The past decade has been tough on butcher shops in Launceston, but Rob Perry's Casalinga has stayed the course.
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The father-of-four has been in the industry for 45 years, and has sold meat in Launceston for 33 years.
He and wife Rose opened their first shop in the Taroona shopping centre in 1984.
"I bought that in the August and we were due to get married in the September," he said.
"From there we started a family and the family started growing up."
Mr and Mrs Perry grew up in Flinders Island and Scottsdale respectively, which meant their children's grandparents were all based in the state's North.
They decided to move to Launceston and opened up a small Wellington Street store - Beef Wellington - in 1991.
They stayed put until they were approached to relocate to the new Prospect Vale Marketplace.
"It's always a challenge to build a brand new shop, but I did," Mr Perry said.
"I spent another 10 years there, but then it got to a point where I was working nearly 100 hours a week, wasn't seeing my family, the kids were growing up.
"[The centre manager] at the time said 'can you go to seven days a week' and I couldn't so I said 'enough's enough'."
The Perrys sold up, but they weren't done with meat.
A shop on the corner of Charles and Elizabeth streets became available, and after it was gutted and renovated, Casalinga was born.
The name - the Italian word for 'homemade' - reflects Mr Perry's Italian and Dutch heritage and passion for creating products that represent 'the flavours of the world'.
Nearly 20 years on, the Perrys have trained five apprentices, and say their trade is as strong as ever.
"Our business keeps increasing all the time," Mr Perry said.
"We focus wholly and solely on customer service and high-end quality [and] we make all the product in store.
"My focus point is flavours of the world ... I create the product in the Australian method and I'll write that recipe.
"We've had people come in [last week] from Scotland and England that tried our black pudding and said 'it's better than what we get back home'.
"The feedback we get here is really good."