Join this episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast for a fascinating chat with Kylie Lee from Lee's Fresh Market. Learn how her family transformed a small slaughterhouse into a booming fresh market in Benson, NC. Discover their commitment to quality, and community, and why customers from all over flock to their store. 

Don't miss insider tips on their best-selling cuts and what makes their market stand out. Tune in for an inspiring look at local business success!

why all that success so quickly?

Kylie Lee: so we, when we originally bought it, my dad had the plan of building a grocery store, making it very accessible to a lot of the community and stuff like that. which I'm glad they did, but. I mean, we just do it out there.

We try to get the best deals that we can. There's no middleman because we're getting the animals straight off of local farmers to process. So it's not like we're going to need like the big companies and stuff. So we automatically get the prices a lot cheaper, which I'm glad, you know, helping out the community because as we know, everybody's.

Probably struggling right now a little bit. So we try to keep it fair,

Jonathan Breeden: Hello and welcome to another edition of The Best of Johnston County podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden, and today we have a special guest, Kylie Lee from Lee's Fresh Market on Benson Hardee Road in Benson, North Carolina.

We're going to talk about the different types of meats they provide, the processing of meat they do, some of the things they do in the community, how in the world we ended up with such a great big fresh market in Benson over the last couple years as they've added on to what was initially a slaughterhouse and a window. I think you will find this absolutely fascinating.

And if you want great fresh meat, they will be glad to help you out. Welcome Kylie.

Kylie Lee: Hey. Well, cool.

Jonathan Breeden: All right, Well, tell me what's your name? Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, yeah. And it's, right there on Benson Hardee Road, right around the corner from Benson Elementary School.

Kylie Lee: Yes. Not far.

Jonathan Breeden: And not too far from main street. And I guess it started as McLamb's? It was a window or something, right?

Kylie Lee: Yes, It was a slaughterhouse house. It had one little walk up window to the front. It was originally a slaughterhouse. We bought that and decided to go bigger and better with it and build us a little market on the front.

Kylie Lee: Yes. Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And

Kylie Lee: who,

Jonathan Breeden: who did that?

Kylie Lee: Danny McLamb. He was at the original owner that we bought it from.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, all right. And so, how long had it been a slaughterhouse?

Kylie Lee: Close to 38 years, Okay. yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: So, it was a slaughterhouse that had a window?

Kylie Lee: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right. Danny McLamb owned it there, Okay. All right. I got you. And then, you said 7 or 8 years ago? I guess.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. So, who owns this? I mean, It's your family, right?

Kylie Lee: Yes, Eddie Lee and Shane Lee. They're my grandpa and my dad.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right. Cool. And, Do they work there everyday?

Kylie Lee: They do.

Jonathan Breeden: You work there everyday?

Kylie Lee: I do.

Jonathan Breeden: All right. So, was it your idea? Was it your dad? Whose idea was to buy this slaughterhouse?

Kylie Lee: They came up with it together. We were getting out of farming and we raised hogs on the ground and stuff, took some hogs up there to be processed and we bought the place.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, I got you, all right. And so, for the first 6 or 7 or 8 years, you kept it just as the slaughterhouse that it was?

Kylie Lee: Yes, we kept the original name. We kept it under McLamb's and we kept the original slaughterhouse, really didn't change a whole lot.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, I got you. Did you keep the window?

Kylie Lee: We kept the window and we still have the window.

It

is,

Kylie Lee: It is. So, really honestly, what we thought was we need a market fresh meat, none of the stuff that you can, that are additives and all this kind of stuff in it. Everything that we have is fresh. There's nothing added to it to make it last longer. It is processed on site and it goes into the grocery store.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And so that was the way y'all wanted to do it?

Kylie Lee: Yes.

Right. Well, And I think it was, sort of the, I don't know. It was like, I was on your website and it was like, Bringing Back the Neighborhood Butcher.

Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: So, how do y'all make sure everything stays fresh? Where are you sourcing this meat?

Kylie Lee: Local farmers. That's where we get everything from.

Jonathan Breeden: So the local farmers are, and I guess given the sheer size of this place, y'all are slaughtering every day.

Kylie Lee: Every day, Monday through Friday.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah.

Kylie Lee: I mean, so,

Jonathan Breeden: There are animals being brought there every day.

Kylie Lee: Yes, sir.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. You know, approximately how many?

Kylie Lee: well, Typically, we run probably, 40, 50 cows every week. More pigs than that, probably 200, 300 pigs. Cause we do sell whole barbecue pigs for uh, pig pickings and stuff like that.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh my goodness. That's a lot.

Kylie Lee: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: How many employees y'all have?

Kylie Lee: Little under 50.

Jonathan Breeden: Man, that's a lot of employees.

Kylie Lee: Yes, sir.

Jonathan Breeden: So is it now broken up into divisions? Like Is there a retail division and a slaughter division?

Kylie Lee: So, we have the retail store on the front. We have a retail cutting room. That's where all the meat is cut and put in the store for. We have our original slaughter floor, and then we have a processing room in the back.

Jonathan Breeden: Right? So that is one of the things y'all do is, you will process people's animals for them.

Kylie Lee: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: And I know you said, you do that for a lot of the farmers around here and some of the other people that are in the retail business, you do some of the processing for them.

Kylie Lee: A lot of the North Carolina meat handlers, they come up there to get their stuff processed so they can take it to farmers markets and if they only have their own market, we process all that for them.

Jonathan Breeden: Holly, that's a lot. How do you keep up with all of that?

Kylie Lee: A lot of work.

Jonathan Breeden: can't imagine. So, at this point, is it a slaughterhouse of a retail store? Or is it a retail store for slaughterhouse? I know it starts a slaughterhouse, but which way do you see it?

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. How big is the store?

Kylie Lee: It's not really that big. We should have built it bigger. We didn't really plan for it to be booming like this so early on, but we're happy that it did.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, I mean, Particularly on Saturday mornings, you, can't get in there.

Kylie Lee: No, those free sausage biscuits that we hand out every Saturday morning is a very popular item.

Kylie Lee: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: And

Kylie Lee: it's,

Jonathan Breeden: people come from all over, right?

Kylie Lee: Everywhere. We have people come from Virginia, South Carolina, just basically to fill up their freezers and we'll see them again in a couple months.

Jonathan Breeden: I guess it helps being next to I-95.

Kylie Lee: It is. It's very accessible from I-95 and 40.

Jonathan Breeden: why all that success so quickly?

Well,

Kylie Lee: we don't really, we couldn't figure it out to begin with. so we, when we originally bought it, my dad had the plan of building a grocery store, making it very accessible to a lot of the community and stuff like that. which I'm glad they did, but. I mean, we just do it out there.

We try to get the best deals that we can. There's no middleman because we're getting the animals straight off of local farmers to process. So it's not like we're going to need like the big companies and stuff. So we automatically get the prices a lot cheaper, which I'm glad, you know, helping out the community because as we know, everybody's.

Probably struggling right now a little bit. So we try to keep it fair,

Jonathan Breeden: right? And so because there is no middleman you can offer I guess better prices on these cuts

Kylie Lee: their

prices

Jonathan Breeden: Um

Jonathan Breeden: like

Kylie Lee: 25

Jonathan Breeden: So

so what's a bundle box?

Kylie Lee: It has different cuts of meat in it It ranges from 15 all the way up to probably around 30 pounds.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Kylie Lee: And it's vacuum sealed. Everything's ready for your freezer. People come in, grab a box, take it home.

Jonathan Breeden: And it includes, I guess, different types of meat.

Kylie Lee: Beef, pork, chicken, just depending on. What they want.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And so they can just buy that box. And then they've got a little bit of everything. So they don't have to eat the same thing every night. You know, that kind of stuff. Well, that's kind of neat.

Kylie Lee: Especially it helps with the families that are busy. They don't really want to go spend a lot of time in the grocery store.

So. Come in, grab a box and you're set.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: Are y'all set up to take,

Kylie Lee: um,

Jonathan Breeden: snap?

Kylie Lee: We are not.

Jonathan Breeden: You're not. Okay.

All right. So you don't take snap. Okay. so do y'all sell anything other than meats in this retail store?

pick five vegetables. You can get five packs of vegetables for, I think it's $24.99 a lot of people like that. We do our, um, fresh produce and stuff like that. We also recently opened our flower stand back up

in the

summertime. So now we're selling plants and hanging baskets and stuff like that.

I mean,

Jonathan Breeden: that's I don't know how y'all keep up with all of that.

I mean, right. I mean, I mean, it's a lot. I mean, you're talking about, I mean, fresh produce is its own separate. I mean I mean, but I guess if you're trying to do fresh meat, fresh produce, sort of the same thing.

Kylie Lee: Yeah. We try to, you know, one stop shop kind of deal.

Jonathan Breeden: I got you. So, what are the, um, I mean, I guess, I mean, I don't know.

Your website says you have a hundred different types of cuts. What are the most popular cuts? Um, ribeyes,

we make all the hamburgers there too, so. Everything's ground on site.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Oh, that's cool. That's cool. I mean, I love, I love ribeyes. I love sausage. I mean, those are like my two favorite meats. I mean, you know, it sounds like, you know, the, um, probably the ribeyes aren't the best for the diet, but I do love ribeyes.

I mean? Y'all sell sausage or blends or I mean, rubs or any of that kind of stuff?

Kylie Lee: We do.

We sell a lot of sauces, rubs, all that kind of stuff. We, um, actually got our own restaurant. seasoning line in, you'll come in, you'll see all the seasoning bottles with Lee's Fresh Market

stuck

on the front of them.

Jonathan Breeden: You sell other lines of seasoning and rubs too?

Kylie Lee: We do.

Jonathan Breeden: What are some of the more popular brands?

Kylie Lee: Redneck Barbecue Lab.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh yeah, those guys

are great and other Johnston County business.

Kylie Lee: Yes They sell a lot of that stuff. Stubb's Barbecue, we sell a lot of their sauces. They're very popular. especially Vernon McLmab's sauce.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay

Kylie Lee: sxsaaaxsxxs

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, man, that's awesome. That's awesome. So it's not just a meat thing. It sounds like it's a little bit of a everything. He was fine in a small grocery store, but you said you had milk and produce and now you got flowers.

Kylie Lee: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: So anyway,

well,

that's cool.

That's cool. So what other, so you said ribeyes and sausage. What are, what, what do you have? Any other things that are sort of uniquely leaves like, you, like your own recipes.

well,

Kylie Lee: we make our own meatloaf. It's, ready to cook. It's already made for you. All you have to do is take it home, put that thing in the oven.

Oh, man. Yep. We've recently gotten into the kebabs and stuff, like pre made kebabs, stuffed peppers, seasoned ribs. That way you can just take it home, throw them on the grill.

Jonathan Breeden: Man, now I'm getting hungry. And that's what it'll teach me to record this during lunch. time Now I think it's something to eat. Golly.

Kylie Lee: so right now we're doing a lot of, being that the summertime's hit a little bit now, it's mainly burgers. we do especially the cheddar bacon burgers, mix it with cheddar, cheddar cheese and bacon.

Okay. Throw them on the grill. They're really popular right now. We do different seasoned burgers. we do a lot of seasoned chicken tenders and chicken wings. So they're ready to roll. We're trying to get into the The role of just already having the stuff done for the people, that way you're not having to take it home and, you know, prep it and all that kind of stuff.

Jonathan Breeden: I tell you, you know, Lowes foods and they kind of got into that first in the grocery business. I know Harris Teeter's now into that now and food line is sort of late to the game, but they're starting to do it too. I mean, it seems to be. You know, everybody's so busy, you know, everybody's working. A lot of people are commuting to work.

Like they're just looking for something that they can get that's healthy. That's fresh. And that's easy because they don't have time

to cook all this stuff.

You know,

Kylie Lee: Yes, it seems to help a lot. We have noticed that the sales on those have picked up quite a bit, especially during the summertime. Everybody wants to be outside, you know, doing yard work and stuff all that. So, we're glad that we can help them with that.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. So, and now y'all are open 7 days a week.

Kylie Lee: We are open 7 days a week.

Jonathan Breeden: That's new.

Cause it used to only be 6

Kylie Lee: It used to be 6 And so Monday through Saturday at 7am to 6pm. And then Sundays it's 10am to 6pm.

Jonathan Breeden: So you now work 7 days a week?

Kylie Lee: I do not.

Jonathan Breeden: I hope not. But that's the thing. I was in the restaurant business before I went to law school and it can be brutal if you don't have, you know, decent management and employees that'll show up.

Kylie Lee: Right.

Jonathan Breeden: Because if not, you and I are going to be here 7 days.

a week Um, this was 30 years ago, but still it's the same thing

Kylie Lee: today. Yeah. It's not changed much, but we are very blessed. all of our employees that they're, they're just like family to us. We have been very, very blessed with who we've got up there working.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And so people can order right there on the website, right?

Kylie Lee: We cut that off.

Jonathan Breeden: You did. Okay.

Kylie Lee: It

got really busy.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Kylie Lee: So we've

took a break from that for a while,

but we

will open it back up at some point.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Because you were getting more orders and maybe you could source.

Kylie Lee: Then we could handle at a time, especially on the weekends. It's already busy in there on Fridays and Saturdays.

Jonathan Breeden: I got you.

Kylie Lee: So,

Jonathan Breeden: but people can still call and order something.

Kylie Lee: They

can. You call the phone number on the website and you can call and place your order and come pick it up.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Kylie Lee: Well,

Jonathan Breeden: what is the phone

number?

Jonathan Breeden: All right. And what's the website?

Kylie Lee: LeesFreshMarketNC.Com

Jonathan Breeden: and it also has Instagram?

Mm hmm,

Kylie Lee: Instagram and Facebook.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, what are the tags for that?

Kylie Lee: Lee's Fresh Market NC

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, alright,

so yeah, and, y'all are all over Google and stuff because I Googled it and found all kinds of stuff.

I found when I was looking, I found the, a story done by the Tar Heel Traveler at WRAL News. when was that done?

Kylie Lee: little less than 6 months ago, I think. Okay. Um, they come out, we, it was fun. I'll give it that. It was very fun. great talking to them Yeah. And stuff that, telling them the story of the business and all.

Right. Right. I, and that's, and, and,

They, they do a great job, the Tar Heel Traveler. Mike Mason's been doing that a long time. He has. And, uh, and, that was a really good story. I couldn't get over how many people were there. I mean, like you couldn't walk even when he was there.

Kylie Lee: That was on a weekday.

Jonathan Breeden: So that was a weekday.

Oh my goodness.

Kylie Lee: It wasn't awake yet,

Jonathan Breeden: man. That was, that was something else. So

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Jonathan Breeden: so what are y'all doing to get back to the community? I know y'all, y'all do a lot of things. What are some of the things y'all do to help the community?

Kylie Lee: So one thing is,

Jonathan Breeden: you know,

sponsor them, get her name out there, you know, help her out a little bit.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And you also help the churches like by selling, Whole pigs at a reasonable price or donating some of those.

Kylie Lee: If

they're doing,

Jonathan Breeden: you know,

Kylie Lee: a lot of churches around here do barbecue sales, chicken sales and stuff like that. We try to help them out a little bit on that.

Well,

Jonathan Breeden: that's cool. So I know you're in the food business, but what are some of your favorite restaurants? In the Johnston County area.

Kylie Lee: there's one in Benson, Daddy D's. Have you heard of that?

Jonathan Breeden: I have not heard of Daddy D's

Kylie Lee: I think there's one in Benson and there's one in Fuquay. Okay.

Jonathan Breeden: Where's it

at?

Kylie Lee: beside Chargrill right off of 95.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. I know where Chargrill is.

All right. What do they serve at Daddy D's?

Kylie Lee: Barbecue.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right.

That's good.

That's good. I've never heard

of that one. But I love barbecue,

so

I'll

definitely have to check that out. What are some of your other favorite restaurants?

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, Redneck

Barbecue Lab is very good. Uh, at exit 319,

19

Jonathan Breeden: 210 and I-40 can't go wrong with that. And of course they have the, uh, You just call it the barbecue lab at North Hills now. And they're also inside PNC Arena. If you happen to go to a Hurricanes or Wolfpack game or a concert, barbecue labs there, they do a great job.

and of course they have all their rubs and stuff. what are other restaurants that you like?

Kylie Lee: Most of the local ones are probably like the mom and Pop grills. Well,

Jonathan Breeden: that's all right. What are those? I mean, I'm, I'm always looking

for places to eat.

Kylie Lee: If you watch the Tar Heel Travelers, Pat's Grill and Grocery.

Okay. Um, they're right in Benson T. Okay. They have good lunch. We like to run down there sometimes and grab us a burger. Okay.

Jonathan Breeden: All right.

Kylie Lee: Well,

Jonathan Breeden: that's cool. That's cool. Yeah. Well, I have to spend some more time, not spend a lot of time at Benson. In the last few years, they used to. And I, I used to go to court and Benson all the time.

right?

Kylie Lee: Before July 4th, we take the whole week just to kind of give everybody a break before the winter time and all that hits. so right before the 4th of July, we do a buy one, get one free sale, all the tray packed fresh meat. Is about one, get one free. We'll start it the day before we go out. If you want to know more about it, you can check out our Facebook page.

We'll start posting about it and, um, on our website.

Jonathan Breeden: So it's probably going to be around that last weekend in June, the 29th, 30th, sometime right around there, July 1st, this year is on a Monday. July 4th is on a Thursday. For those of y'all looking forward on your calendars, as far as ask concern, well, that, that sounds like a lot of fun.

so what are, some of the places in Johnston County you'd like to visit? We talked about like places like to eat. We're always talking about the best place in Johnston County. What are some of the places? Activities you like to go or places you like to go in Johnston County.

So, well,

Kylie Lee: you've heard of Mule Days.

Jonathan Breeden: You're mostly at work a

lot. I got you.

Kylie Lee: I got you. So, um,

Jonathan Breeden: Mule Days is always the third weekend in September.

It's in Benson It's a huge festival to celebrate the mule. It has a rodeo. It has carnival rides. It has one of the largest parades in North Carolina. It has, food trucks like you would see at the state fair It has live concerts and entertainment. and the animals, the mules and the horses get to walk in the streets on the streets are closed for several days there and Benson and, I would encourage anybody if you've not been, it is a cultural experience for sure.

They always have a good time there. It's done by the Benson Chamber of Commerce, Loretta Byrd which I try to have her on here, this podcast in the future. It's a lot of fun. have you been to the Benson library? I know they've done a ton with that.

They have,

Kylie Lee: I've seen it. They've changed a lot about it.

So it's not far from our place. I drive past it. Yeah. Well,

Jonathan Breeden: I don't think

a lot of people realize. That that library is there and it is it is I don't know anybody listen like it is as nice a library as any libraries you'll go into

Kylie Lee: probably Yeah,

Jonathan Breeden: probably

and I don't

think people realize and and the town of benson and Johnston county library association They really have done a good job And so I would encourage anybody particularly if you live towards benson or even if you're at mcgee's crossroads You know johnson county don't have a lot of libraries that library of benson It's as good as any library and they have loan services and get you not any book you

I mean, it's, they do a really nice job. What are some of the other things around Benson that people might not be aware of as we're trying to spotlight Benson and Lee's fresh market here?

well,

Kylie Lee: there's a grill on the Hill That's another grill. it's a gas station slash grill. They have lunch every day.

Okay.

a lot. It's a big stiple for a lot of the truck drivers. Easy to get into and stuff like that. It's right off of 40. All right. so that's another big deal. Serve great food though, but,

well,

Jonathan Breeden: that's cool. That's cool. Yeah. So the uh, and now I guess the town has some artwork. They put that. Is it a mule?

What is

it? It's a mule, right?

Kylie Lee: It's a

mule, right?

It's a,

Jonathan Breeden: it's a metalworked mule.

It is.

Kylie Lee: It is right when 50 and 27 split. So if you're coming off of main street to come to our place, you're going to drive past it.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And they've also put in a mural.

Jonathan Breeden: right.

Kylie Lee: That is right.

on the side of main street, you'll see it

Jonathan Breeden: if you're going,

Kylie Lee: if you're headed towards 95.

Right. So,

Jonathan Breeden: so anyway, so for those of y'all that have not been to Benson ever or not been to Benson in the last 10 years. You should go because there's tons of great restaurants, Lee's fresh market. There's this library that is phenomenal. there's also part of that library has a, as a, as a history museum, right beside it.

that's pretty fascinating as well. about sort of how Benson came to be in the railroad and, the farming and the railroad coming together. And it really grew up around the railroad tracks. I find all this stuff fascinating. Maybe that makes me a little bit of a nerd. but Benson is a growing area of a lot of great small businesses, like Lee's produce, fresh market and, maybe sell produce.

So I was going to say produce, but yeah, I mean, meats and stuff like that. So the last question we always ask here is. What do you love most about Johnston County You've been here your whole life. What do you love most about it?

It's just a big family organized community, basically. So you're. Very well known with each other. If you need anything, everybody's just one step away. You can just call anybody up in Johnston County basically and say, Hey, I need help. And they're, they're coming.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah,

Kylie Lee: no, that's,

Jonathan Breeden: that's

exactly right.

Kylie Lee: And that's right.

Jonathan Breeden: And almost everybody, you know, 6 or 7 months into this podcast. We ask that question to every single guest and every single guest says the people, the people is what makes Johnston County the best. I agree with that. All the guests have agreed with that. These are the best people. they'll do anything for you.

They're not pretentious like some people in other parts of the state, or other cities near ours. So anyway, uh, so, which is great. Well, cool. I appreciate it. so once again, what's the phone number and where y'all at? So everybody can come find y'all.

Kylie Lee: 623 Benson Hardee road.

as I love Benson is, is one of the sort of sleeping giants of Johnston County. If this is your first time listening to the best of Johnston County podcast, please do us a favor of liking or subscribing or following this podcast, wherever you're seeing it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or any of our social media channels, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, so that you'll be aware of future episodes of the best of Johnston County podcast.

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Until next time, I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden.

That's the end of today's episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.