One of the best things about being a writer is that you get to meet some genuinely nice people. Case in point, Mike Taglio, owner of Tag’z 5 Star Meats, located at 111 East MTCS Road.
Mike made me, and all the customers that ventured into his butcher shop, feel like we were at home. By his own admission, Mike and his wife Trisha aim for their business to be a clean, family-oriented, Christian business that focused on fresh, high-quality products and customer service. Mike added with a big proud smile, “We always get high marks on our health inspections.”
Mike carries undeniable pride in what he does, and the Taglio family holds a deep Christian faith. They also profess a heartfelt concern for their friends and customers. “We keep a prayer list behind the counter for our friends that need it . . . When we know they are in need, we add them to the list and pray for them daily,” Mike said.
Mike and I settled in on a bench at the front of the store and began our talk. He rose several times to greet and chat with all the costumers that came in, most of whom he knew on a first-name basis. He went on to tell me that he knew some of them so well, they could walk in, sit on the same bench we occupied, hold up one finger and he would know exactly what they wanted.
Once you walk into Tag’z, the first thing you notice is the multiple coolers and displays containing fresh and local produce.
“Everything we buy and sell is fresh and local,” Mike explains. “I want to buy from small, family type businesses that put their name on the product. When they put their name on it, they have a vested interest in the quality.” He gets fresh milk from the local Hatcher’s Dairy and cheese from Noble Springs Cheeses in Franklin. He gets chicken from Springer Mountains Poultry, just over the Georgia line. Mike buys condiments and sauces to match the produce he sells from a dealer in College Grove.
Tag’z carries a full line of beef, pork, chicken, seafood and deli meats. Mike says Tag’z was the first in the area to carry Boars Head Brand, now it is a staple at the deli and most grocery stores across the city. The meats and seafood are brought in fresh daily and hand cut right there. They also grind their own sausage and make fresh salads and crab cakes. Mike says the crab cakes were so popular during the holidays, they couldn’t keep them in stock. As a customer service, Tag’z offers to freezer wrap the products they sell.
“The big markets just shrink-wrap their meat, which won’t keep long in the freezer. If you let us know you are going to freeze our meats, we wrap it so that it will keep up to a year in the freezer,” Mike says.
Mike has been in the meat business most of his life. His journey to Tag’z 5 Star Meats began in New York where his first job was cleaning up in a grocery store. Then Mike landed a job as a meat cutter, then district manager and on to top salesman for a major meat producer. The meat business brought him to Middle Tennessee and he decided to settle here. After dedicating most of his life to the meat business, the company he worked for sent him a letter one day, thanked him for his years of service, but said his service was no longer needed.
“I was their top salesperson and they downsized me. I was 51 years old and out of work. I had always dreamed of having my own butcher shop, so I went for it,” Mike says.
It was not smooth sailing at first. Mike and Trisha had to mortgage their home to finance the business, and it was not an immediate success. When the business first opened, it was losing $1,000 a week. A butcher shop was not a common thing in this area and to this day, it is the only one of its kind in Murfreesboro.
What turned it around? In Mike’s own words, “A lot of prayer.” He says he sat on the same bench where we were having our chat and prayed every day. A lot. God must have heard him because every time seemingly insurmountable problems arose, so did a solution. As an example, he points out the time one of the display coolers stopped working and couldn’t be fixed. These coolers can be very expensive to replace., but almost immediately he received a call offering him a used one at a great price. Mike and Trisha didn’t quit. They continued to work, and in about six months, things started turning around, which brings to mind the saying that God helps those who help themselves.
They began the business in 2000 and named it after their son, who died in a car wreck in October of 1996.
Mike and Trisha Taglia. Photos by Russ Hilliard
“His nickname was Tag’z, so that’s what we called the business,” said Mike. Today, Tag’z is a successful business that supports his family and several employees.
Mike has the new challenge of learning to operate his website, tagz5starmeats.com, built for him by college students in a business class. Invited to lecture the class, he did more, including answering all their questions as honestly as he could, helping the class in any way possible and by his own admission, learning a few things himself. As a way to say thank you for all his help, the students built his web page for him.
Mike does not treat his success as any big secret; he openly shares his formula. “You just treat customers and employees like family and trust in the Lord,” he explains. “This business is everything I ever dreamed about. I could easily retire, but I don’t want to.”
IF YOU GO:
Tagz Premier Meat Shop
1862 Memorial Blvd., Murfreesboro
615-867-6328
Hours: Closed Mondays; Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
