Meat Craft Urban Butchery

Just in time for the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Port Moody’s Meat Craft Urban Butchery has opened for business!

Opening for today was no small feat; there were many late nights of construction and preparation in order to be ready. But after chatting withGreg McFetridge and Kerry Martini, the owners of Meat Craft they say it was all worth it when they saw the smiles of the customers who filled their shop on opening day.

Meat Craft Urban Butchery focuses on locally sourced, locally grown, and ethically raised meats with a focus on grass fed, free range beef and sausages made in-house, without fillers (I am going to be sampling one of Greg’s creations – a turducken SAUSAGE! tomorrow).

Although this means that they are not a discount butcher shop, it does mean that when you are purchasing meat from them, you know you have purchased from a butcher shop that has the intention of shaking the hand of the farmer who raised the animal you are eating.

And Greg and Kerry both believe that the feed the animal has eaten and the way that the animal was treated contributes to the quality of the meat that you will be purchasing and serving to your family .

I asked Greg McFetridge, the general manager of Meat Craft Urban Butchery what motivated him and his business partner Kerry Martini to open an artisan-oriented butcher shop.

Greg told me that he started in the meat business with Thrifty Foods many years ago when Thrifty Foods was run like a local business with a passion for local products and the local market. Of course once Sobey’s bought Thrifty Foods, as much as they say it hasn’t changed, the reality is, it did change and became a little more “corporate” and less focussed on the small-town local feel many people loved.

While Greg states very clearly that he very much enjoyed his time working as a butcher at Thrifty Foods, at some point he lost the spark to be a butcher. He worked at some other jobs until a friend told him about Windsor Meats in Vancouver.

Although working at Windsor Meats meant less income, it was there that his passion for working as a butcher was reignited.

After a chance conversation with his business partner Kerry and her husband, the idea of Meat Craft Urban Butchery was born.

Fast forward to today – Meat Craft Urban Butchery’s opening day and a busy little shop just off St John’s in Port Moody, and there I am in the butcher shop fulfilling one of my foodie dreams – ordering a turducken!

As you may or may not know turducken is a de-boned duck inside of a de-boned chicken inside of a de-boned turkey. From what I have heard, these are incredibly flavourful.

However, the typical turducken is quite expensive – in the neighbourhood of $150. Which is out of my budget.

So to meet my budget needs and my desire to try a turducken, Greg has agreed to make me a “mini” turducken – a turkey thigh with chicken and duck inside.

I will be picking up my little ball of meat-goodness tomorrow afternoon and yes, there will be a follow-up blog post to let you know how it turns out!!

Meat Craft Urban Butchery can be found at 114 Moody Street in Port Moody. It is on the north-east corner of St John’s and Moody Street. If you want to make a special request, call them at 604-461-0632.

You can also check out and “like” the Meat Craft Urban Butchery’s Facebook page.

Disclosure: Greg McFetridge and Kerry Martini provided no financial or other incentive for me to write this blog post and as always, editorial control of what I write remains with me.