There are butcher shops, and then there is Kern Meat Company, a meat purveyor that’s so singularly focused on providing high-quality meats and rare cuts that many of the region’s top chefs consider it their only butchery source. Although Kern has been a wholesale company since its founding, in 1948, the company began offering its wares directly to customers in 2020 through an online ordering system and pickup, which continues at its state-of-the-art processing facility in Bridgeton. Kern also distinguishes itself through its philanthropy (the company has worked with the Gateway Resilience Fund) and environmental stewardship (its Bridgeton plant is 90 percent solar-powered).