[Merged] The Butchers AKA Marlon Meats Organic Meat - Feedback/Discussion

[Blitzo]

If anyone got in on this deal, I pitty you as much as I pitty us.

Bought 2x$40 coupons (worth "$100" each in the shop which has extremely overinflated prices for coupon holders - they probably multiply all coupon holder's price per lb by 4x).

My wife and I visited there 2 weekends ago and they had barely anything in stock at 2 PM on a Saturday.

What we did manage to buy was a COMPLETE RIPPOFF!!!!

3 duck breasts, frozen in vacuum bags, about $38 taxes in. We roasted them and they were barely enough for a meal for two, not to mention DRY and tastless (my wife is a chef, these breasts were half the size of a chicken breast you would normally buy in a store). You could get a better deal at a restaurant!!!

We also bought some organic bacon and sausages... Thats all they had! We ended up spending about $80 on these garbage remains. If we were to buy at a local organic butcher it would have cost us 1/4 the price. And we would have had more selection.
This was really not a hot deal nor a decent group buy by far in my opinion!

Here's the website you need to see to stay away from: http://www.thebutchersorganic.com

Just thought I'd share this with you guys incase a "deal" like this comes to fruition again. DON'T DO IT.

EDIT: The store name (business) is being changed to Marlon Meats and is currently closed until who knows when for renovations.

[YLSF]

This would be better suited in the Shopping discussion forum or elsewhere. Hope it just gets moved and not deleted.

I bought a voucher too but haven't used it. Maybe for your 2nd voucher you can call and pre-arrange to have something ready for pickup. Try to get pricing before they asked if you bought a voucher...

[Blitzo]

This would be better suited in the Shopping discussion forum or elsewhere. Hope it just gets moved and not deleted.

I bought a voucher too but haven't used it. Maybe for your 2nd voucher you can call and pre-arrange to have something ready for pickup. Try to get pricing before they asked if you bought a voucher...

Good point. Just thought I'd post it here since this is where the deal originated and most people familiar with this "deal" would look here...

We will be calling ahead to have some items held for us for pickup next time. And yes, I'd like to see if their prices become more "sane" when we call. Not happy so far though.

I'll letcha know!

[i3_dawg]

Totally feeling you OP! I purchased a 4kg boneless leg of lamb and 2 beef steaks cost me 108.xx$ i had to 8.xx$ extra. Definitely a rip-off, I've never purchased any meat in my life that is this expensive before. The steaks cost 26$ a pound. i was like WTF!! never going back.

If anyone got in on this deal, I pitty you as much as I pitty us.

Bought 2x$40 coupons (worth "$100" each in the shop which has extremely overinflated prices for coupon holders - they probably multiply all coupon holder's price per lb by 4x).

My wife and I visited there 2 weekends ago and they had barely anything in stock at 2 PM on a Saturday.

What we did manage to buy was a COMPLETE RIPPOFF!!!!

3 duck breasts, frozen in vacuum bags, about $38 taxes in. We roasted them and they were barely enough for a meal for two, not to mention DRY and tastless (my wife is a chef, these breasts were half the size of a chicken breast you would normally buy in a store). You could get a better deal at a restaurant!!!

We also bought some organic bacon and sausages... Thats all they had! We ended up spending about $80 on these garbage remains. If we were to buy at a local organic butcher it would have cost us 1/4 the price. And we would have had more selection.
This was really not a hot deal nor a decent group buy by far in my opinion!

Here's the website you need to see to stay away from: http://www.thebutchersorganic.com/bio_marlon.html

Just thought I'd share this with you guys incase a "deal" like this comes to fruition again. DON'T DO IT.

[i-o_o-i]

I went a couple weekends ago, they were fairly low on stock, they didn't make us use the entire $100 of the coupon, we ended up buying two NY strips and two turkey sausages, I think I'm left with $40 something on my coupon, the steaks and sausages tasted great...their prices are very expensive, but at 60% off (with this coupon), can't really complain...

[Raead]

I walked by there once and their price is ridiculously inflated, roughly 350% more then what you can get at you normal butcher store

I guess the inflation is on their "Organical" and "Natural"...?

What does natural meat even means anyways? I don't remember seeing any fake cows or robotic cows... so saying it's "natural" meat means nothing in a butcher shop

[Rehan]

I guess the inflation is on their "Organical" and "Natural"...?

What does natural meat even means anyways? I don't remember seeing any fake cows or robotic cows... so saying it's "natural" meat means nothing in a butcher shop

"Natural" usually means free of hormones and antibiotics. But it's not a regulated marketing term, so anybody can use or abuse it as they wish.

I buy my meat from an organic & natural butcher in Mississauga and the prices are nowhere near the non-coupon prices mentioned by the OP, although it is 2x or 3x the price of grocery store meat.

[milhaus]

Sorry, but this is because you didn't bother to educate yourself on what "organic" and "natural" involves, and what the costs are beforehand. The store did not rip you off. They gave you exactly what was stated on the coupon; they didn't raise prices artificially, or charge a different price for coupon holders. Some people are willing to pay for organic and natural; if you're not, you shouldn't have purchased the coupon.

2 - 3x times the cost of regular store meat is approx. what it costs The Butchers. A $9.99/lb cut of steak is probably going to be $26/lb here. I don't often buy from here, but when I have, the meat has always been excellent. Worth 2-3x the cost? Maybe not, but at $40 for $100, yes definitely.

[ipassgas]

Place is a complete rip off, but for the $40 voucher (plus $1.08 extra), I got, 3/4 lbs lean ground beef, 1 rack of lamb, 1 good sized new york strip steak, 1 veal chop and 1 polish sausage. Meat is nicely trimmed. The 1 sausage was $5.50!!!!! The rack of lamb was $40!!!

At full price, this place is ridiculous. For 40 cents on the dollar, it is OK.
The meat tasted better than supermarket, but not nearly as good as costco.

[fuddleduddle]

Organic and natural meats will certainly have a premium. The prices you got for your items seem to be on the higher end of the range or more. I was going to jump on this earlier but then thought it was probably too good to be true. 60% is too much of a discount on these sort of products as it really would cut into the margins. So I'm not surprised if they took the opportunity to temporarily inflate the prices. So many of these were sold, so maybe they were cleared out early of products.

If any of you are still holding onto these coupons, I suggest you wait it out until they fully restock. If they really did inflate prices for this deal, then they will have to lower them when the frenzy stops.

[canguy9999]

Place is a complete rip off, but for the $40 voucher (plus $1.08 extra), I got, 3/4 lbs lean ground beef, 1 rack of lamb, 1 good sized new york strip steak, 1 veal chop and 1 polish sausage. Meat is nicely trimmed. The 1 sausage was $5.50!!!!! The rack of lamb was $40!!!

At full price, this place is ridiculous. For 40 cents on the dollar, it is OK.
The meat tasted better than supermarket, but not nearly as good as costco.

How big was your rack of lamb? I picked up a small rack but enough to feed 2-3 people for $23ish.

I found them to be very reasonable especially when taking into consideration the discount. Normal full price, I'd only purchase from them very periodically for special meals.

But I got a 2.5lb beef tenderloin, a rack of lamb, a few sausages and something else that I can't think of right now for $105-110.

I do dislike how they don't have any prices posted, but they do have good service and will answer any questions you have when you go in.

[McDealer]

The quality is higher, the prices are higher. If you ordinarily buy at a grocery store and are price-sensitive (of course you are, this is RFD) then their prices will seem outrageous. There is a market segment that definitely appreciates the premium. That customer segment is pretty much the opposite of the typical Groupon/RFD customer.

But the problem you encountered, is that they were sold out of most things. Of course they were, they did a group buy deal.

The biggest issue here is the underlying stupidity of the whole group-buy fad. Yet another retailer sold way more coupons than they can actually fulfill. The discount means they end up losing money, the volume means they piss off a huge number of potential customers. Result: angry customers, angry retailer. Happy group buy company, for now.

These stupid group buys depend on consumers who enjoy the new and exciting rush of the group buy, and retailers who can be fooled into thinking it is an effective promotional tool. The trouble is, both retailers and customers are realizing the whole thing is a FAIL and the business model relies on finding a dwindling supply of people who still think it's exciting.

Anyone who signed up for these group buy sites a year ago has already stopped reading the emails. It's just not worth it.

I expect Groupon will go public and the founders will cash out for a gajillion dollars before the stupid investing public figure this out.

Sorry for the rant. Gotta go see how my Krispy Kreme and Crocs investments are doing.

[canguy9999]

Organic and natural meats will certainly have a premium. The prices you got for your items seem to be on the higher end of the range or more. I was going to jump on this earlier but then thought it was probably too good to be true. 60% is too much of a discount on these sort of products as it really would cut into the margins. So I'm not surprised if they took the opportunity to temporarily inflate the prices. So many of these were sold, so maybe they were cleared out early of products.

If any of you are still holding onto these coupons, I suggest you wait it out until they fully restock. If they really did inflate prices for this deal, then they will have to lower them when the frenzy stops.

My guess is the issue is also that people casually go in on the weekend. If you show up Saturday afternoon, I wouldn't expect much. Just like going to the St.Lawrance market, try buy some good bread or sausages in the afternoon.

I went in on a Friday afternoon, no one in the store, tons of products available, prices seemed very reasonable to me.

[devilsknight]

I think it's just really sad that "Organic" meat was just meat 25 years ago. What was wrong with "free range" before ?! Wasn't all this crap that makes "organic" meat expensive the way things used to be done forever and requires actually less work and maintenance ?! How the industry has forced such change to flip the process to what it is now.

[jsywong]

I think it's just really sad that "Organic" meat was just meat 25 years ago. What was wrong with "free range" before ?! Wasn't all this crap that makes "organic" meat expensive the way things used to be done forever and requires actually less work and maintenance ?! How the industry has forced such change to flip the process to what it is now.

Actually, with hormones and other stuff, current way of raising stock meat is much faster and requires less maintenance. All the advancement we see in the last 25years is to improve on how fast we can raise the cow before turning them into meat.

Here is a short page on difference specifically on organic vs normal cows.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/15...ditional-beef/