now known as Paulie’s Chop Shop. He turned to the crowdsourcing platform Kickstarter, where 49 backers kicked in over $10,000 to help turn his idea into a reality. With his family, friends, staff, and the community behind him, Wery is thankful for what it has taken to get to this point.

Wery looks to increase his output and hopes to butcher close to 100 steers and hogs a week in the coming months to help alleviate the stress on other butchers and farmers alike. He adds that other butchers in the area have supported his efforts and given him advice along the way. In addition to his butchering services, he has a small meat market for consumers to try out some of the products he helps produce.