Support your local butcher

It is sad that - as of yesterday - the UK's biggest independent butchers has called in the administrators.  Dewhurst's cite increases in rent and energy and a substantial decline in trading conditions as the reason for the move.  Sixty shops have closed and the remaining thirty five are up for sale.

So what has led to the 'decline in trading conditions'?  The obvious answer is the supermarkets.  According to the Meat and Livestock Commission, the overall market is worth £5.4billion but only 13.8% of that goes to the independent butchers.  But is there anything that Dewhurst could have done to stem the flow to the supermarkets? 
As a marketer, I would first look at that section of the market who want to shop from a 'proper' butcher - they are:

• Cooks - every cookbook we read now implores us to speak to our butcher, to ask for specific cuts, to trace the providence of the meat, to order things specifically and to use the expertise of the butcher


• Organic conscious customers - while supermarkets offer organic or free range meat, their stocks tend to be limited - a good butcher should be able to offer you a better choice


• Customer nervous about media scare stories - from bird flu to BSE, the personal butcher should be there to reassure and to provide evidence that stocks are disease free


• 'Anti-globalists' - those people who don't want to give more and more each month to a select group of companies

I'm sure there are other groups too.

Why you should use a butcher, not a supermarket
If you care how your food tastes, find a good butcher and buy quality meat from him.  It will be more expensive than supermarket meat - I've just bought two pork chops from my local butcher for £6 - Tesco will flog them to you for £2.44.  However, mine were cut direct from the loin in front of me, with the kidney (which the butcher offered to me - if I hadn't wanted it, he would have taken it out before weighing).  They are cut nice and thickly to my specification to ensure they remain tender when cooked.  They come from a free-range Gloucester Old Spot pig - the butcher could even name the farmer if I'd wanted. 
Cheap supermarket pork is tasteless and mostly water.  Mine will be delicious and meaty with rind to chew on.
Mind you - butchers don't have to be more expensive - in the height of the game season, for example, a good butchers will almost always have pheasant at lower prices than the supermarkets.

Recently, I was in my local supermarket and asked the 'butcher' behind the counter for pork loin with the rind.  They didn't have it - "that's the way it comes" he explained.  Well, no, actually, pork loin comes from a pig - and last time I looked, a pig had skin.  This impostor was not a butcher, he was a man who unpacked meat from a delivery and repacked it again for the customer.

My local butcher is a master of technique - he will happily bone-out, roll, tie, cut, slice, chop, mince... whatever I ask him to do.  He'll make suggestions - last time I made a pork pie, I went into the butchers for the meat and he slipped in a trotter free of charge for the jelly without being asked.

I can order from my local butcher.  There's a Gordon Ramsay recipe I want to try, requiring beef shin on the bone - I know it's an unusual cut, so I asked my butcher about it - he said it was best to order it - pop into the shop on a Tuesday or a Wednesday and he'll make sure there's one for me on the Friday to collect.  And I know it will come from a well-hung and tasty beast.

For reference, the butchers I use most are:
Jeffries of Norbiton
T Swatland of East Sheen/Mortlake
Doves of Clapham Junction


So please, support your local butcher and boycott the pre-packaged crap from your supermarket!

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