For the past 21 years, Strodes BBQ and Deli, led by owner Brian Witteveen, has become a business synonymous with offering quality meat and deli products, strong customer service, and an unparalleled dedication to the community.
Witteveen, explained his family’s roots in the meat business, his early career and settling in Brantford.
“We grew up in an abattoir in Woodham, Ontario. My dad worked at a slaughterhouse, and we had a butcher shop where my mom helped on the floor. We had a good family growing up, but with my parents splitting up, I didn’t get a chance to work as a butcher…so, I went to work for Campbell Soup in St. Mary’s, Ontario where I worked my way up from the back of the floor up to the sales manager role. I then got involved in processing meat and poultry and ended up working in the turkey industry, with Cuddy Farms in London, Ontario. That led me to come to Brantford, as a friend of mine was in the poultry industry,” he said. “From there, I found myself getting into butchering through my cousin, who had a shop here and worked for him for about ten years…helping him grow it into a very successful business. But I soon realized I wanted to go out on my own. I wanted to cater and cook, and I really wanted to learn how to barbecue. I got quite successful when I met up with a bunch of guys that were barbecuing, and we went around North America, doing events while I got a chance to learn…it was a lot of fun.”
However, Witteveen would buy Strodes, spending the next two decades growing it.
“Strodes was an existing business that was founded by Howard Strode, who was a butcher, in 1937. He would eventually sell it and that’s the person I bought the business from. At that point, it was just a small take-out deli and butcher shop with about 1,800 square feet. Since then, we have expanded…to almost 10,000 square feet. We’ve got a takeout deli that serves a lot of customers every day. We have a full 60 feet of butcher counter. And we’ve also added the barbecue section, which has proven to be very popular,” explained Witteveen. “And we sell what we use, like charcoal and wood pellets. We also have pizza ovens and sauces. We carry spices that are made by people that I’ve met during my journeys…[award-winning] products that you can’t get in grocery stores because they’re not commercial. We have a fleet of catering trucks on the road and continue to do a lot of corporate events, and we have done weddings too…[and] many special events all over Ontario.”
Along with building a reputation for offering customers an array of delicious sandwiches, soups, and salads, as well as quality fresh meats and deli products, Witteveen has become known for his unwavering commitment to nurturing the Brantford community.
“We’ve recently catered the Special Olympic Games that came to town. We got to feed all the athletes, which was just a joy, because these are people that are busting their humps, going out there to be able to compete. And for us to be here and serve them a good meal is an incredible feeling and we’ve had so much fun doing it…you know it’s not fancy dining [but] we serve solid, homemade food that people appreciate and love…so, feeding those athletes was a joy for me and it was important us to be part of that,” he reflected. “We have also helped local organizations like the Lions Club and Navy Club, and the Rotary, who themselves help others…we wholesale some of our meat products, which helps them make money to survive in this tough economy. It is important to support our community and to work together, whether it is with the police, government, or other businesses, or just Mom and Pop shops who care. But we have been lucky over the course of the years to meet so many people and to get to know them on a personal level…each one of them has a story, and has a passion for what they are trying to do…and if we can help them raise money by giving them a gift certification for example, we are always there to help.”
Other ways that Witteveen has supported the community are through sponsorships and events, including Chili Willy Cook-Off, which was a popular event for many years at Harmony Square.
“That was a special spot in my heart that we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we had to stop that because we just can’t seem to get enough participation after Covid with the restaurants…[but] I’m hoping down the road, with the Brantford Parks and Recreation, we’ll have another event that we can run for another 10 to 15 years…we had so much fun doing that for many years,” he said. “The money raised went towards the screens and movie rentals for the Movies in the Square event which went on every Thursday night throughout the summer. It was so amazing to see families and their kids sitting and watching these movies outdoors like the old drive in theaters without a car. How fun is that?”
As many people in the community know, Witteveen is a passionate motorsport fan, and has supported drivers and teams through sponsorship.
“I’ve always loved car racing and motorsports…but it’s something that I never really had time for…that changed when a man by the name of Harold Brown came to me when I was first opening up…and he asked me if I wanted to work together on a project. Harold was a local businessman that had a passion for racing. He had a son and two grandsons that raced…and we would go on to work together [and] it was nice to get to know Harold and his family….I still work with the family to this day, but have branched out a little bit more with Strode’s…because we’ve been involved with a speedway…and where we have made so many friends which has led to sponsorships,” he said. “I believe we now have 11 cars running in Canada right now in that series, and we have two other cars running stateside in a bigger series, which is The World of Outlaws. We have also gotten involved in drag racing with the Chatterson family, [as well as] with the Paton family from Brantford, who are in drag racing too. We’re having some success with those teams…and just to be able to see my passion go along with somebody else’s passion makes it a great fit for the community.”
The veteran entrepreneur also makes time to support other small businesses, especially young entrepreneurs.
“There have been young entrepreneurs that have come in to see me and they have good products [and] we need these people to grow our community…in my experience, you could have the most phenomenal product, but it may not go anywhere unless you get some guidance. We do a little bit of work with the BRC (Brantford-Brant Business Resource Centre) here in the city [and] I’m on the committee. We get to hear people tell us about their products, their situations, their ideas, and we ask the questions that they’ve never heard from anybody other than…a business owner like myself that has been through it. It’s really cool to be able to just help these young people get a different view on starting their businesses and getting them on the right path,” he said.
Nevertheless, for all his work, Witteveen is acknowledged for his efforts both as a successful entrepreneur and as a community leader and recently was a finalist for the 2025 Enterprise Brant Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Brantford-Brant Chamber of Commerce.
“I don’t do it for recognition…but it’s nice to be recognized…it’s the third time now I have been nominated for this honour by the Chamber of Commerce and it’s wonderful…the group there do incredible work with events like this…but, at the end of the day, many of these entrepreneurs like myself are just trying to run their small to medium-sized businesses as best they can, while helping out the local community any way they can,” he said.
However, Strodes looks to continue its long tradition of servicing multiple generations of customers while building a stronger community.
“It’s nice to be able to see customers come back the second and the third time [and] I always mention to people that we want to see their kids grow up and having kids of their own…and we have been lucky enough to feed several generations here at Strodes because we have been in business for so long,” he said. “Eventually I’m going to retire but I think that we’ve got some good staff members to be able to continue to keep going… [while we have to make sure] to be versatile, adapt as the city grows [and] look after everybody’s different needs by listening to them…like seeing what customers want us to carry. At the end of the day, it’s not just about Strodes or me, it’s about helping people while working together to make our community better.”
