‘Can you tackle Meat Mountain?’ Viral KC area shop isn’t your average butcher
In one of The Upper Cut KC’s recent videos, Mariah Kinkade peeks her head from behind a gravity-defying heap of buns and patties.
“Do you think you could tackle Meat Mountain?” she asks, looking into the camera with a smile.
She explains, along with her head butcher Tyson Kaaiakamanu, that the hefty meal is $74.99 and has 10 akaushi wagyu patties, five buns, garlic butter caramelized onions, smoked jalapeños, pork shots, onion rings and more. Finish in 30 minutes, and you’ll win a T-shirt and item from the butcher shop.
Like many on Kinkade’s page, the video of the patties dripping in sauce has amassed thousands of views and likes.
Since first opening her shop in 2015 — and moving into a much larger space at the end of last year — she’s gathered a faithful following both in and outside of the metro. Some pile in for meals at the 1177 W. Kansas St. space in Liberty, and others tune in online to hear Kinkade and staff explain how products go from pasture to patty.
A line of customers formed during a Thursday late-morning visit with The Star, the smell of burgers floating through the shop. While some customers take their meat to cook at home, others chow on made-to-order sandwiches at tables around the shop.
Why is The Upper Cut garnering so much attention? Perhaps it’s the not-your-average-butcher-shop philosophy.
From family farm to butcher shop
The cattle are raised on Kinkade’s family farm in Kearney, and the only thing not done in the shop is the kill itself. Kinkade walked The Star to a chilly back room where parts of the dead cattle hung, awaiting to be turned into different cuts of meat.
Days before, they roamed in fields not far from Kinkade’s front door.
“I know very few places in the Midwest that raise their own animals anymore,” she said. “A butcher shop has become: We get in boxed beef and we cut it.”
Kinkade said her family controls the entire process: growing the cows’ feed themselves, breeding and caring for them. Kinkade and her team sell uncooked cuts, as well as cooked burgers and sandwiches with fries.
Head butcher Kaaiakamanu said this level of direct relationship between butchers and ranchers is rare.
“Her uncle raises it, and I talk to him almost every day. It’s ‘this beef came in, this is working, this is the ear tag of that …’” he said. “It gets us a good product and kind of keeps their beef in check.”
The meat is cut down into hundreds of different products: several different flavors of brats, beef bacon, oxtail, beef tongue, rump roast, hanger steak, short ribs, skirt steak, bone broth, etc. (Kinkade hates to waste any part of the cow.)
While all the beef is from Kinkade’s family farm, Upper Cut offers a wide selection of other meats from local ranchers, like bison, turkey, chicken and pork. The seafood is flown in every week.
Whatever product Upper Cut is selling, the guarantee of quality is the same: all-natural, and no fillers to stretch the product further.
“People don’t realize how much their meat is messed with,” Kinkade said. “Dyes, sprays, chemicals, water is added.”
Education and quality at Upper Cut KC
Perhaps many of Upper Cut’s faithful viewers are among a growing number of consumers who are mindful — perhaps even skeptical — of their food sources.
In 2022, a survey conducted by the University of Minnesota indicated that less than a quarter of Americans trusted messaging about where their food was grown and produced. The figure was around 17% for Gen Z. The study also found that Gen Z and millennials were 2 1/2 times more likely to pay more for “sustainable and reasonably sourced food” than Baby Boomers.
Similarly, a 2025 survey by the Organic Trade Association found that organic food is resonating with Gen Z — nearly 90% were reportedly committed or new consumers of organic products.
Anecdotally, Kinkade concurs. Tickets for occasional farm-to-table dinners at the farm go quickly.
“People want to see, where are the cattle at? Where do they come from? How can I feel closer to my food?” she said. “That education piece is big for us.”
Videos on the butcher shop’s page allow customers to peek behind the curtain of the food process. Seasoned butchers work while explaining what to look for in a good cut.
Two of the page’s most viral videos explain how customers can order different cuts of a quarter-, half- or whole cow. When a patty greatly shrinks in size once it’s been cooked, Kinkade explains in another clip, that’s a good indication that it’s been pumped up with fillers.
Liberty business grows with the times
Owning a butcher shop isn’t exactly what Kinkade would’ve imagined herself doing out of college. She entered the business at just 21, a graduate from Kansas State University with a degree in agriculture and business.
At one point in time, she planned to go to veterinary school. But after pursuing her family’s long talked-about dream goal of opening a butcher shop, she’s fulfilled getting to share that passion with the public.
Plus, she loves her customers.
“There’s a lot of people that come in here that we know their names, their orders,” she said.
When she first started, she hadn’t met many women who worked in butcher shops, let alone owned one. But that challenge alone pushed her to further success.
With a smile, Kinkade told The Star that she loves being in a male-dominated industry.
“It almost makes me want to get more women involved,” she said. “I’m confident in who I am and the knowledge I have.”
The butcher shop’s growing fan base is a large reason why they upgraded their space from a mere 1,280 square feet to about 4,000 in December, just 2 miles from the previous store.
“We were very limited there,” general manager Dena Kelly said of the original location. Already, customers are asking if they’ll move into an even bigger space. Not yet, Kinkade said.
Offering competition-grade meats and custom cuts, Upper Cut’s cooked menu includes the Thai Chili Chicken Ranch Burger ($24.99), Meme’s Million Dollar Burger ($24.99), The Butcher’s Blend Steak Burger ($19.99) and more.
And, of course, the impressive Meat Mountain. Nobody’s beat the challenge yet, Kinkade said.
“I think people have fun here, and I want that to come across in a video,” she said. “I want to be innovative, I want to try something new.”