Meet “Friday Frank”—he won $1000 worth of Ontario beef from VG Meats!
Earlier this summer, VG Meats hosted a fundraiser BBQ in support of Butchery Team Canada. In case you missed it: One of our longtime butchers, Dave Vander Velde, is going to Paris, France next spring to compete in the World Butchers Challenge. We’re incredibly proud of Dave and will be supporting his trip in a variety of ways, but there are a lot of costs associated with traveling to France for the competition. In order to further support Dave and get the entire VG Meats community involved, we hosted a BBQ and donated the grand prize—$1000 worth of aged prime rib and a custom cutting session with Dave himself!
A ton of customers came out to support Dave and his team—it was a fantastic day. The raffle table was packed with awesome prizes including the big ticket: that $1000 prime rib. When the winner’s name was announced, everyone cheered: it was Frank Daigneault, a longtime customer who is affectionately known as “Friday Frank” thanks to his regular appearances in our Stoney Creek location before the weekend.
Frank was thrilled to learn that he’d won, and quickly arranged to have his prize custom cut by Dave Vander Velde. We chatted with Frank so he could share his experience with other customers. Congratulations again to Frank, and many thanks to everyone who entered to win this incredible prize!
A Q&A with our winner, Frank Daigneault
How long have you been shopping at VG Meats?
As far back as I can remember! Probably since the Stoney Creek location opened, that’s how long I’ve been shopping there. I heard about them through word of mouth and I’ve never stopped going. I don’t shop for meat anywhere else!
Why do you choose to shop at VG Meats?
The quality of meat is #1 and the variety of meat is #2, and then there’s the customer service. I love going in there—they put customers first. If Laurie’s busy preparing something in the back, she pauses what she’s doing and comes out to assist me. The customer service is #1 there. That’s why I keep going back! And we love the meat—you can’t get any better. I shop at different stores for different things, everything has niches, and I always go to VG for my meat.
What are your favourite products?
Almost everything! I get the hams, the steaks, the hamburgers. There’s almost no place in this part of Ontario that you can still get ‘regular’ meat. I want regular hamburgers, not lean or extra lean. They have that at VG Meats, and I make my spaghetti sauce with their regular beef and ground pork. It’s hard to find regular beef in a grocery store! I also love the chicken and the ribs. In the summer I buy chicken burgers, in the winter I buy steaks. I do all of the cooking in my house and I do the grocery shopping, so it’s really the whole store.
How did it feel to win the $1000 prime rib?
Well, like anyone else who hasn’t won anything in their life would be, I was caught off guard! I answered the phone and they said, Frank, we pulled your ticket! And I said, GET LOST!
I ran downstairs to the wife and said you won’t believe this, we won! You know me, I don’t win anything! Oh, I was ecstatic. I play the lottery and I may win $10 here or there, but when I won the prime rib, I was in total shock.
Having the meat custom cut was quite an experience. Dave showed me the process and asked what I wanted, and I was in awe. I’ve known him from over the counter, but to see him doing the work was another thing.
When I was a kid, there was a butcher shop on almost every corner. It’s not like that now. That’s another reason I shop at VG Meats—you can see your meat cut there. I can’t get that at a grocery store. If you get a steak from VG and one from the grocery store, you can tell the difference. The taste, the quality, you can tell.
How have you been enjoying it so far?
It’s been great. Just the other day, I took out the steaks. I made one for my son when he got off work and he said, I can’t believe how good this is. And I said, you wouldn’t believe the ones we had earlier today! We have bone-in, bone out. I’m going to take some steaks up north and let the whole family test them out and see what they think. We take turns cooking and I’m bringing seven steaks—that night’s on us.
Is there anything else you want to share with us about this experience?
The quality, customer service and entire experience makes it really, really worth the time to go up to VG Meats. I bought tickets for the raffle to support Dave, but I never thought I’d win. I just wanted to contribute. Who would have thought?!
