About Houston's

Who We Are and How We Do It

Don Houston talks about the history of his thriving little Market

Don headshot
Don Houston

My wife and I started the business prior to retirement so we would have a post retirement income; the beginnings were very humble, selling baked goods and bacon from under an awning. We were called Houstons Home Bakery & Meats back then. Now 23 years later I have incorporated the business as Houstons Natural Meats inc. My daughter and a young friend have become share holders and give me great assistance. My wife has passed.

The business grew more into meat and seafood.  We source our meat from several Mennonite communities and local farms. Fish is an International commodity; we try for primarily Canadian and wild; but Canada does not have the habitat for all the fishes available. Our chicken is quite unique; we source it from a Mennonite community in Wellington County north of Guelph. Our chicken is air chilled as opposed to chilling in ice water baths with added chlorine. The birds are raised without using drugs and hormones in their feed. Our beef is Black Angus that we source from a Mennonite Community near Stirling; they also provide us with pork & sausage. Stemmler’s a Mennonite deli/butcher also supply us with sausage, bacon and deli meats.’

For fresh meat we operate somewhat like a market. Fresh chicken, pork, bacon, & sausage come in every Wednesday & Thursday afternoon via refrigerated transport. So we have fresh product Wednesday through Sunday and close Monday. We also keep a large inventory of frozen products.

Over the past several years we have made a big effort to become your supplier for game meats. It has been a struggle to find a good supply chain; but I can say with confidence we have the best selection of game meat: including Bison, Elk, Wild Boar, Venison, Kangaroo and game birds.

If there is a special cut of meat or deli product you need, we can order it for you on Monday and have it for you Friday. Our mission is to supply local food items that have been raised naturally without drugs and hormones and using humane practices. We have local Black Angus beef, fresh eggs, cheese and butter, free run chickens (whole or cut up), pork, sausages, and bacon from our Mennonite suppliers.

So, that’s who we are and how we do it.