December will bring a Christmas that’s been 40-plus years in the making for the McDougall family.
That’s because family patriarch and long-time butcher Bernie McDougall has hung up his knives for good, calling it a day on a career that’s carved across large swaths of Vancouver’s West Side and into Richmond as well.
Saturday, Aug. 6, was McDougall’s last day at the MacKenzie Heights location of Windsor Meats, though the 68-year-old doesn’t have any firm plans for his newfound freedom, save for a few: more time with family, which includes his wife, four kids and four grandchildren, a chance to watch more English soccer and knock back the odd pint or two.
“That’s the beauty of retiring — I don’t really have a plan at this point,” he told the Courier a day ahead of his retirement. “When you work in this business, you work every Saturday. You never really have Christmas or Thanksgiving because you’re always so tired when it comes around.”
Originally from London, England, McDougall began working at a supermarket at the age of 12 and was invested in butchery shortly thereafter. He moved to Vancouver in 1971 at the age of 23, and the sight of the North Shore mountains, quickly melted away any of the second-guessing associated with a life-changing, trans-Atlantic trip.
“When we flew in, it was a clear, bright sunny day in January,” he recalled.
“You could see snow-capped mountains all around and all this open space. The pilot said, ‘Welcome to Vancouver, the playground of the West.’ I’ve never forgotten that. I fell in love with the place right away and I never got homesick.”
What followed next was a veritable jigsaw puzzle of locations, locations, locations. McDougall got his start at the Windsor Meats location on Main and King Edward in the early 70s, before slicing his way across the West Side: Broadway and Balaclava, 49th and Maple, 16th and Trafalgar, 49th and West Boulevard. The last stop on the Bernie world tour ended at 33rd and MacKenzie, where he worked for about a year leading up to Saturday.
McDougall’s customers have remained fiercely devout through it all, following him to every location. His legacy is such that he often knows the grandmother, the granddaughter and everyone in the generations in between.
“To jump into his shoes and pick up where he left off, for that customer base it’s like jumping into bed with another butcher,” said Patrick Callan, head butcher at Windsor Meats. “You need to re-start a relationship. You’ve got to have a skillset, that’s number one for sure, but most butchers don’t serve customers. They just cut meat and they go home. Bernie’s not like that and we’re not like that.”
Those are the types of lessons Levi Getz is eager to soak up. At 26, and just six weeks into working at Windsor Meats, McDougall’s savoir faire has left just as big of an impression as his ability to perfectly slice and dice.
“Watching him cut, you see this amazing technique that’s developed over the years, but he clearly also has a great mind — how to deal with customers, but also his coworkers,” Getz said. “He’s very diplomatic. You can’t teach that kind of stuff.”
As his conversation with the Courier wound down, it became clear McDougall is a proper English chap who likes what he likes, and doesn’t feel the need to change: he has no favourite meat (he “loves them all”) and has no go-to specialty meal reserved for special occasions. Instead, roast beef, mashed potatoes and Yorkshire pudding are always on standby.
As for sauces or marinades?
Don’t even think about it.
“When people come in to buy a good steak and they ask me for a good barbecue sauce to put on it, I’ll take the steak back and ask, ‘Why? What are you doing?’” he said.
“But I’ve been very fortunate. You spend a lot of time at work and if you don’t enjoy your work, you’re not a very happy person. This is not the end for me, it’s the beginning. And I’ve still got all my fingers.”
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@JohnKurucz
