You have to love a c-store with history. D&D Meats has been a fixture in the Sciota, New York, community since opening its doors 102 years ago. Adrien Dutil, a young meat cutter, bought the store in 1981, and it’s been a family business ever since. It’s a combination general store, butcher shop, smokehouse, deli, maple syrup works and gasoline station.
Adrien and his wife, Sharon, raised their three children there, and today son Shane runs the business with his parents. “While typical kids play with toys, we were stocking shelves, marking prices,” Shane Dutil recalled.
Located near the Canadian border, the c-store and gas station is best-known for its specialty meats—smoked and fresh cut—and specialty and smoked cheeses. “It is done all in-house,” Dutil said. “We grow some of the vegetables in our garden, too. We cut out the middle man.”
Jeezum Crow Jerky
Before joining his parents full-time in the store, Dutil worked in research and development in the pharmaceutical industry and developed jerky and other products on the side. Around 2007, jerky sales began to take off. Then in 2010, a fire destroyed the store. When it was rebuilt the following year, Dutil dove headfirst into the family business to focus on the new store and its growing line of jerky.
But the jerky needed a name. “We took an online poll and decided to call it Jeezum Crow,” Dutil said, after an upstate New York exclamation of surprise, similar to “Holy Cow.”
Dutil added more dehydrators, and “the product line grew,” he said. “We added a large smoker. I took a gamble and bought a $20,000 smoker. We processed 50,000 pounds of meat in this small store, and now there are 140 Jeezum Crow products.” Production ramped up, and today, D&D Meats processes about 200,000 pounds of meat each year.
We go to the farmers market every Saturday. Most small gas stations don’t do all that.
Fresh and Local
Menu items at D&D Meats start fresh, using as many local products as possible. “We have our own chickens that produce some of our eggs. All our subs are made on bread we bake in the store. We bake it because it’s fresher; we have more control and make it as we need it. It’s used on the sandwiches, and we also sell it,” he said.
Always mindful of the need to stay competitive, D&D Meats offers specials throughout the week. Twofor Tuesday offers customers two smoked pulled-pork sandwiches on a brioche bun with fries. That’s followed by Wing Wednesday and Thursday Rib Night.
This century-old store is going through some changes as the needs of customers evolve. “We’re seeing more people coming in to eat. A lot of people come in for takeout. They want restaurant-quality meals at home,” he said, adding, “Customers are looking for a local feel.”
Dutil has lots of ideas but admits that not every idea sells. “I made an overstuffed maple infusion kielbasa that didn’t take off.” Right now, he’s working on a swiss cranberry burger. “We’ll have to see if the customers like it.”
One might not expect healthy fare in a store that is known for specialty meats, but there is something for everyone at D&D Meats. “We do a breakfast parfait with maple granola with fresh berries from one of our employees who has a berry farm,” he said. Lean venison snacks and chicken sausage are popular.
Located at a crossroads in northeastern New York near the Canadian border, D&D Meats draws in customers with its focus on fresh and local food prepared in-store.
All About Community
There’s a reason Dutil does so much in the store. It’s about survival. “There’s a Dollar General every five miles, and we compete against Walmart. So, we go to the farmers market every Saturday. Most small gas stations don’t do all that,” he said. It’s about offering menu items, meat and services that customers cannot find at the competition.
When you own the only store in a community, you go above and beyond the call of duty to serve your customers. If the power goes out, the people in the community can count on D&D Meats to be there. “They know they can come and put their frozen food in our freezer; we have massive freezers,” Dutil explained.
While there’s a lot of meat sold at D&D Meats, when a customer needs a large volume, like a side of beef, Dutil helps them find it. “I know the farmers, and I broker deals between farmers and customers.”
He added, “I had a customer who wanted to inspect beef livers. Her mom is sick and needed more iron. I found a farmer with beef liver and brought him to her. You can’t get that from Walmart,” he said.
The business is always trying new things to stay competitive. Upstate New York is maple syrup country, so during maple sugar season, Dutil brings D&D cooking to the community. “We run a pancake house every weekend at Parker Family Maple Sugarhouse. We serve 4,000 to 6,000 people over four weekends,” he said.
Dutil started doing this kind of on-site cooking a few years ago. He plans to start prime rib takeout, and he might do the same with barbecue chicken. D&D’s Meats is the only store in town, but Dutil is aware that outside of the area are the corporate giants he must compete with daily. He remains confident. They can’t do what he’s doing, and he’s winning.