You remember Bill the Butcher, the rapidly growing Pacific Northwest chain of upscale butcher shops. On the Bill the Butcher website, Bill—William Von Schneidau, the founder along with marketing consultant J'Amy Owens—originally said, "If you've met me in the store you know I'm passionate about organic grass fed beef... but don't just take my word for it." However, the business initially would not divulge its purportedly local/organic meat suppliers, nor label its meats by source; since this article in The Stranger appeared, Bill the Butcher has become more transparent in its labeling and suppliers.

Now Eater Seattle reports that the Bill the Butcher chain "disclosed in its latest SEC filing that it has a meager $40,000 cash remaining." Further:

Rami Grunbaum of the Seattle Times analyzed the filing and discovered that a major cause of the cash shortage was that in June 2011, Bill the Butcher was forced to reverse a private placement (aka cancel a stock sale) that would have netted the unprofitable startup $4.5 million. Owens remains stalwart, asserting that the company has "several other offers the same size or larger, and we're entertaining those now."

Meanwhile, an attorney for William Von Schneidau has confirmed that Von Schneidau is undertaking legal action against Bill the Butcher, Inc.... so Bill the Butcher's Bill is presumably no longer with the company (and he's no longer quoted on the website).

Bonus after the jump: J'Amy Owens on J'Amy Owens (it is amazing).

A plum quote from J'Amy Owens' website:

My name is J’Amy Owens and one of the great joys of my life is breaking all the rules, of freely mixing retail and politics, and pouring my beliefs into my work. Eventually, this method has allowed me to push the boundaries of conventional retailing with an original cultural statement, bold new styles and my own brand of humanism that I practice through consumerism.

It's totally worth reading this whole page.