In an unpretentious metal building on U.S. 21 just north of Mooresville, a team of veteran meat cutters works every day to satisfy a hungry region.

For the past 30 years, the family-run Mooresville Meat Center has supplied upward of 200 area restaurants with fresh ground beef that ends up in thousands of hamburgers.

Some 15,000 pounds go out each week to eateries such as Trackside in Mooresville, Charlotte's 21 South Drive-In and Hickory's Snack Bar.

"We get all of our meat from them fresh every day," said Robert Fesperman, manager of the Mooresville What-A-Burger since 1969. "It's never frozen, and it's good quality."

On top of what goes to restaurants, the Mooresville Meat Center supplies area volunteer organizations for cookouts and barbecue fund-raisers. It also runs a retail operation with steaks, poultry and pork to order.

This huge production takes place because of the skills of a small team of meat cutters who know their trade well, said co-owner Ronnie Hartilne, who is a veteran of over 45 years of meat cutting.

The other veteran cutters are Winston Mayhew, Jim Wagner, Roger Nance, Roger Shew and Shelby Hartline with a combined 165 years in the business.

The team works around a long, rectangular table in a cutting area visible to the public from the office. A large horizontal freezer occupies much of the business office, where Barbara Mayhew works as manager.

"People don't know that so much of the food they eat comes from right here," Barbara Mayhew said. "We are a big producer for the region."

A former meat cutter for Harris-Teeter, Ronnie Hartline said he started the business three decades ago as a way to be his own boss. Today, the company employs 12, including the meat cutters, office manager and delivery drivers such as Jeff Boller.

Later this year, Hartline hopes to expand the retail area of the business with more freezers.

For now, he'll keep cutting and periodically, he'll enjoy his favorite meal. "I love to sit down to a nice, thick rib-eye," he said.