Niagara resident John Ruggi, who owns John’s Meat Shop on in Thorold, is celebrating 55 years as a butcher.
“I love my customers,” says Ruggi, known affectionately as the "Titan of T-bones" and the "Master of Meatballs."
“They’ve been very nice to me," he says. "For them, I try my best. That’s how the business is.”
Ruggi was born in Campobasso, Italy, and moved to Canada in 1967 when he was only 16 years old.
“With a big dream I came here,” Ruggi remembers. “My first job was pruning the grapes. I didn’t like it too much. It was cold. They opened this place up here [called] Thorold Supermarket Inc. I learned the trade there.”
Thorold Supermarket was owned at the time by Joe Scarpone, who hired Ruggi as an apprentice.
Soon enough Ruggi was learning everything there is to know about being a good butcher.
“I started to like it so much,” Ruggi says. “That’s why I made it all these years working as a butcher.”
Eventually, Ruggi bought the business from Scarpone, but in 2000 he felt that he wanted to scale down.
“I realized it was a little bit too big for me,” Ruggi says. “I said: ‘Okay, I’m going to shut down,’ so I sold the property. Then I was home for one year and I said: ‘What am I going to do?’ I can’t stay home without doing nothing. Me, I like to do something. I had this property and I decided I’m going to open up a small, little place.”
That’s how John’s Meat Shop was founded, right next to where Thorold Supermarket used to be, and it’s been going strong ever since.
Ruggi credits the longevity of his success to his work ethic.
“You got to work hard,” he says. “Don’t try to stay home with someone working for you, you come late and this and that. You have to be the first to come in the door, the first one and the last one. If I sit home for half an hour it looks like I’m guilty or something. I got to work.”
John’s Meat Shop specializes in all kinds of meats, as well as homemade products.
“I create them myself with my own recipes, like chicken cutlets, shish kebabs, gluten-free meatballs, cheeseballs,” says Ruggi. “It makes me happy to do it.”
Throughout the years, Ruggi has amassed a loyal costumer base.
“People keep coming,” Ruggi says. “I don’t advertise, they advertise for me. Word-of-mouth is the best.”
Ruggi, who is 72 years old, says he hopes the business will keep going for another 55 years.
“I don’t know if I’m going to be around,” he says. “I wish, but I don’t think so. Right now I have my son and my daughter-in-law, I try to train them. If I still can come to work, I come to work. If something happens to me then I can’t, that’s different. Otherwise I come here.”
