The UW’s Butcher Shop

Bret Vosberg x’28 rings up a customer’s order at Bucky’s Varsity Meats, a student-run shop on Observatory Drive. Jeff Miller

Where do you go on campus if you want to buy locally raised cuts of bacon, lamb chops, or trendy picanha steak? Bucky’s Varsity Meats has got you covered. The campus store’s products are produced by students and staff at the Meat Science and Animal Biologics Discovery building. Meat is harvested from animals at UW–Madison’s research station in Arlington, Wisconsin, as well as from local farms.

The store, which opened in 2020 near the building’s main entrance on Observatory Drive, is staffed by students, and it also accepts orders online. The bright, modern facility replaced Bucky’s Butchery, which was a hard-to-find, cavernous space in the old meat science lab building.

Max Sell is the retail operations manager for Varsity Meats. He says that student employees develop customer-service skills and learn about where their food comes from. They also gain knowledge about various cuts of meat, processing for products such as snack sticks and brats, and other aspects of the meat industry.

Lizy Skiera ’24, a wildlife ecology graduate with a certificate in classical humanities, worked in the store for two years. “I’d heard a lot of horror stories about customer service,” she says, “but I got to meet a bunch of customers who were just very excited to be there.”

Skiera learned new recipes and thoroughly enjoyed connecting with her coworkers, members of the public, and meat-industry professionals. “I got to share a love of meat with other people. Working there was an experience I’ll never forget,” she says. “I was constantly learning new things and getting to try tasty foods. It was awesome.”