Bay Meats and Cav-Tal Foods have officially amalgamated to one retail location on Norah Street in Thunder Bay's south end.
Last year, Marten Falls First Nation and Bay Meats finalized the purchase of Cav-Tal, and on April 17 there was a grand opening to celebrate the day.
“We have the retail location up front, and in the back, we have the wholesale which enables us to distribute food up north and . . . we have lots of local vendors that we work with as well,” said Alex Siciliano, CEO of Cav-Tal Foods and Bay Meats.
The two acquisitions were economic development and food security transactions for the remote Indigenous community, 430 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.
Cav-Tal Foods is a bulk food distribution that distributes to major grocery retailers. With Bay Meats, Marten Falls purchased a majority 51 per cent ownership stake in the company. Bay Meats is a provincially licensed meat processing plant and butcher store.
Last week's event was an introduction to the retail location.
Bay Meats' storefront location on Bay Street is now permanently closed.
“It closed last year, and now ... it's our production facility, so our smokehouse, That's where all of the fantastic Bay Meats products are produced,” Siciliano said.
He said it is always important to give back to the community.
“I mean, the community is who supports us and so it's great for us to in return support the community as well.”
It was fantastic seeing everything come together, Siciliano said.
“It's a lot of hard work and a long time coming, and for everybody who's involved in the Bay Meats and Marten Falls and Cav-Tal, it sort of brings us all together today. Today is sort of our launching point,” he said.
