For centuries and centuries, the butcher has been one of the cornerstones of local communities. In the past, it was the only affordable meat source for poor families, as the human connection was so great, the butcher could organize cheap cuts of meat for specific customers. However, in the modern world, the middle class has grown insurmountable. Butchers are now seen as places of interest to discover new flavors and enrich the soul with new cultures. Butchers essentially supply meat cuts to the public and if they prove their worth, potentially to commercial enterprises too. Restaurants take advantage of locally sourced product from butchers that offer only the highest quality cuts and specialties. Butchers can also manufacture their own products making them the talk of the town with spiced, herbed, pickled and cold meat artisan products. If you’re going to set up your own butcher shop, there are a few things you need and need to know.
Learn from others
Starting a food business from scratch is no easy feat to accomplish. Before you go full throttle into the idea, start off by visiting successful butcher shops and ask for a few minutes of their time. Talk to them and ask a few basic questions of how they started. The information you get back will help you avoid the pitfalls which perhaps they went through to get where they are now. A successful, well-known butcher shop is a gold mine for useful information which you can use to keep your supply and demand level high from competitors in the industry.
Essential equipment
You can’t start a butcher shop with the proper equipment. Dealing with biological tissue as the source of your income is almost an art form because you need to manage temperatures, timing, atmospheric pressures and air quality to keep the standard of meat quality higher for longer. This means you cannot do without commercial kitchen equipment, like walk-in freezers that will keep meat from rotting and becoming infested with harmful bacteria. You’ll need the best chopping knives such as cleavers, hack blades, and the sharpest cutting blades to debone and cut thin slices of meat. You’ll need transparent display coolers so you can advertise your meats to the public when customers come into the shop. You’ll need thick aprons and hairnets for your staff as well as plastic gloves. Sensitive weighing scales are crucial because customers want bespoke cuts that don’t necessarily have a conformed retail price.
Focus on a niche
Being a regular meat shop is fine, but you want to stand out and be counted as somebody to be respected in the business. Ambition is a wonderful thing, but you also need a clear direction to channel all that aspiration, into inspiration. A meat supplier will stock you with fresh meat, but you should take artisan food classes to see what niche you’re passionate about. If you have a clear idea how you can exploit a gap in the market, the tough task of finding a purpose is almost accomplished. The key to survival in butcher shop businesses is to offer customers, something no one else can. This can be a unique recipe cured sausage, smoked fish, mixed spice and herb rub on pork loins, or peppered extra marble steaks.
