(Natalija and Ivan Saric of Ivan’s Meat and Deli took a few moments on Wednesday to share the experience they incurred with the loss of power after the July 1, 2026 storm in Stittsville. Photos: Stittsville Central)
We stopped in to Ivan’s Meat and Deli on Wednesday to offer our support. It was a July 1st post Ivan had shared on ‘X’ that alarmed us. The storm had taken down his power at the store and he would have to close.
As we all know, small, independent food businesses operate on thin margins and rely heavily on summer weather when customers enjoy the BBQ season. For Ivan Saric, owner of Ivan’s Meat and Deli, this is no exception.
When the extreme weather touched down in Stittsville on July 1st, Ivan was enjoying a rare day off at home when the monitoring system at the store was indicating that something was wrong – the meat cooler and refrigerator temperatures were falling.
Ivan took a few minutes from working through the store’s issues of having no power for such a length of time to tell us, “It’s been an extremely stressful situation. I called hydro who were to meet me at the shop the next morning. They never showed up.” “I use a three-phase, heavy duty electricity meter in order to run my meat grinders, meat saws and to cool the walk-in fridges. Hydro never showed for I got in touch with Power Tech when I realized I would need a generator and they brought an industrial one right away that will cost thousands for the rental. It uses diesel at a cost of $1,200 each day! It wasn’t until Saturday night that the hydro returned.”
He added, “I have insurance, but I’ll have to speak with my broker. I had claims previously for the losses after the May 2022 Derecho and another year for flooding and this could raise my insurance, but I’ll see. I recently lost my mother and dealing with this as well. I was fortunate that I didn’t lose any product this time, but it has been a very stressful time.”
Ivan’s wife, Natalija, shared, “it has been a stressful time, but on Tuesday we were so busy with regular customers and new ones coming in to support us we are happy to be in Stittsville”. She then recommended her favourite sausages, Balsamic mustard with a touch of honey, and we might add that they are delicious.
Ivan is carrying on the traditions started by his parents, Tony and Maria, when they moved to Stittsville from Croatia, previously known as Yugoslavia. In 1987, his parents opened a deli bringing the traditions of their home country to Canada. When his parents retired, they rented the space out. Ivan admitted that at the time he had wanted to pursue his own interests, but when the building became empty in 2011, Ivan decided to take up the family business and open his own deli.
Ivan’s Meat & Deli purchase their meat locally from farms that don’t use hormones or antibiotics. They offer an array of ready-made foods you cook at home, marketed under Maria’s Ready Foods brand. Maria’s Ready Foods provides a wide range of home-cooked meals, from cabbage rolls and meat pies to lasagna with fresh noodles. There also are gluten and dairy-free options. With BBQ season in full force, Ivan’s Meat & Deli is well known for their marinated kababs which are ready to be thrown on the grill.
We want to remind the community of the financial toll these outages take on our beloved neighborhood staples and and ask that you support Ivan’s Meat and Deli as they rebound from this unexpected situation.
