Meet the meat man

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This article was published 27/07/2017 (3156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Since 2001, Springfield Meats & Sausage has become a North Kildonan institution. Owner Lorne Minarik said success has come as a result of building one-on-one relationships with his customers.

“It’s that rapport, that connection with customers, dealing with them over time,” Minarik said. “We’re not just going for the quick buck. We’re selling a good product and treating our customer like a real person, not just a number.”

With years of experience in the fishing and poultry industry, Minarik bought an existing establishment at 3-686 Springfield Rd. in 2001 and went into business for himself.

“Dealing with the public like this, it’s always something that I wanted to do,” Minarik said.

Specialty European imports and top quality, cut-to-order meat products have been the cornerstone of his operation ever since.

“I import a lot of unique Hungarian, Serbian, Slovenian, Romanian products you can’t get anywhere else in the province,” Minarik explained. As for his meats and produce, Minarik buys what he can locally, but will go as far as the other western provinces if need be.

“What we produce, it’s more old school. We custom cut everything,” he continued. “We’ve never had ground beef behind our counter. You want ground beef? We chop it, grind it for you right here.”

Initially Minarik, now 47, said his clientele tended to be between in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Now, he’s seeing a lot more younger customers.

“People are more health conscious now,” he said. “That next generation is more interested in what they’re eating. Our customers come in and say what they want. They get specifically what they want, and that’s what they pay for.”

Five years ago, Minarik had a staff of “two or three.” Now, he has nine employees working at Springfield Meats & Sausage. In the past two years, Minarik has expanded Springfield Meats & Sausage twice.

“My customers have forced me to expand,” Minarik said. “They wanted more.”

In 2016, he took over the old WineSense space that neighboured Springfield Meats, doubling his square-footage. Fourteen months later, when the opportunity to purchase Pinchers Perogies came up, Minarik was forced to expand a second time.

“It’s been a good transition,” Minarik said. “We’re doing more and more in house. When you can control supply, you can control the quality, the volume of the product going out.”

Springfield Meats & Sausage also does a brisk trade in fishermen direct pickerel from Lake Winnipeg, through connections Minarik maintains from his summers working as a commercial fisher in Gimli, where he grew up.

He’s also started an unexpected sideline in custom made, healthy dog food after repeated requests from customers.

“We’re doing 300 pounds a week,” Minarik noted. “It’s high fibre, not just trim and fat. It’s pure quality, made from the same ingredients you find on our shelves.”

Minarik said his son Tyler has started working with him.

“I don’t want to be doing this when I’m 60,” he said. “Tyler’s coming on, and hopefully he’ll decide to stick with it. If not, I have a great staff here which is starting to allow me to relax a bit and do some other things.”

Springfield Meats & Sausage is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on what’s available in store, visit springfieldmeats.ca

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