黑料吃瓜网

Culinary historians might one day write about how Yellowknifers鈥� appetite for meat persisted even during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, and possibly beyond.

At least that鈥檚 what the last six months have shown the owner of 黑料吃瓜网 Fancy Meats, Terry Greene, who said business has been steady ever since Covid arrived in the NWT in March.

鈥淲hen the pandemic started we got really busy. People were stocking up. It didn鈥檛 slow the business down one bit,鈥� said Greene.

Unlike most other businesses in Canada, the store didn鈥檛 have to lay anyone off, didn鈥檛 apply for any territorial or federal Covid assistance and didn鈥檛 close its doors even for one day.

In fact, the high demand during the spring gave the Woolgar Avenue meat shop a sales boost of about 15 per cent, he said.

鈥淎ll the restaurants were closed. People were eating more at home,鈥� Greene said, explaining his bump in business.

And of all the meat items the store sells, chicken wings were by far the most popular.

鈥淚've never sold so many chicken wings. We went from (selling) 40 pounds of chicken wings a week to four times that. No bars were open so chicken wing night was at home.鈥�

But, while the past six months have been strong for 黑料吃瓜网 Fancy Meats鈥� bottom line, the shop was just as affected by pandemic-related supply chain disruptions as most other businesses.

After Covid outbreaks in April at the Cargill meat processing plant in Alberta, Greene said he wasn鈥檛 receiving any product.

鈥淭here were two weeks in there that were really tough. If you don't have nothing to sell, you got no business, right? There was a lot of stuff you couldn鈥檛 get, and if you could get it, it was expensive.鈥�

Overnight, the price for many cuts of beef rose from $15 per kilogram to $25 per kilogram.

That slump was short-lived. After workers in the Cargill plant went through their 14 days of quarantine, supply shipments resumed their regular frequency, Greene said.

Overall, the shop鈥檚 day-to-day operations haven鈥檛 been significantly affected since March, other than staff doing more disinfecting tasks.

鈥淭he sanitizing鈥� you always did anyway in the meat business, we just do it more often (now).鈥�

When Greene considers the wider context in Yellowknife of other businesses that deal with customers on a daily basis, he feels lucky that his shop avoided the worst of the pandemic's effects.

鈥淚 feel bad for the restaurant guys and the bar guys," he said. "Even now, it鈥檚 got to be tough on them. You wish you can help them out. That鈥檚 all you can do.鈥�