The Chopp Shoppe: Johnson offers custom meats keeping family, relationships at the forefront

There is no fairytale story of fulfilling a long-awaited dream at the new Alpine Chopp Shoppe in Whitefish — just a grueling amount of long, hard-working hours that are now turning into something pretty spectacular.

Longtime local Sonny Johnson, who brings decades worth of experience to his new custom butcher shop, opened his meat business in October next to the Alpine Village Market in the former laundromat space. In the shop, he tenderizes and smokes all of his own meat that he procures from local northwest sources. Johnson says he strives to serve anyone who walks through his door and focuses on creating relationships with people while providing unique meat products that his customers often report as the best they’ve ever tasted.

Though he has no regrets about opening his shop now, it was actually never in his career plan.

Johnson was set at his meat cutting job at Perfect Cuts in Columbia Falls where he had spent the last 18 years. He hoped to hold his position there and eventually retire after a career of putting in 70-hour workweeks. But that all changed when the business sold and it pushed him toward opening his own specialty butcher shop in his hometown of Whitefish.

“I didn’t want to start over at 55, but here I am,” Johnson expressed. “It was probably one of the toughest things I’ve had to do.”

The legwork to opening his own shop was intense and a learning process — coordinating with the owners of the Alpine Market complex, forming business and building plans, hiring a construction crew during a residential-building influx with supply chain issues, and working to set up meat suppliers and accounts around the clock.

His long hours continued and extended even longer during the transition, and he credits his wife Kari for the support that kept him grounded. But now, Johnson owns and operates a family business that puts people first while providing high-quality products that are up to his standards. And with his son Taylor working alongside him in the shop every day learning the finer details of the business, Johnson knows he’s built something much larger than just an income to get him to retirement.

“He’s a good kid and hopefully down the road this will be his shop,” Johnson said of his son. “It’s something for his family, you know I didn’t really build it for myself.”

Passing along his passion for butchering, smoking and curing meats to his son now creates multiple generations in this business.

Johnson says he got his start at just 5 years old helping alongside his uncle Vern who owned a small shop on Armory Road. His uncle showed him the ins and outs of the process, all the way from cutting the animal apart with a band saw to making sausage.

His passion kept growing through the years and he fondly remembers every Friday as a child heading to the small butcher shop next to the Great Northern Bar with his grandmother to buy pork chops and bologna.

At age 14 Johnson had his first official job which was working behind the meat counter at Safeway. He started out cleaning, then moved to wrapping and deli, and eventually became the head meat cutter. Since then he’s worked at almost every meat shop in the Flathead Valley, including his long tenure at Perfect Cuts.

Though he learned new skills at each job he held, Johnson says his time at the Columbia Falls custom meat shop was where he learned the finer art of cutting, smoking and curing meat.

“Danny and Karla Hanson (Perfect Cuts original owners) are the folks that really taught me how to do the finer work,” he said. “There’s a lot more to it than just putting steak in a tray, that’s what I found out. They were really pivotal in my success today.”

“I still give them a call every once in a while and get some advice,” he added with a laugh.

The thought of opening his own shop first crossed his mind about five years ago. He had a long history with the Alpine Market after growing up in the area and at different times working behind the deli counter. He knew of the space next to the market that housed a laundromat at the time, but started picturing a butcher shop there that would serve Whitefish and expand the offerings of the market.

After talking with the owners of Alpine, Alan and Michelle Reisch, several times in recent years, both parties decided the time was right two years ago and started the process. Johnson says a butcher shop is something that Whitefish had a need for, especially in that area over the viaduct with the current residential growth.

“It was my time,” Johnson expressed regarding his decision to leave his job and start his new business adventure. “I saw that Whitefish had a call for meats because I talked to so many people that were coming over (to Perfect Cuts) from Whitefish… Thinking, I should put a shop in Whitefish.”

Since opening last October, Johnson says he has been overwhelmed with gratitude to the Whitefish community for the support he received thus far. The shop opened quietly hoping to get its bearings before having a large rush but was already selling out of holiday hams in December.

Johnson says The Chopp Shoppe is a custom butcher shop that has many unique products made in-house, like their signature Sheboygan Dog — a bratwurst that has a large number of onions mixed with the meat. The shop can make custom cuts of meat right as their customers order at the counter. They specialize in stuffed pork chops, flat iron steaks and cuts of chuck steak that are hard to find in a regular store.

Johnson also sells a variety of fish, elk, pork and black Angus choice beef that he buys from local and regional sources. He plans to have seasonal offers too, such as a fish sale in the summertime.

The longtime meat cutter can really do it all, and he enjoys the creative process that goes into it.

“It’s the seeing an idea go from an idea on paper to making a recipe to having the product come out of the smoker…” he said. “Then the public when they buy something, to have them come back and say this was the best I’ve ever had.”

Johnson sees this as a reward for his hard work and gets great satisfaction being a part of people’s lives in a distinct way. He sees food as part of many special occasions for his customers and loves that he is able to make people happy and contribute something that everyone will enjoy.

“When we sit down at the table and people start eating and you don’t hear a sound for 15 minutes — you know something good is happening,” he mused.

For more information about The Chopp Shoppe visit facebook.com/ChoppShoppeWF or stop in the store at 721 Wisconsin Avenue.