Fernando Carrijo, manager at the Denman Street Tango’s Meats.

TANGO’s MEATS
Your Neighbourhood Butcher Shop For Grass-Fed Beef

Tango’s Meats has been a popular butcher shop on Denman for almost 20 years. In 2016 it was purchased by the Manning family as their ranch-direct location in Vancouver for 100 percent grass-fed and grass-finished beef, raised on their ranch in the Cypress Hills of Alberta.

Today, with an in-house butcher and many in-house-made products, Tango’s has become the West End’s go-to location for healthy meats and deli, dairy and bakery products.

When Nathan Manning and his family, including his parents Sandra and Preston, got into the meat business it was because, like many Canadians of his generation, he believed in the importance of environmental sustainability, and also valued the social benefits of agriculture, such as egalitarianism and the contribution of rural and small-town perspectives to society.

Nathan divides his time between Tango’s Vancouver and Calgary outlets and the family’s main ranch near Senlac, Saskatchewan. For the past 18 months the Vancouver store has been in the capable hands of manager Fernando Carrijo, a native of Brazil who started at Tango’s, working at the counter, only a few months before being promoted to the top job.

The cows and yearlings winter at the Senlac farm, and during the growing season the yearlings stay there to be grass-finished and the cows go to a community pasture. The Manning’s don’t use growth hormones and any animals they give antibiotics to, as other sick animals, they remove from their meat program.

“We believe in organic certification” Nathan explains, “because in our opinion it’s the best certification out there; also many people in Canada worked for many years to develop the Canadian Organic Standards, and knowing this gives us further confidence in this system.

“But sadly we do not have a supplier of certified organic hay—cows tend to eat a lot!—so in 2019 we had to give up our certification. Long-term we hope to secure a supplier and regain it.”

Hopefully this info can give our customers confidence. And if you have any questions about the land or cattle feel free to give me a ring at (604) 314-4369 or email nathan@tangosmeats.com. “

Adds Sandra, “It is a pleasure to be a small business owner, as well as a ranching family, and bring you ranch-direct 100 percent grass-fed and grass-finished Galloway beef.”