About Teodora’s
A Family Trade, Properly Passed On
The tradition of craft butchery has been in my family for three generations.
My father, Manoel Teodoro was raised on cattle and coffee farms, where work began early and standards were uncompromising. Farming was not a business model, it was a way of life shaped by discipline, integrity, and respect for the animal.
After marrying my mother, my parents rented a modest space and built what would become one of the most respected butcher shops in the region. What began as a single storefront grew into four shops, partnerships in an abattoir, and eventually their own farm.
Quality was never assumed.
It was supervised, selected, and earned.
From the beginning, my father personally oversaw sourcing, working only with trusted family farmers whose standards matched his own. He divided his time between farms, livestock, and the slaughterhouse, not for scale, but for responsibility. Every decision mattered because every decision showed up in the final product.
That foundation has shaped Teodora’s Boucherie Gourmande today.
Built on Trust and Generosity
My mother and father worked side by side from the very beginning. Together, they built a small shop in town that served the families of our community and was known to be one of the best trust butcher shop
As a child, I remember standing quietly playing in the shop and watching them work , seeing my mother Julieta Teodoro writing carefully in her ledger and my father, Manoel Teodoro, speaking with customers as if each person mattered deeply.
It was not simply a place to sell meat.
It was a way to serve the community.
My mother kept a handwritten ledger. Sales were often made on quiet honor credit, with the shared understanding that accounts would be settled in time. The business grew through proximity, trust, and human connection.
My father, having known hunger in his early life, never allowed anyone around him to go without food. Feeding people was not generosity to him. It was responsibility.
We always fed the people who worked with us. Simple, good food shared together. Food is care. It is memory. It is afeto—an affection expressed through action.
This is the same spirit I carry forward today at Teodora’s, where trust, care, and good food remain at the center of everything we do.
Growing Up in the Work
When you grow up in a family business, it becomes part of who you are.
We lived minutes from the shop. On my way to school, I greeted customers. By the age of six, I was helping wherever I could — opening cattle gates, taping butcher paper, handing wrapped packages across the counter.
My father used to say that learning to stand back up after a kick was preparation for life.
From an early age, I learned every role in the chain — farmer, stockman, buyer, butcher, shopkeeper. I learned that tradition carries responsibility, and that doing things properly matters, even when no one is watching.
That ethic still governs how I work today.
The Craft
Butchery is an art.
It is also labor.
What appears elegant at the counter begins as something heavy and unwieldy. Transforming a carcass into something refined requires strength, endurance, precision, and skill earned through repetition.
Nothing about that result is accidental.
I have lived every stage of the journey, from farm to stockyard to slaughterhouse to shop. Each role is essential. High-quality meat does not happen by chance. It is the result of discipline at every step.
Nose-to-tail is not a trend.
It is stewardship.
No cut is inferior. Only misunderstood.
To favor only filet, strip, or ribeye is to overlook the full offering of the animal. True craft requires understanding each cut and knowing how to prepare it properly. In our shop, we teach what supermarkets have forgotten — anatomy, technique, and respect.
Knowledge restores connection.
Connection restores quality.
Stewardship and Responsibility
Some of the most important moments in this work happen quietly—starting on horseback in the pasture or standing at the fence, watching the cattle move across the land. Their presence is calm and steady. They nourish us, and that deserves respect.
With that comes responsibility.
We do not overcrowd our pastures with cattle. We minimize stress on the animals. We butcher with care and intention, using each animal fully and respectfully. This is not sentiment. It is respect—for the animal and for the work we do.
As a butcher, my duty is to understand the animal completely—how it was raised, how it was handled, and how to honor the animal that was properly cared for and nurtured, and that gave its life for us, by feeding and nurturing others well.
This work is not something I was forced into. I was born into it.
But it is something I chose to carry on—because it is the way this craft deserves to be done and preserved.
My son never had the chance to know his grandfather. But through this work, his legacy continues—in every standard we refuse to compromise and every cut handled with care.
At Teodora’s, heritage is not marketing.
It is lived experience.
This Is Butchery, As It Should Be.
Teodora’s is for people who care how their food is raised, handled, and prepared.
For those who value trust over speed.
And for customers who believe quality is worth doing properly.
If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place.