Some businesses change hands and change with the times. Krug’s Meat Market has changed hands — but the recipes haven’t budged.
Bob Jantzi, who owns Krug’s alongside his wife Sherri, took over the shop in 2005, nearly 70 years after it first opened its doors in Tavistock in 1936. “I was looking for an opportunity to be more than just working for someone else,” Bob said. “This opportunity came along, and it was a great fit, so here we are.”
At the heart of the business is pork — particularly the shop’s farmer sausage, which Bob calls “the backbone of the whole business” and a genuinely sought-after product on its own. Beef rounds out the offering, alongside a lineup of homemade specialties that have carried the shop’s reputation for decades.
That homemade authenticity is what Bob is most proud of. Krug’s meatloaf recipe hasn’t changed in 40 or 50 years, made true to the original every time. Then there are the “turtles” — three and a half pounds of beef wrapped in cheese and bacon, as fun to look at as they are to serve. “People come here for a lot of things that they just have gotten here forever and can’t get anywhere else, that tastes just like what they love,” Bob said. “Traditional, one of a kind. You gotta come here to get it.”
Running a business built on nearly a century of tradition has taught Bob patience above all else. “I’ve learned that things take time to develop, nothing happens overnight, and planning is crucial,” he said. It’s advice he passes directly along to anyone thinking of starting their own venture: “Don’t expect miracles, and be ready to be in it for the long haul.” Writing down an actual plan, he added, is what keeps a young business on track.
That long-view thinking is shaping where Krug’s is headed next. While the Tavistock shop still welcomes plenty of walk-in customers, wholesale has become the real engine of growth. Krug’s products are currently available through several partner locations across the county: Your Farm Market (YFM) in Woodstock, the shop’s main wholesale partner; Delmar Food Outlet in St. Marys; Corner Farm Market, also in Woodstock; and a small freezer stocked at a local Shell station, which Bob appreciates for offering customers access well beyond the shop’s own limited hours. He’s actively looking to add more wholesale partners to that network going forward.
For Bob, what makes doing business in Rural Oxford worthwhile isn’t the transactions — it’s the relationships behind them. “I think it’s the connection with the people that come in,” he said. “A lot of people I know on a first-name basis, and we catch up on more than just, oh, what are you having for supper tonight.”
Krug’s keeps modest, deliberate hours — Wednesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with appointments available outside that window — a schedule that reflects a shop built for quality over volume. As Bob puts it, the goal remains simple: to be Tavistock’s number one small-town, old-fashioned butcher shop, without ever compromising on quality or food safety.
Nearly ninety years after Krug’s first opened, that combination — traditional recipes, genuine relationships, and a slow, steady approach to growth — continues to be exactly what keeps customers coming back.
Krug’s Meat Market
Bob & Sherri Jantzi
28 Woodstock Street South, Tavistock
East Zorra-Tavistock Township
Established 1936
(519) 655-2221
facebook.com/krugsmeatmarket