Ditch the big chain stores and stock up on melt-in-your-mouth wagyu beef, sizzling, locally sourced bacon, and charcuterie boards to delight every palette; all on the menu at Central Meats in Grand Falls-Windsor.

Tristan Saunders launched this local butcher shop in 2021 and offers the freshest sausages, burgers, steaks, and arguably the best home-baked bread in the region.

“We owned a seasonal meat cutting business (wild game) for a couple of years before starting Central Meats,” Saunders says. “Always loved the process and working for ourselves at our own pace. When the pandemic hit and we went into lockdown it really made us think about a lot of things. Being our own boss and doing what we already loved just made sense to open our own spot. We never imagined things would go as well as it has.”

Saunders and his small team love creating new flavour profiles, testing products, and learning how to supply other local businesses with meats from local suppliers – spreading the love from farm to table. He’s also committed to competing on price wherever possible, despite being a smaller business.

Central Meats still provides annual animal-cutting services to hunters and provides feed for local farmers. They source locally farmed turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas, sell seal flippers and meat in season, and sell local vegetable hampers, greens, and honey from local apiaries in their store. The butcher shop has become a place to source locally-produced food options, not really available in the area.  To enhance the meat-eating experience, they source many flavours of meat rubs, marinades, and even flavoured wood chips for smoking.

Running a small business is always a challenge, but for Saunders and his family, there are so many upsides as well, including flexibility and a sense of ownership.

“(I’m) no longer dreading going to work every morning since becoming a small business owner,” he says, pointing to support from CBDC Central in getting the business up and running. “CBDC helped us obtain our loan which got all this started. They’ve also helped us with information and such on different grants that may be available and useful for us. Without their help, we couldn’t have done anything.”

Thank you to our Government of Canada partners at the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), who collaborate with us to support small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs. Together, we will continue to build a stronger Atlantic Canadian economy, fostering job growth and strengthening our rural communities.