It’s the love of a snag and the long time customers which has kept Sunshine North butcher David Bonnici in the same spot for 30 years.
“Some people go to their hairdresser, some go to their butcher to tell them their problems,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve heard quite a few stories, mate.”
It will be 30 years ago this Saturday since David first took over the Furlong Road butchery, Class Cut Meats (CCM).
“I’ve been a butcher all my life, since I was 14 when I started my apprenticeship,” he says.
“I just love it. A lot of the Maltese clientele had never shopped here, but when word got around about me, the work doubled.”
So what’s the best part about working with meat?
“People, customer satisfaction,” the 58-year- old says. “Just the trade in general … making sausages.”
His Maltese father was also a butcher, so David’s traditional Maltese pork sausage have many local fans.
“We make up to 150 kilograms a week; that’s a lot of sausages,” he says. “It’s our best seller.”
David, who lives in Keilor Downs, says he’s seen a lot of change in Sunshine North but a few regular customers still trickle into the shop from the early days of CCM.
“I’ve seen the [Western] Ring Road come in, the [Furlong Road] railway crossing disappear. Some of my customers used to come in with their parents when they were children. They’d say, ‘I remember you when I used to come in here with my mum’s pusher’.”
