The sons of Billy Finke and his brothers will be the seventh generation to operate the family’s Fort Wright butcher shop.
Since 1876, the Finke family has owned and operated Bill Finke & Sons. The shop was originally in a storefront on Main Street, but has been at its current location at 1502 Amsterdam Road since 1962.
Billy Finke told LINK about his first true day working at his family’s shop.
“When I was 12, I wanted to go ice skating up the street, and I needed money. I called my dad up and said, ‘Dad, I need money to go skating.’ He said, ‘Come on down.’ I came down to the shop, he handed me a broom, and I had to sweep the whole floor before I got any money to go skating. And then I’ve been here ever since.”
Owning a small business, Finke said, means a lot of hard work. The day LINK spoke with Finke, he and his brother had arrived at the shop at 6 a.m., and he wasn’t leaving until 4 p.m., while his brother wouldn’t leave until 7:30 in the evening.
Finke said his father’s philosophy, which he and his brothers have continued, is that there must always be a Finke in the shop at all times to ensure everything is always up to standard. “If you sell something bad one time, you will lose a customer,” he said.
Quality and consistency are imperative for small businesses, according to Finke. He said that, after his father was diagnosed with cancer, he lived for around another year, and he imparted some important advice to his sons.
“He said, ‘If you keep selling quality stuff, you will stay in business. Because with a small business, if somebody eats something bad, they won’t come back.’”
This year, Finke said, the shop has sold over 25 tons of goetta, its best-selling product. It’s made fresh every day, and customers buy at least 150 pounds daily.
Finke said they are lucky to have the shop still in the family. His father had the opportunity to sell it at one point, but he didn’t and had to mortgage his house to keep the place going.
“If it wasn’t for him, this place probably wouldn’t be here right now,” said Finke.
He’s excited to pass the torch along to his sons, who he said are slowly bringing the shop into the current century. They still write checks and “don’t do nothing on the computer much.” But he said, “My boy of boys might change that, when we get out of here and they get going, they might put us in 2025, but right now we ain’t.”
New shop inspired by family
Firmly in 2025 but still deeply rooted in tradition is Rekas Butchery and Delicatessen in Covington.
Owned by Shelbi Nation and her wife, Ashley, Rekas opened its doors at 401 Scott St. in November 2024.
The shop, a sister to their Wyoming Meat Market in Wyoming, Ohio, is named after Shelbi Nation’s great-grandmother and is a tribute to her, as “it has been her lifelong dream since she was a little girl,” Nation wrote in a post on Instagram when the shop opened.
Reka was an Italian immigrant who owned a steakhouse in Springfield, Illinois. Nation told LINK that, between her time living with her great-grandmother and her time studying abroad in Italy, she was inspired to carry Italian products alongside what is popular in the surrounding community.
“I think it’s kind of like a twist of meeting cultures,” said Nation.
The deli offers a rotating menu of sandwiches along with housemade salads and more. On the butcher side, Rekas has prime ribeyes, filets, Wagyu brisket, local pork and tons of marinated meat options.
Nation said that she has a direct relationship with their farmer and actually bought his entire lot of cattle, “every cow that’s on his farm we will process, and that will come to our shop. So the fun thing about that is, like we have control of, like, age of cows, breeds of cow, diet, grass fed and grain finish.”
Now the main butcher for both of her shops, Nation started working in kitchens. She cooked at Cincinnati restaurants like Sotto and now-closed Pleasantry. She said she eventually got “kind of got out of cooking.”
She began searching for programs worldwide, aiming to “get more connected to food, rather than just working the line and cooking.” During her search, she and her wife were visiting Wyoming Community Coffee and decided to take a walk along Wyoming Avenue. During that walk, they met Jim Gelhausen, the man who had been running the Wyoming Meat Market for 50 years and had owned it for 41.
He was looking to retire, and Nation apprenticed under him. “He taught me everything, showed me the business. He walked me through the butchering aspect; he was my mentor.”
She said that, because he was looking to leave, the business fell to her organically.
Similarly to Finke, Nation said owning a small business is hard work, but she said she is always looking forward, thinking about ways to improve and continue doing what they’re doing.
“I’m proud of the work we’re doing,” said Nation. “I don’t think if you own a business you ever feel 100% satisfied with anything you’re doing.”
Their menu is constantly changing with the seasons and with what people are looking for. Right now, they are offering breakfast on Friday and Saturday mornings, plus, when the weather is nice, they set up a grill on the sidewalk, enticing customers to come in and enjoy grilled items like smashburgers and sausages.
Though their paths are different, both Finke and Nation show how small butcher shops can thrive through quality, consistency and strong ties to their communities. Their blend of tradition and innovation is keeping the craft alive for the next generation.