The owner of Grotto Meats, Nic Bryce, greets customers at the deli counter in his newly renovated storefront.
Upon walking into Grotto Meats’ new storefront on Wallace Avenue in Bozeman, shoppers are met by a bright, inviting space filled with Montana-made foods. The cold case offers unusual products like pork Toulouse sausage; flank steak marinated in cherry juice and rosemary; mushroom and thyme cold-smoked pork picanha; and mortadella. Local jams, chocolates, and handmade knives crafted in the Gallatin Valley line the wall next to an oldschool Sony cassette stereo that plays gentle piano music. And the variety of charcuterie seems nearly endless.
Above the meat counter is a display of the many awards that Grotto has received for a variety of its charcuterie products, like specialty summer sausage. Visible through a central window, the kitchen space is where owner Nic Bryce and his team of chefs expertly break down animals as they transform raw product into delicious cured meats.
In 2016, Bryce began operating his charcuterie business out of a small basement unit in the old Bon Ton Flour Mill Building off Wallace Avenue. What started as a way to craft high-quality charcuterie to supplement Bryce’s income from his popular food truck and catering business eventually became his main priority and mild obsession.
In 2022, Grotto received a Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This grant program was one of many funding opportunities that arose during the COVID pandemic to help decentralize meat processing infrastructure throughout the country after producers and consumers witnessed major processing bottlenecks. Bryce used this funding to outfit a new processing and retail space, increase his dry-curing capacity, install a specialty smoker, and increase refrigeration. The funds have allowed Bryce to create a more strategic workflow and continue prioritizing food safety.
“We hold ourselves to a higher safety standard than even the state or USDA requires,” Bryce says. “We take food safety and sanitation very seriously.”
As Bryce’s business operations have expanded, he has broadened his wholesale market, selling to an increasing number of specialty food stores and grocery outlets statewide. “Every customer or wholesale buyer we have, old or new, I view as such an honor,” Bryce says. While he currently sells wholesale products within Montana, his longer-term plan is to grow wholesale accounts nationwide, offering consumers some of the best flavors Montana has to offer.
A smile crosses Bryce’s face when he talks about people from across the country having a taste of high-quality Montana meat products. He currently ships direct to consumer throughout the country, but says wholesale opportunities are a way to further develop the business. While growing the company’s production capacity is a primary goal, Bryce has been meticulous about his slow rate of growth.
We have consciously paced our expansion so that our producers can grow beside us at a sustainable rate,” he says. “We never wanted to increase our production so quickly that we had to outsource inputs from lower-quality providers.”
Supporting and building relationships with small, local farming communities and ranchers has been a priority for Bryce throughout his business endeavors. Grotto’s lamb comes from a family farm out of Eastern Montana, and the hogs, chickens, and ducks are sourced from the state’s Hutterite communities. He also includes Montana-made wines, ciders, mead, and spirits. While Bryce’s dedication to local sourcing benefits his fellow purveyors, it has also increased Grotto’s business resiliency: During the pandemic, when many processors experienced shortages and price spikes, Grotto’s suppliers remained consistent and reliable.
And in a measure that further improves his sourcing, Bryce has transitioned from purchasing specific meat cuts to exclusively ordering whole animals—made possible thanks to his expansion.
“This helps our producers because they don’t have to parse out selling different parts of the animals,” Bryce says. “We are committed to creating and providing for a market that uses all parts of the animal.”
Whole-animal processing has allowed Bryce to think even more creatively about new products, such as speck and cold-smoked pork picanha.
Gotto’s updated shop space includes a retail storefront where eaters can purchase several products that are sold exclusively in-store. Additionally, Bryce offers a blend of heat-and-eat meals, such as smoked Hutterie chicken, and nationally acclaimed cured meats.
“Our product innovation is centered around supporting our community and the food produced and grown here,” Bryce says. He ideates about a new sausage he is crafting that incorporates locally roasted cocoa nibs, mezcal, pineapple, and Montana pork.
Certainly, as Bryce continues to increase his production, he’ll further rely on ingredients and products from Montana producers, all while maintaining Grotto’s mission of reflecting and preserving the beauty of Montana.
Grotto Meats’ products can be found at the Bozeman storefront at 611 N. Wallace Ave. Unit 4, and online at grottomeats.com. Products are also sold at retail locations including Mischa’s, Bozeman Community Food Co-op, and Town and Country Foods, and at Bozeman’s winter and summer farmers markets.
