Hospitality in Every Cut at Eumundi Meats
Helen Walker steps behind the counter to uncover how genuine hospitality and exceptional produce create a butcher with heart.
I’d always believed that great food and great service were inseparable. Maybe that was why I felt instantly at home the moment I stepped through the doors of Eumundi Meats Noosa.
There is a particular energy in a place where people genuinely love what they do, a hum of purpose and pride and as I discover, at Eumundi Meats Noosa that hum starts well before sunrise. I meet general manager Pascal Turschwell (Paz) and his wife Kristie, who manages the marketing and within minutes, I realise this story wasn’t just about meat – it was about people, culture, and the kind of hospitality that makes you feel seen the moment you walk in the door. Paz’s path here wasn’t traditional. “I’m not a butcher,” he laughs, and it’s true. His background was restaurants, catering and front of house hospitality.
“I grew up in a restaurant,” he says “With a French chef for a father, food was simply part of life.”
After years of running restaurants, he found himself at a crossroads, ready for a new direction but still deeply connected to the world of food. When Jono Emblin, the owner of Eumundi Meats Noosa, approached him to run the business, Paz initially said no.
“I thought ‘why me? I’m not a butcher’,” he says. Jono’s answer was simple: ‘because you know everyone, and you’re one of the hardest working guys in town.’
That is the thing about hospitality people, they understand that service is a craft, and that the heart of any food business is the experience you create. I related to that deeply through my own experience in hospitality where I’d seen how the smallest gestures, a door held open, a warm greeting or a moment of genuine connection, could transform someone’s day. Listening to Paz, I heard that same understanding echoed back.
“Your staff are everything,” he said. “They’re the face of your business.”
At Eumundi Meats Noosa, that philosophy is lived, not just spoken. The team are diverse – butchers, counter staff, packers and chefs. Every person is included in the creative process. New products, packaging ideas, ready meal concepts: everyone has a voice. And then there is ‘Smoko’. Every day, the team sit down to a freshly cooked meal prepared by their in-house chef.
“We’re all about quality, integrity and service,” Paz said. Their sourcing is meticulous: they don’t just buy organic for the sake of it, they buy what tastes good, has been raised well, and meets high standards for flavour and welfare. Paz’s hospitality background shapes the way the business is run.
“You walk to the customer, he said. Not the other way around.”
That instinct to anticipate, to greet someone the moment they enter, to make recommendations, to carry a box to the car, to make people feel important – it works. Eumundi Meats Noosa is more than a local butcher, it is becoming a trusted South-east Queensland brand with a growing list of stockists and Meat Club members. For the team, it’s not just the quality of the meat – though that is exceptional – it’s also the hospitality and heart. The sense that good service and good food are two sides of the same coin.
To subscribe to their Meat Club, visit www.eumundimeats.com.au
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