Halenda’s A Rich and Meaty History

BUSINESS MEMBER PROFILE

Halenda’s

A Rich and Meaty History

By Stacey Newman

Halenda’s Meats is an award-winning, pioneering meat processor with locations across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Founded by Michael and Doreen Halenda as M&D’s Meats, the couple and their five children would sell small batches of smoked meat at the Oshawa Flea Market in 1977.

Today the business is steered by their son, Richard, and the family name is known across Ontario for their award-winning Kobassa, Halenda’s fundraising Pepperoni sticks and other award-winning charcuterie and dry-cured products.

Richard Halenda says his career in the business began around 1977. His father was of Ukrainian heritage, having immigrated to Canada in 1951, as a trained shoemaker (shoe repair would not turn out to be a lucrative business in Canada). Instead as a people person with a propensity for foods, he took a sales position for a small, high-quality sausage maker. “Dad worked with them through to 1977,” says Halenda.

“Dad saw a business opportunity in Oshawa. He figured that with so many people of Ukrainian and Polish descent, (he was fluent in both of these languages) in this region and armed with the family Kobassa recipe, he was going to open up a stand in the Oshawa Farmers market, and he’d like me to help him,” explains Halenda. That was how it all began. In 1979, the family rented a store in Oshawa in a building they would later own. They immediately built a sausage-making kitchen. They then went on to open multiple brick-and-mortar stores while continuing to process the smoked meat products they would become famous for.

They took their sausages to St. Jacob’s, which is one of the busiest food markets in the province. Says Halenda: “Most of the vendors were from the Kitchener, Waterloo area. The sausage makers while having slightly different styles from us were also proud artisan producers.” Halenda says the family was well accepted there, which left them feeling ambitious.

The food processing industry in the Durham region was unlike the western GTA. Probably, guesses Halenda, due to the automotive influence—it was GM’s heyday in Oshawa. The Halenda family business was popular and expansive— from storefronts to sausage kitchens, to the opening of larger processing facilities, the family successfully operated across the Durham region.

In 2011 Halenda’s had expanded westward with the opening of a storefront in Mississauga, and into fermented meats like salamis following the purchase of an existing meat maker providentially named “Richard & Sons.”

When the family opened its first store, there were six of them serving; exactly what his father envisioned. At that time, their marketing strategy was little more than word-of-mouth, with growth propelled by the increasing demands of regular customers. “I don’t think we advertised in the local paper [until] the nineties,” laughs Halenda.

Today Halenda’s has seven locations, as well as two Halenda/ Meat Depot plants, one in Oshawa and the newest in Etobicoke. A number of Halenda’s Meats products are also sold as a part of a local program at select Metro, Foodland, Sobeys and Fortinos locations. Through the

Meat Depot, Halenda products are also available at over 100 independent grocers and delicatessens throughout Ontario.

The new ‘Brydon’ plant Halenda’s new 40,000 sq. ft. plant on Brydon Drive in Etobicoke was fully realized just as the pandemic hit. Halenda and team took this in stride, taking time to get all of their ducks in a row. The state-of-the-art plant is set to supply customers with highest quality meats while featuring advanced processing and storage technologies.

Halenda says he was incredibly lucky to work closely with the designers of the new plant. He was particularly concerned about refrigeration. Smaller operations typically employ Freon gas to control refrigeration. “Everywhere that you’re packaging food or preparing it, you want to hold a temperature of about four degrees Celsius,” says Halenda. Which is also a comfortable enough temperature for people to work at.

A technology consultant suggested that Halenda consider glycol for processing chillers. These are industrial refrigeration systems that use a type of antifreeze called glycol, mixed with water, to lower the freezing point in the application of the chilling system. This is just one of the innovations that Halenda is excited about. It affords a level of unprecedented control and efficiency. Halenda’s has been an MPO member since 2006, Richard was a proud border member—a position his daughter has also held. The company has been serving high-quality meat products for more than 40 years.

Halenda remains proud of his family’s rich history and contributions to the industry and the community. He maintains an admirable curiosity and the will to discover and employ innovative practices and technologies.

915 Nelson Street Oshawa, L1H 5N7 (905) 576-6328 ext 225 @HalendasMeats @HalendasMeats @halendasmeats https://www.linkedin.com/company/14019818/admin/