The SA Shop

The SA Shop: South African cured meats and groceries from Rugby

The SA Shop is a small, family-run South African business based in Rugby, United Kingdom. It produces its own biltong, droëwors, chilli bites and boerewors and sells them online, together with a broad selection of South African groceries. The company presents itself as a family that grew up in Africa and once owned a butchery, an experience it cites as the basis for its approach to cured and dried meat.

Biltong, droëwors and boerewors made in-house

The core of the offer is the meat range, made from British grass-fed beef sourced locally. The shop states that all its products are freshly made every week using beef from Joseph Morris, described as its local award-winning butcher in Rugby. The company says it has tested different cuts and flavour combinations over the years to settle on its current recipes.

• Biltong: cured, dried beef cut into strips, marinated in brown vinegar and coated with a spice blend before being hung to dry. The shop notes it is low in fat and high in protein, and positions it as a snack suited to post-workout, banting or paleo diets. It advises storing it in a dry place with air circulation and, once opened, keeping it in the brown bag and consuming it within four days.
• Droëwors: an air-dried beef sausage made by drying the traditional boerewors with adjusted spices and production. The shop states it uses only 100% minced beef, slowly air-dried and packed in a protected atmosphere.
• Boerewors: made from scratch with a stated mix of 66% beef and 33% pork, coarsely minced with spices, preserved with salt and vinegar and sold in the traditional continuous spiral form. The shop describes it as a braai sausage and mentions the customary pairing with pap, a maize-meal porridge with tomato and onion sauce.
• Chilli bites: listed among the products the shop makes itself.

South African groceries beyond the butchery

Alongside its own meat, the shop stocks a wide range of South African goods. The catalogue is organised into categories including biscuits and rusks, canned goods, chips (crisps), cold drinks, desserts and baking, dried fruit, dry goods, hampers, homemade sweet treats, hot drinks, jams and spreads, sauces, soups and sachets, spices and seasonings, and sweets and chocolates. Among the items shown on the site at the time of writing were Mazoe Orange Crush 2l, Ouma Rusks Condensed Milk 500g, a Nice 'n Spiced Lamb Pot sachet and a Peri Peri Portuguese 200g Handipack.

Delivery and ordering

Orders are placed through the online shop, which includes a cart, a wishlist and customer accounts. The site advertised free delivery on orders over £75.

Customer feedback

The shop publishes testimonials from customers, several of them South Africans living in the UK who compare the products favourably with what they knew at home. One customer remarks on the packaging and courier delivery; another mentions a small extra of dry wors included with the order. These are individual comments rather than an aggregate rating.