Pizza proving to be a hot commodity

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This article was published 09/06/2017 (3070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A crew of women spends part of most weekends making pizzas in Starbuck.

Phil Mollot shows photos of the various crews that have worked over the past dozen years to put together the pizzas that Archie’s Meats sells under the Archie’s Pizza label. The photos decorate a freezer case in the business’ storefront at 20 Main St.

Originally established in 1932 as a locker plant in Fannystelle by Phil and brother Ray’s grandfather Archie, the business evolved into a meat processing and butcher shop specializing in custom cuts and deli meats run by Archie’s son, Rene. The business moved into its current location in the 1940s.

Ray said his father would custom-cut beef and pork. A smokehouse was first added about 30 years ago and the Mollots began making sausage. They also specialize in processing wild game, although Ray said the pizza business is starting to take up more staff time.

He said they had been selling premade frozen pizzas as part of their grocery business when a lightbulb went on.

“We realized that we had all the ingredients we need here,” he said, referring to the meat toppings.

While they first started using crusts made by Winnipeg pizza companies, they have been working with the Food Development Centre to perfect a new crust.

Ray said they have used the centre’s staff and equipment to make improvements to the 10 varieties of pizza they now sell, as well as to run taste-testing.

“We don’t want to change too much because our customers like our pizzas,” he said.

The frozen pizzas come in 12- and 15-inch sizes. They are available at Sanford Foods, the Carman Co-op stores in La Salle and Carman, the Marquette Co-op, Headingley Foods, the Oak Bluff Petro-Canada station, Winnipeg’s Red River Co-op stores at St. Vital, Grant Park and Southdale, as well as other locations.

Ray said community groups have used the pizzas as a fundraiser.

“The community has been really good.”

While the Mollots feel their Starbuck location is good for shipping, they are close to outgrowing the building.

“We’ve been considering expanding,” Ray said.

For more information on Archie’s Meats, see www.archiesmeats.com/Home_Page.php

— Geary