Victor and Anthony Puharich come from a long line of butchers, back to Anthony’s great-great-grandfather. Combining Victor’s traditional butchery skills and Anthony’s passion for produce, they’ve created one of Sydney’s best providores: Victor Churchill in Woollahra.
In 1996, Anthony and Victor started supplying some of Sydney’s best restaurants through their wholesale business Vic’s Premium Quality Meat. Then, in 2009, when Sydney’s oldest continuously operating butcher shop became available, Anthony decided it was time to enter the retail market.
Combining it’s original name, Churchills Meat, with a tribute to his father, Anthony created Victor Churchill. In collaboration with designer Michael McCann, he took inspiration from the best international retail design influences to create a shopping experience unlike any other.
Victor Churchill is like an upmarket meat boutique. Anthony Bourdain called it: “The most beautiful butcher shop in the world.” From the bronze sausage-shaped door handles, through the dark wood panelling and marble floor, to the glass fronted dry-ageing room with a wall of Himalayan salt bricks, every detail has been carefully curated.
There’s theatre and luxury from the moment you walk through the door, with beautiful mirror-backed display cabinets, a glass fronted climate-controlled work area where butchers prepare the cuts and a traditional French rotisserie and beautiful bronze and marble charcuterie counter with shiny red Berkel slicer.
But the theatre and luxury are the window dressing, not what makes Victor Churchill one of Sydney’s best providores. That’s down to Anthony’s deep understanding of how the best meat in the world is raised and the partnerships he’s forged over time with Australia’s leading meat producers including Rangers Valley Beef, Kurobuta Pork and Burrawong Gaian Poultry.
While Victor Churchill in Woollahra is undoubtedly one of Sydney’s finest providores, in 2021 it was joined by the Victor Churchill Melbourne store. Drawing on his expertise and long-standing industry connections, Anthony has also expanded into the more casual Vic’s stores in Chatswood, Bondi, and Pyrmont. Visit VictorChurchill.com to learn more.
Anthony Puharich explains how his family came to create one of Sydney’s best providores:
“Dad comes from a long line of butchers, a legacy going back to his great-grandfather. His is the classic immigrant story: he arrived in Australia from Croatia in the 1970s as a 17-year-old with nothing but his trade, an incredible work ethic and the clothes on his back. He married Mum, built a thriving suburban butcher shop, and had me and my two siblings. After uni I intended to pursue a career in investment banking. But I realized my true passion was to work alongside my best friend: Dad. When I told him I wanted to build a meat business with him, he was hesitant. He wanted me to have ‘a better life’. But I had a vision that could create a better life for our whole family. Eventually dad saw it my way and together we established Vic’s Meat as a wholesale supplier to many of Sydney’s best restaurants. In 2009, we heard that Churchill’s, Sydney’s oldest continually run butcher shop, established in 1876, was set to close. I couldn’t let that happen. So began the journey and transformation into what is considered the most beautiful butcher shop in the world: Victor Churchill. In 2010, it became the first butcher shop ever nominated for the prestigious International Interior Design Awards—and it won Best of the Year in New York City. We were absolutely blown away!”
