“Bestial”. The word is tattooed on the neck of Guy Kirsch (46 years old), but also inscribed on the pair of customized Stan Smiths that he wears on his foot. “It was one of my closest historical collaborators, Christine (Feck), who was the first to whisper in my ear that this word must have been invented for me. But also that I had to name my next store like this…” smiles Guy Kirsch who therefore named the restaurant that he opened in October 2019 near Grass, a few meters from the Belgian border and the Ikea store in Sterpenich. Before having these seven letters “engraved” into his neck.
I knew I was going to succeed because I have been fighting since I was a kid to make it that way.
Guy Kirsch
It’s true that this word seems to stick to him. In every sense of the word then. He corresponds so much to the image we have of him, that of a man with the physique of a rugby player living things 100% and at 100 miles per hour. It is probably not for nothing if the first tattoo that this native of the Moselle region made, at the end of the 1990s, represented Taz, the fierce and unpredictable Tasmanian devil from the Looney Tunes galaxy, a beer by hand.
“I was 20 years old… It was drawn on my right shoulder. But, today, we no longer see him…” confides the now forty-year-old, with a hint of disappointment in his voice. Taz is now covered by an imposing bull. One of the many bulls scattered across this body which he has, by his own admission, almost entirely covered in tattoos (“I have them everywhere, except on my face and hands”).
The bull, an animal that we find tattooed in many places on our butcher’s body. © PHOTO: Marc Wilwert
Here too, the symbol is not insignificant. It shows how animals and the meat they produce were central to his life. “Offering a quality product is a battle that I have fought my entire career,” he breathes. Before adding that this is not the only fight he has fought. To tell the truth, Guy Kirsch even has the impression that his whole life has been one immense struggle. “I lost my father early. But I knew I was going to succeed because I have been fighting since I was a kid to make it that way,” confides the man who defines himself as being “born a butcher”.
He slaughtered his first pig at age 12
Originally from Waldbredimus, in the south of the country, little Guy spent the majority of his free time on the surrounding farms. “The greenery, the pastures and the livestock gave rhythm to my youth,” he remembers. When he was only six or seven years old, he got on his bike every afternoon, as soon as the bell rang, to join the local farmers. “I found the way they took care of their animals exceptional. It didn’t sadden me to see them then be slaughtered. I know many can’t understand it, but it’s all about respect. The animals were well treated, fed, and finally slaughtered properly. Without stress, without suffering. Before being cut up on site, then transformed into pieces of meat.” A work ethic that left its mark on him, before accompanying him throughout his journey.
The two of us are a bit like Ferrari and Lamborghini. If Lamborghini makes such beautiful cars, it’s because it learned from the best: Ferrari.
Guy Kirsch
Guy Kirsch was only 12 years old when he slaughtered his first pig. And he is already convinced of it: later, he will be a butcher-slaughterer-butcher. “It’s the only option I had in mind!” he admits. He thus began his apprenticeship, before quickly joining what he considers to be the Mecca of butchery in Luxembourg: the Kaiffer house, one of the rare brands in the sector to still be present today in the city center of the capital.
Ferrari and Lamborghini
“Kaiffer is to the Luxembourg butcher’s shop what Namur is to the patisserie: an institution!” he says, his mouth full of praise. And then, he meets the owner of the place, Theo Kaiffer. “A great boss.” The one who taught him the values of the profession, those which still dictate his work today. “Like the fact of completely valuing an animal and not just buying certain parts…” Guy Kirsch says he is “proud” to still be in contact with him. “The two of us are a bit like Ferrari and Lamborghini,” he says. “If Lamborghini makes such beautiful cars, it’s because it learned from the best: Ferrari.”
If the compliment is nice, the two men like to tease each other a lot. On the subject of the famous “würtschen cervelas” for example (“mine is better because I borrowed his recipe, while improving it” laughs Guy Kirsch). But it is above all the size of their establishment that fuels their conversations. Where Theo Kaiffer has remained relatively modest with his downtown boutique, Guy Kirsch has thought bigger. Much larger with its eight points of sale, scattered throughout the center and east of the country.
His rise began in 2004 when, aged 26, he decided to buy the butcher’s shop where he worked, in Eischen (a stone’s throw from Arlon and the Belgian border). “I acquired it piece by piece. It took me three years to achieve this. I was lucky that a bank, namely Bil, believed in my project,” he confides again.
Oberpallen, Mamer, Strassen, Steinsel, Contern, Belvaux… The openings will then follow one another with great regularity. Thanks in particular to the establishment of a catering service put together with the help of his sister. But also, in large part, thanks to Christianne Wickler, the founder of the Pall Center brand, who took it in her luggage each time a new point of sale opened. “A great lady. Harsh but correct. A character that suits me perfectly. It is not for nothing that our establishments have grown up side by side,” confesses the man who is sometimes defined as “the enfant terrible of Luxembourg butchery”.
When the “beast” meets his beauty
In this path towards success, the year 2017 should be marked with a milestone. Because it was that year that the “beast” met his beauty, Nicole, who has shared his life ever since. “She worked at the Bristol downtown. I went there to make a delivery…” The rest is their story. Know, however, that love at first sight was, it seems, immediate.
“She worked at the Bristol downtown. I went there to make a delivery…” says Guy Kirsch about his meeting with Nicole. © PHOTO: Kirsch, the butcher
But it was not only on a personal level that Guy Kirsch was at a crossroads. On a professional level too. “Between a catering service, in full swing, located in Mamer, and butchery and charcuterie workshops located in Eischen, I was spreading myself too thin…” he remembers. “I had two options in front of me: either I walk away and become a small business owner again, or I step on the accelerator and bring my activities together under one roof.”
Two years later, the Grass facilities and its “Bestial” restaurant were inaugurated. With this concept that caught his eye: come and eat quality meat where it is produced. He even added a view of the fields and the cattle that graze there. Without forgetting Nicole’s smile. “The restaurant is her,” he says. She has become the real manager of an establishment which serves 400 people daily.
It must have only been a chip shop…
It seems a long time ago when Guy Kirsch only thought of setting up a “chip shop” in Grass. “It’s simple, once the architect came by, it was transformed into an 800m2 restaurant…” he smiles. The budget has also grown significantly, going from 4 to 8 million euros. And this, while covid was about to arrive in March 2020.
The downtown store? It was a pop-up store that was not intended to last. The timing was two years maximum.
Guy Kirsch
“We got through it and, now, we are even stronger than before,” says this boss of some 170 employees, brushing aside the rumors of takeovers by larger groups which have flourished on the social networks. But some sacrifices still had to be made. Like the closure of his first butcher’s shop in Eischen or the handing over of the Aal Schoul restaurant of which he was co-owner. “Real heartbreak!”
And then, there is this store established in the city center of the capital in March 2022, which closed its doors in August 2023. By “lack of profitability” it was explained at the time. But, in the eyes of Guy Kirsch, this experience is not strictly speaking “a disappointment”. He even calls her “beautiful”. “It was a pop-up store that was not intended to last. The timing was two years maximum,” he says. The observation, however, is implacable: “People have no desire to walk the streets or take the tram with their bag of meat in their hand,” he says. Before adding that the city center was probably also “too far” for him. “We are located all around, in Strassen, Mamer or Steinsel. And that suits me that way.”
From there to saying that there will be no future openings, there is a step that we will not take. “Nothing is planned… but everything is possible”, as Guy Kirsch likes to say. “But I won’t make any concessions on quality.” So as not to deny your values.
