our founders

Founders Anthony and Sara Villegas quietly opened their doors in March 2016 in Claremont, California. It was a 1200 square foot location in a strip mall not too far from where they were raising their 5 children. A fast casual restaurant with a small kitchen, shop and in-house butcher counter wowed the community. Thoughtfully selected specialty food items and boutique wines that guests could enjoy there or take home were the perfect accompaniment to the high quality meat, seafood and poultry being offered. From its opening days, The Meat Cellar sought to be The Home You Never Knew You Had, and its customers responded. As 2016 came to a close, The Meat Cellar was lucky to have a packed dining room most nights of the week, with lines out the door on weekends, leading Anthony and Sara to begin conversations about expansion. 

In 2017, with support from the City of Claremont, The Meat Cellar identified and secured a new 4,000 square foot location within a historic building on Foothill Blvd, the 100-year-old Wolfe’s Market. After substantial renovations, the expanded Meat Cellar opened in February 2018 adding a full-service dining room and craft cocktail menu to the brand.

As The Meat Cellar expands to new markets, so does the family vision. Anthony and Sara have created not only the environment where quality and hospitality take center stage, they have also created opportunities for those that have big dreams, to come right along with them.

Read their story below.

In their own words...

We love eating out and sharing meals as a way of connecting with our loved ones. But we began to notice that we didn’t like the way we felt after eating in most restaurants, and we have been frequently disappointed it was difficult to find food in restaurants it felt clear that the food served in most restaurants didn’t nourish our bodies, as much as the time with our dinner companions nourished our souls.

And so we sought to create a place to fill the void that WE kept experiencing: a warm and hospitable restaurant where the food is as good for our bodies as it is for our taste buds. 

We want to make it a bit simpler, we want to make our meals have more of the good stuff - macro and micronutrients - and less of the bad stuff - inflammatory oils, harsh preservatives and refined sugar. 

There is so much more to food than the way it tastes. We strive to serve food that feels as good to our bodies’ cells as it tastes in our mouths. 

Whether we all remember it or not, the foods that we eat significantly impact our well-being. In fact, it’s become clear that over time, the foods that we eat can create health or they can create disease. We want to do our part to make it easier to create health while enjoying delicious meals with our family and friends.

We want to make it simple and accessible and relatively mindless - if you are eating at The Meat Cellar, the ingredients of your meal are closer to nature than those you’ll find in most restaurants.

I don’t want us to encourage “cheat meals.” I want us to offer foods that are good for people.

Just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

Why did we start The Meat Cellar? 

We opened the place that we wished existed: a store with quality products and warm service, where you felt welcomed and appreciated and trusted that anything served to you was simple food from trusted sources for you to enjoy in our beautiful space or in your own home.

I (Sara) grew up in a small town in upstate NY - everyone knows about city but not many people are aware that beyond the city is a much more rural state where farming is a big industry. During my childhood we drank raw milk from a neighbor’s farm and my mom made pies in the summer from the blackberries she picked on the side of the road. Our community was tight-knit. We all knew the people raising, growing, selling and serving the food. I took fresh foods and friendly faces for granted. 

The Market is a community that rarely exists anymore, a place where we one can find fresh food and friendly faces.