The boutique at the Shawville abattoir is now open for business, with a soft launch held at the location on Hwy. 148 on Friday afternoon.
The storefront is one aspect of the AgriSaveur project, which also includes the slaughterhouse and a commercial kitchen facility across town on rue West. The kitchen was officially opened back in May. The abattoir portion of the project is operated by a co-operative of local producers.
MRC Pontiac economic development commissioner for agriculture, Shanna Armstrong, explained that while butchering and packaging is currently allowed at the abattoir facility, they are still unable to slaughter animals on site, as they are waiting on approval from the Ministry of Environment.
“Because the slaughter side isn’t open yet and operational, the co-op has worked in coordination with an abattoir in Terrebonne, a federal abattoir, so they process the meat, and we have a relationship with a butcher from down there, he was willing to transport the meat back for us and then it can be aged here and cut and wrapped.”
She said that the environmental permit they were working to obtain was quite extensive.
“It’s a fairly arduous process. Any slaughter facility has to have one. It’s basically to regulate, to ensure that the water is safe, if you take in water, that it’s done right, and so that it’s treated properly,” she explained. “There’s lots of studies, and proving that everything meets the thresholds for the ministry.”
Co-op president Kyle Kidder explained that they were cutting and selling beef mainly from Rolling Acres Farms, whose owner Steve Hamilton is a co-op member. They were also selling chicken and pork purchased from Quebec wholesalers and packaged on site. He said the co-op members had put many hours into getting the facility to this point, but without the ability to slaughter livestock, things like hiring staff were on hold.
“It’s difficult to hire staff at this time just [because] we haven’t even generated any revenues. Hopefully, in the next couple weeks if we get some sales going and offering some service, we’ll have enough revenue to hold full-time employment,” he said. “At this time, there are positions being held, but the majority of the work being done is volunteer hours to bring us to this point.”
The shop was open from 3 to 7 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Kidder said that they were still working out the regular hours and schedule, as it would depend on the interest from the community.
“We’re just really excited to be open and to start. Even though we’re not able to offer the full service, it’s nice to be able to do something,” he said. “It’s been a bit of a wait obviously, and so a lot of people have been anxious, as well as myself. It’s nice to get to this point and looking forward to everything that’s going to progress from here.”
He added that they were aiming to be available to process game harvested by local hunters this fall.
“We anticipate being able to absorb that and offering that service to the hunters of the area,” he said.
