By Joseph Marshall
Aleph Butcher Shop has taken over the former J&R space in the Cavendish Mall in Côte Saint Luc, bringing former J&R owner, Sidney Nemes, on as Director of Operations and making it clear they intend to shake up Montreal’s kosher meat market.
If there’s one thing Nemes knows, it’s meat. For decades, he ran J&R Kosher Meat and Delicatessen out of a modest storefront backed by a much larger operation. He stepped away a few years ago, but now he’s back in the same location, right where he built his reputation.
As previously reported in The Montreal Jewish News, Aleph, owned by Mendy Boyarsky, is promising quality meat at affordable prices. Boyarsky is not shy about what he sees as a monopoly in the local kosher market. He places that blame squarely on the Vaad Ha’ir, known as the MK, the city’s oldest kosher certifier. According to him, the MK has created monopolies across different areas of kosher, driving prices up. For that reason, Aleph has chosen to operate under KSR certification instead.
Aleph is promising high end kosher Argentinian meat at prices well below what Montrealers are used to paying. Early on, they claimed prices could be as much as fifty percent lower. That number has since been tempered, but they are still promising significantly better pricing than what currently exists.
Chicken will be sourced from Premiere Kosher in Toronto, the same supplier whose products are already sold through Costco.
This isn’t just another butcher shop opening, it’s landing in a market where kosher meat prices in Montreal have gone from expensive to, for many families, simply unaffordable.
Here is what that looks like in real numbers:
Montreal
Beef: $50–$150 per kg
Equivalent: $22.70–$68.00 per lb
Chicken: $5.49–$17.00 per kg
Equivalent: $2.49–$7.72 per lb
New York / New Jersey
Beef: $7.63–$22.00 per lb
Equivalent: $16.80–$48.50 per kg
Chicken: $1.99–$2.49 per lb
Equivalent: $4.38–$5.48 per kg
Even without overanalyzing it, the gap jumps off the page. On the low end, Montreal beef is already priced above much of the U.S. market. On the high end, it is not even close. Chicken, which should be the most stable and affordable option, shows the same pattern, with Montreal prices stretching far beyond what is considered normal just a few hours south of the border.
For a family shopping for Shabbos, the difference is not theoretical. It is hundreds of dollars over the course of a month, sometimes more. That is the environment Aleph is stepping into. Not just a competitive market, but a frustrated one.
Alpha isn’t the first kosher butcher shop that claimed it would change the Montreal kosher market, others have tried and failed. Montreal’s Jewish community needs relief, they need someone to stand up and deliver on promises that so many have not.
Aleph is claiming to be that business. They are promising change. The only question is if anything actually will.
The Players
None of the key players here are new:
Sidney Nemes built a reputation over more than thirty years, supplying high quality meat to a loyal and discerning clientele after relocating his family’s butcher shop from Outremont to The Cavendish Mall. A combination of Covid lockdowns and a desire to slow down led to his retirement a few years ago.
Mendy Boyarsky comes from a family deeply rooted in the Jewish community, in business and education. He is a successful furniture imporer. His family founded TAV, originally Torah and Vocational College, which was created to provide members of the Hasidic community with a pathway to secular education. Today, TAV has grown into a recognized CEGEP with a growing campus near Décarie and Van Horne. The family is also involved in hotels, real estate, and other ventures.
KSR is the sefardic hashgacha and has been around in Montreal since 1978. It is managed through the Grand Rabbinat du Québec. It has never managed to significantly expand as a kosher certifier and was often viewed as having more lenient standards. In recent years, it has worked to strengthen both its standards and its reach, and now certifies dozens of companies across the Montreal area.
