Alaska Charcuterie and Meats opens Friday

WASILLA — There’s a new kind of shop opening off Main Street in downtown Wasilla. Andrea Magers is set to open the doors to Alaska Charcuterie and Meats, a specialized meat and cheese service offering imported goods from across the globe.

“Having a charcuterie shop in the Valley, there really isn’t anything like it either,” Magers said.

Magers said that she plans to open her shop to the public Friday at noon. She noted that she’s been filling out preorders for the last few weeks on top of her final preparations for the opening.

“We wanted to make sure we had a good set of orders ready on the opening day,” Magers said.

Magers said that she’s already received requests for birthdays, anniversaries and other parties, and she feels optimistic about this initial interest and positive feedback circulating online and across the community.

“People are very excited about it, so it’s good,” Magers said.

Charcuterie is the art of preparing and assembling cured meats and cheese products. Assortments of meats and cheeses are artistically arranged on wooden serving boards with other food items like fruits, nuts and olives.

Magers said there will be several boards to choose from and she builds boards to each customer’s needs. She said that she feels like her new establishment will fill an unfulfilled need in the community.

“I just want to bring a lot of really great meat and cheeses... I just think there’s a big need for that kind of thing… I think something for everybody,” Magers said.

Magers worked as an executive assistant at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center before taking the leap to start her first small business. She said that she wanted to branch out into something unlike anything she’d ever done before while sharing her passion for quality meats and cheeses.

“I decided to just go all in with this. It was something I wanted to do. I love good food. We’ve lived overseas in various places in Europe and the Middle East. So, we just really wanted to bring something like this to the Valley,” Magers said. “I like it. It’s exciting, a little nerve racking just because; but I’m a people person and I think it will do really well.”

Magers said the average customer in the Valley has little exposure to the more refined and exotic cheeses and styles of meat cuts, so her goal is to educate anyone interested in learning more about the selection process.

“I think that will be really fun to talk to people about, and I think people want to learn those things too,” Magers said.

Alaska Charcuterie offers a wide selection of goods imported from countries like Italy that customers can choose from. Magers said that her mission is to share her passion for the Charcuterie culture, and her general love for meats and cheeses she gained through her travels abroad.

“I just really like good meat and cheese... I just think that’s a nice way to eat,” Magers said.

After years of traveling across the world, Magers and her family took root in the Mat-Su Valley. She said that they’ve enjoyed nestling into the community the last three-and-a-half years.

“Now we call Alaska home,” Magers said.

Alaska Charcuterie and Meats is located in the Hull Building off Main Street in downtown Wasilla, near Donut King. The city of Wasilla is holding an official ribbon cutting ceremony to welcome the new business next Friday.

“We just want to welcome everybody in the Valley to stop by and come check us out,” Magers said.

For more information, call 907-376-6328 or visit akmeats.com.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com