Monthly Maidstone Spotlight – S.H. House of Meat
This month we chatted with Alexandra Bulgaru, Director at new butcher’s shop S.H. House of Meat, which opened in late 2024 in The Mall.
Alexandra, S.H. House of Meat was started by your husband and his brother – tell us a bit about the business, what inspired them to set up on their own, and your role.
My husband, Roni, and his brother, Sully, both worked as butchers and, between them, have 20 years’ experience. They always said that one day they wanted to open their own shop. When this unit became available, it seemed like the ideal opportunity; it was previously a butchers, and so was set up as we needed it to be, meaning we wouldn’t have to purchase new expensive equipment.
Roni now runs the shop with his nephew, Kledi, and they’ve been working hard every day with Roni taking no time off since we opened. Previously, I worked in policing and security, but I took the decision to leave that behind to help my husband work towards his dream, which has now become mine too. I take care of the paperwork, admin, accounts, social media and sometimes help Roni and Kledi with selling in the shop.
We aim to use the freshest meat, sourced locally from Kent as much as possible. Whatever we can’t find in Kent, we source from nearby or London – I would say 80% of what we sell is local.
You spoke to our business advisor Chris Lyle when you were starting up – how did she help you?
Yes, we met with her before we rented the shop. I got her details from the Business in Maidstone newsletter. She gave us advice about getting the first business loan, and helped with ideas about our business plan.
We found it really useful to talk to her. We didn’t know anything about business loans so it was good to talk to someone we could trust.
What do you like about being based in Maidstone?
My brother-in-law has lived here for 15 years so we knew the area. We were living in London until two years ago and I wanted somewhere quieter for my son, who is two and a half. We like it here; it’s much quieter, there’s countryside nearby but our home is only two minutes’ away from The Mall, so it’s easy.
You’ve only been open for four months – how is business?
We only have half of the shop open at the moment; we’re looking to open the second half soon, with a deli counter selling salami, cheese, oils, pastries, and rotisserie chicken. But it’s going really well so far; we have some great customers already who keep coming back and give us great feedback – they are our best form of advertising.
We have also recently received a Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene rating of five.
What are your plans for the future?
As well as opening the second half of the shop, we’d like to take on a van for deliveries. We have just joined Deliveroo but we would also like to start supplying meat to local restaurants, so that’s something we might look at doing at the end of the year.
What are your tips for anyone looking to start their own business?
Work hard for the dream – if you want to achieve what you’re wishing for, you need to sleep less and work more!
There’s a lot to learn when you start up but you learn everything by just doing it. I’d never created adverts before but now I take care of advertising on social media, and creating flyers. I also didn’t know anything about meat, but now I know all the cuts.
Also, never give up. We had some moments when we thought ‘We can’t do this’ but we still didn’t give up and it’s going well so far.
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