Front Row Meats to Open Sustainable, Local Butcher Shop

A wildlife biologist and the grandson of a farm veterinarian walk into a butcher shop
Thanksgiving turkey
Photo: Official

Pasture-raised pork and non-GMO lamb are on their way to Barrio Logan. Daylon Teel and Adam Kreutter are hoping to change the way San Diegans consume meat by working with local farmers and setting high standards for the treatment of livestock. The first step will be setting up a butcher shop at 1735 National Ave., just down the street from Cafe Virtuoso and half a mile from Petco Park. 

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What Now San Diego spoke with Daylon Teel, who plans to ramp up Front Row Meat’s services within the next month.

Teel is entering this venture with extensive butcher experience; during a three-year apprenticeship in Virginia, he learned the ins and outs of handling livestock both before and after slaughter. 

Combined with his perspective as a wildlife biologist, Teel is uniquely suited for sustainable butchery, and untangling “the intricacies of our planetary food-web, food safety, and specifically the meat industry complex,” as he illustrated on the company website

“I grew up on a small family ranch in South Texas, and the sustainability model is something that I really believe in,” Teel told What Now San Diego. “The way that factory farming is done nowadays has really gotten away from how it used to be, and what’s natural. It’s too monoculture, it’s too industrialized. We’re trying to take in the whole picture, from the ecosystem to the animals.”

The other half of Front Row Meats is Adam Kreutter, the self-described “Business Guy,” who comes from a lineage of farmers. Raised in Rochester, NY, Kreutter landed in San Diego while serving in the Navy. 

Before they begin offering brick-and-mortar butcher services, Front Row Meats will roll out a “Farmer’s Fare Meat Club” subscription. Until then, they are working out of the Hott Mess Pizza and Side Yard BBQ kitchen in Barrio Logan.

They have already begun catering for roasts and barbecues, and their whole animal butcher shop will “hopefully” come later this year, Teel forecasts. 

Olivia Langen

Olivia Langen

Olivia Langen is a food and culture journalist who has written her way around the world. After traveling from Moscow to Mumbai and Tokyo to Taipei, she has found her way back to sunny Southern California. There, she spends her free time reading fiction, learning languages, and playing music.
Olivia Langen

Olivia Langen

Olivia Langen is a food and culture journalist who has written her way around the world. After traveling from Moscow to Mumbai and Tokyo to Taipei, she has found her way back to sunny Southern California. There, she spends her free time reading fiction, learning languages, and playing music.
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