Wally Foremsky’s career in the meat business took a turn when he became involved with ranchers Randy Kaiser and Paul Froehler.They wanted to market a unique, ethically produced beef.Froehler started Canadian Celtic Cattle Co. at the height of the BSE crisis, selling beef derived from Galloway, Welsh Black and Highland cattle raised without growth hormones or antibiotics after weaning.Foremsky launched Second to None Meats, which now includes three locations in Calgary.Farmers like Kaiser and Froehler, who supply the meat stores, now have the time to raise their animals without worrying about marketing, making contacts and selling.“I can’t sit at a farmers’ market every Saturday. I don’t have the energy or the time,” said Froehler, who supplies 300 to 500 cattle per year to the shops.The middle cuts sell without difficulty but the store struggled to find buyers for the trim, front and hind sections.The result was a product line that includes sausages, wieners, ground products, jerky and cured meats that are branded as natural and Alberta raised.The business has a three-year contract to supply the Calgary Stampede with wieners at one of its outlets. Last summer, it sold 40,000 hot dogs and the company is gearing up to supply wieners, smokies and bratwurst this year.“These are some of the best hot dogs you have ever eaten in your life,” said Foremsky.Several restaurants also buy up to 300 pounds of bacon each week from Second to None, which prepares beef patties for restaurants and sells locally produced condiments and gluten free pastas.“The reason we have this selection is the customers ask us,” Foremsky said.Beef accounts for about 50 percent of sales in the shops, said Foremsky’s son and business partner, Taras. Chicken is the next best seller but customers can also buy bison, elk, pheasant, rabbit, pasture raised pork, lamb and wild boar.“Everything we sell, we try and keep in Alberta but our chicken comes out of Abbotsford,” he said.The British Columbia poultry producer grows natural, free-range chickens that customers have requested.Each product comes with a story from the supplier available at the store and on the company’s website.
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