“We… put as many local businesses as we possibly could into one artisan box, and have people try all of these different companies.”
Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today the StarPhoenix talks to Meghan Hawkins, who together with Cristie Zyla opened a second location for the Prairie Grazer at Gather Local Market in downtown Saskatoon in May.
Meghan, who has been teaching in the city for 19 years, and Cristie, who is also a labour relations officer, originally opened the Prairie Grazer in a shared kitchen four years ago. They quickly outgrew that space and moved to their own storefront on Millar Avenue near Marquis Drive in the north end of the city almost three years ago.
When Gather Local Market opened downtown in May, Meghan and Cristie saw it as a golden opportunity to open a second location and offer customers their products in a unique ‘build your own charcuterie’ kind of way.
The Prairie Grazer won the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce ABEX (Achievement of Business Excellence) New Venture Award for 2024 on Sept. 21, and is nominated for the SABEX (Saskatoon Achievement in Business Excellence) 2024 awards for both Business of the Year and Small Business Growth.
Q: Why did the Prairie Grazer open originally?
A: I was in Tofino, B.C. with my husband on a family vacation. While I was there, I stumbled across a great little charcuterie shop that allowed customers to pick up grab and go charcuterie boxes to take to the beach. We were told quite a few times to actually head into that place, but it was always lined up to get a box. I never got to go in because the line was so long.
But my wheels were kind of turning about having something like this in Saskatoon. My thought was, what if we can put as many local businesses as we possibly could into one artisan box, and have people try all of these different companies and then hopefully purchase their products on their own?
Q: Why did you open this second location now, downtown at Gather Local Market?
A: We thought about this four years ago, but just didn’t really have a space to do it out of. We really wanted to have a space where people could come up and absolutely customize their box right there in front of them.
The Gather space downtown is really a build your own charcuterie space. At Gather, we have a small space. We don’t need the huge space that we have in the north end. Our offerings are quite limited and structured downtown versus we offer so much more in the north end.
At Gather Local Market, there essentially are several vendors inside that are permanent vendors. And then there are market kind of pop-ups, more like farmer’s market style, on Saturdays and oftentimes on Thursday nights. And then there’s other community events in there. That space is a beautiful space. And it’s a hub for the city with many businesses .
Q: What is the difference between your north end location and this new downtown location?
A: In the north end, we are a full commercial kitchen space. At the north end we mainly produce boxes that are ordered online. Those boxes are anywhere from one person boxes all the way up to full grazing tables. We’ve done grazing tables for 250 plus people. That north end is just a huge commercial space with a marketplace in there as well, where we showcase all Saskatchewan and Canadian products that are food focused.
The space downtown, though, is completely different in that it is a build your own charcuterie space. The nice thing about that is if people have any dietary restrictions or preferences we can meet those right there as we are building their box.
Q: What products do you sell in your downtown space?
A: We have two sizes downtown. One is for one person and the other is for two to four people. The really amazing thing about the downtown space it’s just that it’s totally customizable. If you forget to pre-order in the north end you can absolutely pop downtown to Gather Local Market to grab your box right there that’s made with all of your favorite items.
One of our customers’ most favorite items is a goat cheese ball that we’ve had since our inception. Most people just go down there and get double goat cheese balls because they’re so good, which isn’t necessarily an option in the north end because our boxes are pretty standardized; although we do lots of custom things, it’s slightly different. The Gather Space is really a unique location where you can pick exactly what they want from our staff, who are just amazing.
And the nice thing is that we rotate the cheeses out and we rotate our meat selections out, so people get to try all sorts of different things. But we keep the most popular ones in there as well, so people can have their favourites whenever they want.
Q: Do your products come from Saskatchewan?
The real basis for actual charcuterie when you’re building a board is to try to source as many products from the environment around you. So that’s why charcuterie in Saskatoon would look quite different than charcuterie in France and other places. And it’s because we have this amazing population of Bison producers here, which probably don’t exist in spaces in France.
Q: What are your grazing tables?
A: Those grazing tables are so cool. We can accommodate anywhere from 10 to 250 people. We come in and set them up an hour prior to your event. People just love them because they’re a work of art. And they’re quite customizable as well.
We do work with dietary restrictions and all sorts of things. It really does become a piece of art at an event or at a baby shower or wedding. We’ve done them for everything — agriculture events in a barn, we’ve done them for housewarmings, birthday parties, anything.
Q: Was it a challenge to get your business going originally?
A: It was a little bit of a challenge trying to get SHA (Saskatchewan Health Authority) approval for something that didn’t exist in Saskatchewan. No one was doing anything like this. So I think our SHA health inspector, the first time around, was wondering what the heck we girls wanted to do.
Once we explained everything to him, he said this was such a cool idea and I can’t wait to see how this goes. And it really took off. It’s been busy ever since, which we are very grateful for.
Q: Do you offer workshops and events?
A: In our north end location we put on events and workshops on a pretty regular basis. We’re going to be bringing pumpkins in and have a pumpkin and succulent class. We always offer charcuterie at those events.
We usually do an event around the end of October too, with a Halloween theme. It’s great to be out front of people and teaching them something that we’re really passionate about. We’ll have more events in November and December.
Q: What sets Prairie Grazer apart?
A: I think the big thing is that we have always been a licensed business with really high standards for what our products actually look like. Our team sets us apart. Cristie and I are grateful every day for the team that we’ve built. Some of those team members have been with us since the very beginning. People come to love those people that are there to look after them.
It’s also just a commitment to community. We really are committed and it is a foundation of our business to help other businesses in Saskatoon to shine. We take that really seriously because we want our product to shine within our organization. That’s so important for us to give back.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
The Prairie Grazer
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