Hey there Pork Shoppers!
Thanks for visiting our new website!
Just to introduce ourselves, we are Natalie and Ben Schelhaas. We are so pleased to meet all of you as you come into the Pork Shoppe in 2023. Here's a little introduction on the two of us:
Ben Schelhaas
I was born in Stratford and moved to Shakespeare when I was around 3 years of age. My father was the owner of Wecan Construction, and built a number of homes in Shakespeare in the 90's, including our family home on Fisher Street and our next home on road 106 just a few blocks from Shakespeare. In 2005 my parents purchased the Forest Motel just outside of Stratford, which we moved into that year. After university (I majored in Hotel and Food Administration) and a number of years as a cook, I decided it was finally time to begin helping with the family business, and in 2015 I moved to permanently working with my parents at the Forest Motel. Unfortunately, we lost our beloved Motel to a fire in January of 2021. I took a job working for Uniglass Plus Ziebart in Stratford after the fire, but was always on the look for new business opportunities. After touring The Best Little Pork Shoppe the first time, I knew that this business was the best of both worlds between hospitality and food. We made the offer on the business in October of 2022, were married on November 12, 2022 and took over the business on January 3, 2023. It has been a whirlwind past few months, but I am very energetic and excited to run the Pork Shoppe to the best of my abilities!
Natalie Schelhaas (Despres)
Natalie was born in Hamilton and moved to London when she was 7. Her parents were an OPP dispatcher and seafood manager most of her life in London, which helped land her one of her first jobs at Metro running the seafood counter. Natalie loves to throw a good party, and saw through this passion by getting her diploma in event planning at Fanshawe College in her early 20's. Natalie continued her work at Metro, while also working other part-time jobs at restaurants and hotels and retail stores. Natalie and Ben met on Bumble in 2019 and had their first date in London. By 2021, Natalie had moved to Stratford and was looking for full-time work. In early 2022, she found a full-time job at Scotiabank in Stratford and loves her job! She still currently works full-time for Scotiabank while Ben is full-time at the Pork Shoppe.
Oscar Schelhaas
Oscar joined our family in April of 2020. With the pandemic happening and owning a motel at the time, we finally had time to raise a puppy! So Oscar is a true "Pandemic Puppy". Oscar's favourite things are food, play-time, doggie daycare, and being a complete goofball. He loves getting a pig ear when he visits the Pork Shoppe (though he is not allowed in the shop so he has to enjoy it in the car).
Our plans with the Pork Shoppe Blog
We look forward to using our new Blog to familiarize our customers with us! We plan on using the blog to do the following:
- Showcase recipes using our products
- Put a spotlight on our existing products and their benefits
- Introduce new products
- Show our customers our kitchen experiments with our products (successes and failures)
- Update our customers on the goings-on at the Shoppe and any changes we make
Be sure to follow us on our social media accounts as well for daily updates! We were always on Facebook, but we are now on Instagram and TikTok as well, and may eventually be on YouTube.