Macelleria founder and co-owner Peter Zaidan recalls watching his father and uncle break down a cow to feed their hungry hoard of 11 children at age 6, and praying he’d get a ‘real job’ so he wouldn’t have to do the same.
This experience primed Peter for a lifelong obsession with fine produce. “I had been trained from a very tender age to become fussier than your average human when it comes to selecting fresh produce, and figured the best way to address this would be to just run my own businesses and feed myself and others.”
Peter prides himself on Macelleria’s ability to provide restaurant-quality cuts at butchery prices. With produce sourced from areas far and wide such as Gippsland, South Western Victoria, Tasmania, King Island, Flinders Island, Southern New South Wales and South Australia, diners have the chance to enjoy some of the finest beef Australia has to offer.
Peter opened Macelleria (which literally translates to ‘butcher shop’ in Italian) as a humble butcher concept in Bondi Beach. Playing on the idea of the fish and chip shop, where customers can choose their produce, have it cooked before them and can then sit and enjoy it, the original Macelleria outpost was bursting at the seams due to its small shop front and ever-increasing list of return customers.
The success of the Bondi location – which saw the original store closed and a new, bigger space opened – necessitated a second location in the heart of Newtown. The 190-seat space on Enmore Road was designed to host immersive group dining experiences, better known as our Dinners with The Butcher and The Winemaker.
A testament to Peter’s success is the large, loyal customer base of frequent diners that necessitated the expansion of Macelleria across two states, with two locations in Sydney and now three in Melbourne.
On behalf of Peter and the whole Macelleria family, we want to say thank you to all of our loyal customers. Without you we wouldn’t have the community or the story we do.
