Hennies Butchery: In light of the post shared to this group a few days ago, and the response from members of the group, I decided it was only fair to approach the owners of the butchery for a response to the accusations made here and elsewhere. I visited the butchery on two occasions today, and spoke to various members of staff, as well as the new manager, Kevin Munsamy, over a period of about an hour and a half. I was taken on a tour of their cold storage fridges, and was also given the opportunity to inspect their cold storage vehicle. It is very clear to me that nothing has changed at Hennies Butchery, other than the ownership. Quality standards are as high as they have always been, and the new owners have concrete plans to modernise and improve the butchery. Even the Afrikaans music was still playing... The photo posted here and elsewhere was of a hunting kill brought in by a customer for processing into dry wors, biltong, mince and boerewors. This is a service that Hennies has offered the hunting community from our area for many, many years. I reviewed their order book, and each carcass that was being processed is traceable back to the hunter that had brought the carcass in for processing. This meat is not available to purchase, and is kept separately. All the meat hanging in their cold storage is stamped and graded, and certificates are available for the carcasses. Another delivery of meat was due today, and I was going to post photos of this taking place, but I decided that being timely was more important than posting the perfect response. Enough damage has been done already. The owner is not a Mr. Singh. The fact that the OP chose to call the Indian owner by this (incorrect) name says a lot about him. The new owner is Mr. Sundren Govender, and he has made a significant investment in purchasing the butchery, as well as in the revamp they are planning for the facility. Both new members of staff that I spoke to were affable and open - certainly none of the irritation spoken of in the original post. Perhaps this is because I addressed them with respect. To those that have said that the manager should have sorted it out there and then: suffice to say that unfortunately this was not an option available to him at the time. I will say no more. All the ladies from Hennies are still working there, and they are happy, as always. Not one that I spoke to was unhappy with the new ownership or had the expressed the slightest support for what was said in the earlier post - quite the contrary. Ive known them for as long as Ive lived in Umbilo, and Ive no doubt that I now have a full understanding of what that post really was about. I was delighted to hear that they are supporting the Carrots and Peas feeding scheme at Kenneth Gardens (this information was not volunteered for the sake of scoring points, but came up as a result of me asking detailed questions about the various items in their cold storage). When I spoke to the manager, Mr. Munsamy, he was of the opinion that this attack on their business cannot be won by them online, and they dont intend fighting it online. I tend to agree. He extended an invitation to anyone that has any doubts about their operation, or still has doubts about the allegations originally posted, to visit the butchery to discuss it with them. He is quite happy to show anyone that is interested just how serious they are about the butchery, and that they have no intention whatsoever to jeopardise the business by sourcing product from questionable sources. All their meat suppliers are accredited and reputable. The onus is on us as members of this community to respond by posting our support to this institution in our area - particularly where we have shared the original defamatory post to our news feeds. More importantly, we need to support this business. During my two visits today, both quite lengthy, it was clear that the defamatory post has hurt their business. We are honour bound to fix this. For my part, I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the members of this group, as well as the staff and owners of Hennies Butchery for not taking down the vexatious and scurrilous defamatory post sooner. I regret leaving it to fester. Please do your part to make this right with you and your network of friends and contacts. Spread the word and support this business. They cannot grow their business, or continue to support the community without OUR support. Go and visit them as soon as you can. Chat with the staff and the manager. Buy a packet of biltong or a few sticks of droewors. Try them out and give them a chance to prove themselves to you, despite them not having done anything to lose our trust. PS: I had a bag of wet biltong (with just a little fat) and I can report that it is as tasty as ever. This is a report on Hennies Butchery ...
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 06:35:44 +0000
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