Cows and kangaroos: the story of Bearbrook Game Meats
Being an exotic meat farm in Ottawa has its rewards and challenges.
Nestled on Dunning Rd. Bearbrook Game Meats is one part farm and one part butcher shop. However, it is not your average farm or butcher shop. They specialize in exotic cuts of meat, some of which even the most travelled people may be shocked to taste.
Heidi Clement owns Bearbrook. Clement took on the business after her father, Walter Henn, passed away in 2016. Now she works to uphold her father’s legacy after taking over the business.
The legacy is a business that sells exotic meats to people all over the Ottawa area. Cow steaks to kangaroo jerky.
Bearbrook originally began as a hog farm. Henn purchased a dairy farm and converted it into a hog finishing operation where he would raise hogs, butcher them, and sell them at his own shop on the farm. At one point, Henn had over 1,000 hogs.
“Then my dad decided he wanted to get into other meats,” said Clement. One of our neighbors, John Boss on Rockdale, had bison. So, my dad found that intriguing, and he got deer. He also brought in some bison. Then he brought in beef cattle. Then he expanded to ostriches, emus, and wild boar. And we had goats, and we had sheep, we had rabbits, donkeys, miniature horses, and we had miniature cattle, zebras too.”
After her father passed away, Clement had to leave her job as a marketing representative at Cosco to take over the business, but it wasn’t an easy transition for her.
“It was a very stressful time for me because I wasn’t working in the family business at that time. So I didn’t know a lot of what there was to learn about running a business. So then I had to quit my job and take over the company,” she said.
After Clement took over the operation, she relocated Bearbrook to the current location on Dunning Rd., and she decided to downsize. That meant fewer animals. Bearbrook now does only buffalo, elk, chickens, turkeys, and deer.
However, the ethos of Bearbrook has not changed. Clement is still proud of the variety of meats the store sells and how they sell it.
Located on the farm, the shop is a cozy building from the outside. On the inside, it is lined with freezers, each containing a different product. Exotic meats like alligator and kangaroo are available, and domestic animals as well, such as buffalo that are raised on the farm.
Jacquie Gagnon, a cashier at Bearbrook, explained that variety is a crucial reason why people visit Bearbrook.
“We have so much, the stuff like bison and alligator get people to come back because they might want to try more exotic stuff like that,” she said.
Bearbrook is a tourist location, drawing people in with its open road policy, allowing guests to drive around and see buffalo and elk.
Clement thinks it’s important that people can visit the farm.
“Our farm is open to the public. So, we feel it’s important for city people to be able to come to the farm and see what it is we do and not just take our word for it. They can physically come with their kids, and they can just get a little bit of country and see what stuff is,” she said.
Bearbrook Game Meats continues to operate and serve its community. Clement hopes that the business will be around for as long as possible. She hopes that it will go to her kids one day.
“We love our environment and our animals. I hope it’s around for a while,” said Clement.