In a testament to community solidarity and resilience, a small family-owned business in Meadows is rising from the ashes.
This week, Meadows Country Meats enjoyed a grand reopening, 9 months after a devastating fire wiped out their local business. It happened in November last year. Owner Angus (Gus) Robertson was at Handpicked Festival when he got a phone call.
“It was a bad storm. Really bad. The festival had just been called off and I got a phone call from one of my mates. He told me the shop was on fire. I just didn’t believe him. And then he switched to a video call. And it was real.”
Meadows County Meats was fully alight. Six trucks and approximately 20 firefighters were needed. The roof had flooded, and a barrage of water had run down the wall and hit the power.
Whilst no-one was hurt, the South Australian Country Fire Service estimated damages at around $200,000. It was devastating to the small, family owned business. Particularly as they had been preparing for a busy December and Christmas period.
“We’d started stocking up and taking pretty big orders, so it wasn’t good timing at all.”
But as we Australians do, the community rallied around. Meadow’s resident Michael Mahar created a mycause fundraising page with raised over $13,000.
“The community was amazing. Everyone got behind us, and I was so thankful. The support was overwhelming. It’s a big reason as to how we’re back now.”
And so began a journey of restarting and rebuilding.
“I’m really lucky that I have a lot of mates in various fields. It was a case of working from the shell and building it back up. The last few months particularly we’ve bene smashing it out, so we’re really excited to be open again.”
So what can you expect? Gus says that he makes everything in house.
“You can expect good quality service, good quality meat, and a good quality dinner when you cook it up. We use locally grown, locally sourced meats and we make all of our products in store.”
You can find Meadows Country Meats at 65a Mawson Rd, Meadows. For more information, click here.
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