A pair of Connecticut business owners have decades to true specialty food work between them and it’s an art that is now on the rare side for independent operators.
Marc Rohlsberger and Don Feiler are owners of Boardman Bridge Butchers in New Milford. They recently celebrated their second year on Route 7, and say business has never been better.
On a recent quiet afternoon, customers flowed in. A woman bought two pounds of skirt steak. A man chose packages of homemade sausage out of the case, while another perused the stuffed chicken breasts and pork chops behind a glass display case.
“Thank you, have a good day,” said Gabrielle “Gabby” Rohlsberger, 19, to a departing customer.
She helps at the shop between classes at Western Connecticut State University, where she studies biology and is working towards a medical degree.
“I like helping out,” she said. “I wouldn’t say I’m a full-time employee, but it’s fun here.”
Rohlsberger’s wife is Janineen Rohlberger, a doctorate nurse at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York; Feiler’s wife is Melissa Martini.
“They both help out sometimes,” Feiler said.
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. The owners are Marc Rohlsberger and Don Feiler. (Emily M. Olson)
The partners have been friends since they met at DeCicco & Sons, a New York-based company with locations in Westchester County, Rohlsberger said.
“I was a meat manager, and a manager in the business,” he said.
According to his website, Rohlsberger “began his butchery journey in the United Kingdom, where he honed his skills in meat cutting over a career spanning more than three decades … he was in 1992 recognized as the “Young Butcher of the Year” in the UK.
After moving to the United States in the 90s, he held numerous roles including meat manager for national grocers as well as DeCicco & Sons Markets.
Feiler’s story includes more than 30 years of experience. According to the website, he began his career at a small butcher shop in Hartsdale, NY in 1989, and expanded his skills at local delis, shops and supermarkets, working as a meat manager at Grand Union and A&P.
He later specialized in sausage making and meat preparation, and worked for Turcos, a gourmet market, Benny’s Market in the Bronx and Morley’s Irish Market in Yonkers. He later joined DeCicco & Sons, where he met Rohlsberger.
Feiler, a resident of Mahopac, NY, said he wanted to get away from the big grocery store business, and work in a smaller shop. Independent butchers are rare these days, as chain grocery stores with in-house butchers have become more prevalent.
“We wanted to work for ourselves,” Feller said.
Rohlsberger, meanwhile, had the same idea in his head. After relocating to Connecticut, he saw a building that had the potential to become a shop: the former home of Bonni Manning Catering on Kent Road/Route 7, which had previously closed.
The location of the building, directly across from the historic Boardman Bridge, as well as a restaurant, held Rohlsberger’s attention.
“I moved to New Milford (from the Mount Vernon, NY area) 15 years ago, and I drove by this place for years,” he said. “It stayed empty, so eventually I called the landlord. I called him twice, we met, and I showed him my business plan.”
After finishing out the year with DeCicco’s, the partners began renovating the space, adding refrigerated display cases, meat and seafood display cases and a big grill and stove.
In the rear of the shop, Rohlsberger cuts meats for customers and for prepared meals. Beef or chicken shish-kebabs, burgers, steaks, chicken breasts and other outdoor cooking fare is sold daily this time of year.
The butcher shop opened in May 2024, and was immediately a hit in the neighborhood; its location on the northern Route 7 corridor wasn’t easy to miss. Curious customers on their way home from work stopped in, and quickly learned about the partners’ fresh meat offerings, as well as pre-made dishes and sides, a small selection of groceries, snacks and drinks.
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. The owners are Marc Rohlsberger and Don Feiler. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
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Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
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Feiler, known in butchering circles as “the sausage king” mans the grill in the morning, when customers line up for his bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches; sausage is also offered. The $7 sandwich is hefty and hot, with two eggs, thick-cut bacon or a homemade sausage patty and American cheese on a hard roll, wrapped in aluminum foil.
“I’ve been told it’s the best one around,” Feiler said with a smile. “People really love them. We also do Philly cheese steak sandwiches, meatball sandwiches … whatever we’re making, we have it on the sandwich menu. We did breakfast for extra revenue in the beginning, and it brings people in.”
“We use really good bacon,” Rohlsberger said. “That’s the trick to a good sandwich.”
The seafood choices features cod, salmon, flounder, shrimp, calamari salad with vegetables and other dishes. Feiler said the seafood sells pretty quickly.
“I don’t order a lot of it, so we sell it, and after three days, whatever’s left is used for something else; no more than three days,” he said. “We do that with everything here, so there’s very little waste. We keep it moving through the store.”
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
When they opened the shop in 2024, the partners tried different types of meat offerings, to see what the public wanted. Whole animals, used for barbecues and pig roasts, were not in demand, and the partners quickly realized that in New Milford, customers like “gourmet and prime meat,” Rohlsberger said.
“They like our salads, made in-house, the stuffed chicken or turkey breasts or pork chops, kebabs, and steaks, roasts, things like that,” he said. “We have aged beef from New York City, that’s the same as the steakhouses in the city order.”
A large variety of seasonings with the store’s label, jars of tomato sauce, pasta and other basics are sold, along with olive oil, local syrup and snacks.
As a local business, they support local organizations too. When the Gaylordsville Volunteer Fire Department planned a fundraising dinner, Rohlsberger ordered their hams, and ended up donating them.
“They’re all volunteers,” he said. “They help people. I just said, ‘Just take ‘em.’ We went to the dinner at the firehouse and had dinner … they were all so happy to see us.
“It’s really important to support the town you’re in,” he said.
The butcher shop will grow, the partners said. They bought the building in 2025, and hope to eventually open a full-fledged deli, and perhaps a restaurant. But “that’s for the future,” Rohlsberger said.
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
“I think we’re successful because of the local support,” he said. “We’re expanding what we sell because it’s what people want, and that’s good. I hope that will maintain itself as we go along.”
“Our experience on the job, and our quality products bring people back,” Feiler said.
“And our prices are reasonable,” Rohlsberger said. “We stay competitive, and we’ve lowered them for some things, too.”
They say they’ve never had a complaint: except once, a customer said the steak on the Philly sandwich was too thick.
“I’ll take that,” Rohlsberger said, with a laugh.
And the banter between the partners, who are good friends, makes Boardman Bridge Butchers a fun place to be.
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge. (Emily M. Olson)
“We have fun together; we yell back and forth, and we get to know the customers,” Feiler said. “I think people like that.”
“Don’s got 40 years in the meat business, and decades of experience,” Rohlsberger said. “Both of us just like selling good food.”
Boardman Bridge Butchers is located at 299 Kent Road/ Route 7 in New Milford, across from historic Boardman Bridge.
To reach the shop, call 860-350-1015, visit boardmanbridgebutchers.com, find them on Facebook, or email info@boardmanbridgebutchers.com.
Dining and Cooking