Walk through Seattle’s Pike Place Market and you’ll find a century-old survivor: Don and Joe’s Meats. Founded in 1924 and purchased by Barnaby Dorfman and his partners in March of this year, the shop stands as the market’s lone remaining meat counter – right next to the famous fish-throwers – serving locals and more than 20 million market visitors every year.
What They Sell – and Where They’re Headed
Don and Joe’s is a full-line, traditional butcher with a twist – game like rabbit and pheasant, a renowned veal selection, and a case full of high-grade jerky “that’s not like your gas station jerky… it’s made here in the Pacific Northwest,” displayed in big pieces and sold by weight. It’s catnip for tourists and a snackable sampling engine for the team.
As new owners, Barnaby’s crew is leaning into Pacific Northwest producers and elevating the experience, connecting with local farms and setting a higher bar so “everything is kind of special.” They’re also expanding their dry-aged program using the shop’s large walk-in, a relic of its former restaurant-wholesale days: “We’ve gone all the way up to 100 days… my personal favorite is right around 45.”
And they’re going beyond the counter: online ordering and shipping are on the roadmap to serve customers who don’t have access to a real butcher back home. “Turns out there are a lot of parts of the United States where there aren’t butchers… people ask us to ship that dry-aged beef, the jerky, the tomahawk steaks to their house.”
Hiring for an Outdoor, High-Volume, High-Expectation Counter
When Barnaby took over, the shop ran with four to five employees. They’ve since grown to about ten across three roles: meat cutters, counter staff, and samplers – the latter a “busker-like” role that draws curious crowds with jerky tastings next to the fish market’s daily show. It’s seasonal and demanding work in an outdoor environment that swings from hot to cold; turnover comes with the territory.
Meanwhile, beef prices are at historic highs, so the conversation at the counter matters more than ever. Barnaby’s ethos: treat every customer equally. Whether a guest is using SNAP benefits or splurging on a premium cut, they get the same attentive service, making education the differentiator. Most guests don’t know the nuances between organic and grass-finished or what separates a T-bone from a porterhouse. The team’s job is to translate. “Our employees are educators,” he says. “People also don’t know very much about meat… the flavor and texture profiles of different cuts.”
The Working Interview: Turning Hiring into an Audition
Barnaby’s hiring “OS” revolves around working interviews. First, he casts a wide net – often posting multiple roles at once, including seasonal holiday help to attract strong talent with flexible availability. He adds a “bonus” question at the end of each listing – ask for your favorite butcher shop product and how to prepare it – and uses responses as an initial motivation filter.
Then he batch-schedules 10–15-minute video screens via tools like Calendly, expecting about half to show. The big unlock comes when he routes finalists through Poached’s Working Interview: no-shows drop sharply because candidates choose a paid trial shift, receive automated reminders, and walk in with clear expectations. With that commitment in place, standouts either move directly into a working interview or swing by the shop for a quick meet-and-greet before donning an apron – already on the schedule and ready to work.
In the working interview itself, the team looks for presence under pressure: eye contact, quick rapport with guests, comfort handling product, and the ability to “move in time and space” efficiently in a tight, busy footprint. As Barnaby puts it, you can tell in about 30 seconds whether someone leans in, scans the room, and adapts – or freezes. “You’re inviting people to break the fourth wall, come behind the counter, and face the public,” he says. “It doesn’t take more than… 30 seconds to see if they make eye contact… and are situationally aware.”
They’re also watching for team fit. In a compact space, how a candidate asks for help, avoids costly mistakes, and meshes with group dynamics is the difference between friction and flow. The working interview reveals far more than “what’s your greatest strength” ever could.
Why Pay for Working Interviews? Less Admin, Less Risk, Better Signal
Barnaby is unequivocal: pay people for their time – even at a premium. Opening QuickBooks, collecting IDs, and setting up payroll for someone who might bounce in two weeks is ‘a material amount of time’ – and the back-office cleanup when they leave is just as painful. ‘It’s a no brainer from a savings perspective… even if we pay them a little bit more [for the trial],’ he says.
With Working Interviews, they pay by credit card and Poached handles the tax side, so it’s ‘so low-friction to try something out for real.’ The insurance coverage and structure ‘definitely checks a box’ on risk, but the real win is the quality of signal you get from watching someone in your environment.
And when it’s not a fit, candidates often self-select out after a single four-hour shift – not after two weeks of training and schedule juggling – saving the team time, wages, and headaches.
Experimentation Is The Strategy
The shop’s evolution mirrors Barnaby’s technology background: try, measure, iterate. This season they’re taking online turkey preorders for the first time – simple, controlled, and measurable. That experimental mindset applies to hiring, merchandising, and channel expansion, too.
Those paid working interviews are the centerpiece of his experimentation ethos. Barnaby borrows Amazon’s “two-way door” concept – design decisions so you can walk through, look around, and step back if needed. “What you’ve built with the working interview is an inexpensive two-way door…a person can come in, they can try it out, we can try them out…No harm, no foul for both sides,” he says.
That quick, real-world trial delivers more signal in hours than weeks of traditional interviews. It also boosts accountability and follow-through: “Once we actually invite them in for a working interview, maybe 90% of them show up…Saying ‘you’re going to get paid for your time’ elevates the whole experience for both sides.” The respect is mutual: when employers respect candidates’ time, candidates respect the process—and your schedule—back.
The Big Idea: Sell an Experience
In a world where AI is automating white-collar work, handcrafted hospitality – and the people who deliver it – matter more. Don and Joe’s hires for humans who love feeding people and creating an experience, because that’s the product. “We are hiring employees because we want to create a great customer experience,” Barnaby says – and in a place as iconic as Pike Place, that experience resonates nationally.