The Heydenrych family have been in the meat business since 1905, when Johann Frederick Heydenrych established a butchery in Jansenville in the Eastern Cape. The business was passed from generation to generation over the last century and the boerewors recipe that is used for Frederick & Son gourmet boerie rolls is the very same one handed from father to son over the years.
The flavoursome gourmet wors that is served at Frederick & Son is the product of four generations of knowhow. The cherished family recipe was passed from father to sons to grandsons to great grandsons from the time that Johann Frederick Heydenrych (known as Fred) opened his original butchery in Jansenville in the Karoo in 1905.
In the Great Depression years of the 30s Fred asked his son, Johann Frederick (known as Freddy) to assist in the family business. During the war years Freddy drove a taxi and worked in the butchery. His strong work ethic paid off and the butchery prospered.
When his father died at the end of the war in 1945, Frederick was still young and did not feel quite ready for the responsibility that now rested on his shoulders. He got on his knees and sought God’s help. One of his first actions was to write down recipes that became the treasured handwritten documents still used today.
Johann had five children, including two sons who grew up learning the butchery trade from their father. They developed a taste for quality meat products from a young age.
In 1994, Johann and his family moved to Port Elizabeth where he operated his growing transport business. In 2004 he opened a butchery in PE. By this time his eldest son, Johann Frederick (known as Freddy) was a university student, and would help his father out whenever he could. Freddy and his younger brother would also sell boerewors rolls outside the store on weekends. The butchery closed its doors in 2007.
But in 2015 Freddy decided to revive the family tradition by producing this gourmet wors following the original recipe written down by his grandfather and offering gourmet boerie rolls at The Valley Market. His wife, Anna, joins him in this endeavor and together the couple hope to build on the foundations of the family heritage of good, wholesome meat products.
By 1952 the Heydenrych Butchery moved to a new premises on the main road though Jansenville. It was beginning to grow in reputation. Freddy had six sons over the years, and they would help out in the butchery over weekends and holidays as they were growing up, some of them later taking up farming as the business grew and they finished school and got married. Freddy’s wife, Hester, was also said to have been an anchor in the family business during these years.
The eldest son, Johann Frederick (known as Johann) joined his father full time in the butchery in 1977 after completing his MBA.
The following years saw the butchery move into bigger premises and begin to achieve local legendary status becoming an essential biltong and droewors pitstop for many traveling between Graaff-Reinet and Port Elizabeth. The butchery also began to supply pre-packed biltong and droewors to supermarkets in the city.
