MAIN BREAD & BUTTER COMPANY
LOCAL MARKET VALUE Steinbach shop feeds community connections BY WENDY KING S taying viable in any business means moving with the times — the good times and the bad. And it’s easier to weather the storms when you have a strong connection to the community. Steinbach’s Main Bread & Butter Company embodies the ideal, as a home-grown market that supports local producers. Owner Chris Goertzen, a former mayor of Steinbach, started the business in 1997 with his older brother, Robert, who has since moved on to other pursuits. “Main Bread & Butter was an idea my brother and I had when we were food distributors in the area and we were coming across lots of good, locally produced foods,” Goertzen says. At the same time, a lot of smaller, locally owned grocery stores were being bought out by big national operations that didn’t provide space on their shelves for local goods. “We thought there was value in local products and we could make a place where people could find them, and that’s why we created Main Bread & Butter.” It’s coming up on 25 years since opening day, and the store now operates with the help of about 20 employees. “We’ve had tremendous success with our business,” Goertzen says. “We doubled our size about four years ago and we’ve seen continued growth because of that expansion.” The comestibles sold there provide the flavours that people associate with cherished traditions and meaningful times spent with family and friends. But the shop also delivers the next-generation local foods that are on their way to becoming new staples. “Food is about a connection to our past and the connection to the people we have in front of us right now,” says Goertzen. The store carries a variety of fresh breads, cheeses, and deli meats, and Manitoba labels like Smak Dab, Bothwell, Old Country Sausage, Rede- Made Noodles, Vita Eggs, Tenderloin Meat & Sausage, Spenst Brothers, La Cocina, Notre Dame Creamery, Redpoll Farms and more. Staff also serve up sandwiches and hearty meals-to-go in the small café. All told, the store works with about 30 suppliers. While having an online presence has helped many producers to some degree,
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