Just south of Eglinton on Yonge, The Butcher’s Son is a neighbourhood shop where the focus is on local, traditionally raised products. Designed in the style of an old-world butcher shop, a large counter displays carefully labelled cuts of meat and tempting side dishes. The shop’s walls are lined with colourful glass jars of homemade sauces and marinades. People come in and out, customers stop by to chat with staff, and everyone seems to know each other.
This is just what The Butcher’s Son’s owners Matthew Kumprey and Vito Rizzuto envisioned in 2010 when their plans to open a neighbourhood butcher shop first began to take shape. Matthew was working in the wholesale division of a big-box butchery at the time. “On delivery one day, the chef and I started talking with the owner of Five Doors North and dabbled in the idea of having a butcher shop in the same neighbourhood as his restaurant,” Matthew explains. “I kind of got excited about it and he thought it would work. The next thing we knew, we put things in motion.”
In November of 2011, a year and a half after that conversation took place, The Butcher’s Son opened its doors. “I feel like I’ve painted the picture I’ve imagined,” Matthew says. “I wanted it to be a very boutique style, a lot of farm-to-table, to get to know people. I wanted it to be the neighbourhood shop that it’s become.”
