Local butcheries fading away but quality still cuts it

Friday, 13 May 2022

Meaters of Marlborough owner Mike Newman was 16 when he started as an apprentice and says at that time, there was more than 20 butchers in the region which has now whittled down to two.

Local butcher stores are dwindling – saveloys handed to you over the glass counter are a novelty, brown paper wrapping tied with string is almost obsolete and the ring of a bell as you open the street door has faded.

New Zealand’s online encyclopaedia, Te Ara reports that in 1971 there were 5,173 butcheries nationwide but the arrival of supermarkets in the 1960s, combined with greater ownership of home freezers, saw the end for many urban and suburban butchers’ shops.

One of Nelson region’s butchers, Beefair in Motueka’s High Street, closed at the end of 2020, leaving Pestell’s Rai Bacon Company in Stoke as the last standing butcher in a 100km radius.

Other meat suppliers include supermarkets, The Mad Butcher, Raeward Fresh, and Hecks German smallgoods.

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Former Beefair’s owner Jos Canton said after running the butchery for five years, she and her husband had to close for “a multitude of reasons”.

Sean and Jos Canton of Beefair in Motueka closed in 2020 after five years in business. Jos says “we didn’t go belly up, we burnt out”.

It was “incredibly difficult” to get skilled staff, the couple were putting in 15-hour days, rent was expensive and roadworks set to take out parking was on the horizon, she said.

Getting people through the door wasn’t the issue.

“People embraced the idea of minimal packaging and having a chat with the butcher – we had a loyal customer base.”

But despite popular belief that more people were ditching the supermarkets for all their grocery needs and heading to their local produce outlet, fishmonger and butcher,Canton said that was “a romantic notion people didn’t have the time for”.

She said the chances of the Nelson region getting a local butcher in the future would be slim.

Peter Timbs Butcher in Christchurch has gone from strength to strength, starting with nine staff and now employing 62 staff at its two retail outlets and a factory.

“I think it’s a bygone era. If anyone ever asked me if they could open a butchery in main street Motueka again, I would say: You’re probably out of your mind.”

It took a lot of work to run a butchery, including sourcing meat, meeting regulations, dealing with council and communicating with Ministry of Primary Industries.

“It’s a supermarket world.”

In Blenheim, Mike Newman has been in the meat business since he did his apprenticeship in 1976 at Meaters of Marlborough before buying the retail shop in 1988.

Newman said when he started out, there were 24 butcher shops in Blenheim and its surrounds, with six of those being in the CBD. Now there are just two independently owned, stand-alone butcheries.

The key to surviving was having parking and being prepared to do the long hours required, which saw Newman doing 70-hour weeks, he said.

“They survived for a long time but one by one the supermarkets began to appear.”

He said initially supermarkets had skilled butchers and good quality meat but as competition began amongst supermarkets and meat sole-traders, price-cutting and quality-cutting ensued.

“For a number of years, people began to buy on price and figured the butcher was too expensive – those days are gone.”

Steven Joseph owner of Hibbards Butchery talks about some cheap meats you can get.

He said the Meaters of Marlborough customers got more bang for their buck including real meat in their sausages and no thickeners or byproducts were added.

He still sells products like brawn, a cold cut terrine or meat jelly.

“We do it better, that’s why people keep going to the butcher. People appreciate service with good quality meat.”

Customers travel from Nelson and the West Coast to get their meat fix, some making the pilgrimage from Kaikōura monthly for their supply “because they lost their butcher a few years back”.

The family-run butcher shop with parking and the personal touch is in it for the long haul.

“We’ve stood the test of time - we’re still a very important part of the community.”

David Timbs from the Peter Timbs family-run butchery in Christchurch remembered the days when Nelson had a number of good butcheries “back in the day”.

“I used to live in Motueka in ‘95. You had CLF in Mot, Big Kev’s in Stoke or Richmond, then Toms in Tahuna.”

Christchurch still has a handful of local butcheries, and Timbs said with a population of more than 400,000, there was enough patronage to keep them going.

“We rely on about 10% of the population to come to us … and that’s our bread and butter.

“People in Christchurch are very loyal to the butcher.”

He said he had “seen people with their kids in a stroller, now those kids are shopping here”.

“They keep coming back.”

It wasn’t just the good cuts of meat, sausages, bacon and mince that drew in the crowds, but the customer experience, he said.

“You’ve got someone who’ll give you a smile over the counter and some good customer service, that’s got to go a long way.”

Women behind the counter with plenty of culinary knowledge were also able to share their cooking tips and recipes with customers, he said, which had “a lot to do with it as well”.