Jason Pennoyer (L) and Chris Pierce in front of the meat coolers at their butcher shop in the Sackville Industrial Park
A controversial abattoir has been operating in the Sackville Industrial Park for nearly two months and a growing number of customers have been buying local meat in the butcher shop there.
“A lot of people, on Thursday, Friday nights, they want to come pick up a fresh steak for the barbecue,” says Jason Pennoyer who co-owns East Meats West Butchers, Inc. with Chris Pierce.
He adds that the meat they sell in their shop at 72 Crescent Street is raised by local farmers.
“It gives customers the option, instead of just taking what’s available at the grocery store, they can come in here and they can say, ‘Can you make me up four, one-inch, prime-rib steaks’ and we’ll go back in the cooler and we’ll cut it fresh right off the animal,” he says.
“We’re not looking at going large scale and supplying huge warehouses. We’re simply looking at how we best can serve the locals here in Sackville and the surrounding area.”
Pennoyer says the abattoir is licensed and inspected by the province and also operates under permits from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
So far, he says, it’s been slaughtering an average of about seven to eight beef cattle per week, but hopes to increase that number to two per day for a total of 10 each week.
The abattoir has also slaughtered pigs and can do lamb on request, he says.
It currently employs three workers besides Pennoyer and Pierce.
Controversial project
Pennoyer acknowledges the many concerns over the potential for smells and noise when local farmer and town employee Chris Pierce first applied for the municipal re-zoning needed for an abattoir in September 2020.
Sackville Town Council received 32 letters expressing strong opposition to the project and none in support.
But Pennoyer says he’s hoping people will support it now when they see how the business is run.
“We’ve been up and running for two months,” he says, “and there’s no smell and I would say that even in the summertime, there’s going to be no smell because we have to keep the internal temperature cool enough to keep the meat fresh and to keep bacteria from forming.”
He also explains that animal waste products are removed daily from the premises and sent off-site to their licensed disposal facility.
“It’s well away from any residential buildings or anybody who might possibly be concerned about odour or it leaching into waterways or wells.”
Pennoyer says people should feel free to visit the butcher shop and abattoir to see it for themselves.
“I’m more than happy to answer any questions anybody has and if we can, we can show them the facility,” he adds.
“I take pride in how clean we keep everything and it might put people at ease just coming in if they’re skeptical and taking a look.”
‘East meats West’
Sign on the outside of the building at 72 Crescent Street
When asked how he and his business partner chose the name for their abattoir and butcher shop, Pennoyer replies that he grew up out west in B.C. while Pierce hails from the east.
“So we decided to go with east meats west.”
Pennoyer explains that he also worked in Alberta where he joined the RCMP in 2006.
His wife Sarah worked for the Mounties there too, but they decided to transfer to the Maritimes where Sarah is from for family support after the death of their six-year-old son in a traffic accident.
The Pennoyers work with the RCMP based in Amherst, although Jason, who holds the rank of sergeant, is temporarily on leave.
“My dad was a butcher, my grandfather was a butcher and they had butcher shops when I was growing up,” Pennoyer says.
“I grew up on a farm and we basically did everything from ostrich to pigs to cows to wild game and when I moved here, I tried to get a beef cut up for myself and found that it was anywhere from six to eight weeks before we could even get an animal in and then you’ve got to hang it for another 10 to 14 days, so you’re looking at well over two months and we just saw that there was a need,” he says.
He adds that it’s also good to support locally produced food.
“We take our time,” he says. “We want to do things right and make people happy.”
I am glad this business is in Sackville.
Congratulations it’s always nice to see new entrepreneurs in Sackville.
We desperately need more small businesses in this town!! Way to go boys!
So excited for this business! I will be supporting them for sure. Great job guys!
This is a welcome business in our town – always going above and beyond specs – so glad things are going well
What an excellent idea, full support from this Ex farmer who knows the value of local meat and a local abattoir! The animal is not stressed like the ones trucked for miles before processing! Good for you guys, excellent!
Good to see new business coming to Sackville. Keep up the good work guys!
I fully support small business much more needed locally im a small business owner for 26 years alot of hard work and long hours but communinlty strong
So glad that this is in the area. Will you be putting on boxed up meat of beef,pork,chicken and turkey,offerings?
Great job:):):):) love it
Awesome!! A good butcher is hard to find these days. Not a big meat eater but I am looking forward to swinging past and grabbing something after the holidays.
Great to see local serving locals🌻
With animal agriculture being one of the biggest contributors to climate change I am surprised our so called “green council” is supporting this…They say if you are not vegan you are not an environmentalist. Maybe get educated on this before you vote for it. If you actually care about climate or the environment for that matter…. or maybe not, if you are just too busy being climate hypocrites. https://sentientmedia.org/animal-agriculture-climate-change/
You don’t drive a car, fly, wear leather, use grid electricity (involves coal), buy any products delivered by truck, buy anything originating outside N.America (delivered by petro-driven cargo ships), eat any vegetables grown with artificial fertilizers, use anything made of plastic including cash and cards, don’t use the internet which uses fossil fuel electricity… do I need to go on? Before you accuse people of being hypocrites, give us a resume of your climate purity, please. And, by the way, raising cattle in a pasture in NB isn’t the same as burning down Brazilian rainforest to make cheap canned corned beef.
B free 🤦♀️🤪
Great work Jason, Chris and crew❣️👌
Right on… good job gentlemen. I’m from BC too.. so nice to see this business taking its place in our local landscape – I will definitely be supporting them and thank you Bruce for covering the story as always with good ethics and solid information.
Could customers also get a butcher’s shop hoodie to help advertise – they look pretty sharp?
Our family ran a deli/butcher shop in England in the 70s, Gramma retired and Mum and Dad took it over for a few years before we emigrated to Toronto… good memories.. happy customers.
Can hardly wait to try this home grown meats.