10 CRAFTBUTCHER l APRIL 2017
SPRING ROADSHOW
no shortage of tips about improving sales and the ‘bottom line’. Opening hours, particularly
on Sundays came under scrutiny with most agreeing Sunday trading to be a reluctant option. But those that do, while needing to take account of work/life balances when tackling staffing issues and altering shiſts, tend to experience and benefit from low staff levels and high customer spend. Most of the group look
BUTCHERS’ SPRING SUCCESS
MORE than 70 butchers, guests and industry representatives from across the UK as far afield as County Armagh, Cumbria and the West Country joined National Federation of Meat and Food Traders (NFMFT) President Jim Sperring to celebrate success with Paul Freemantle, Craig Finch, Andrew Ringrose and Shaun Vining. On what turned out
to be a beautiful spring day, the four collected awards sponsored by Lucas Ingredients, Leonards and Innovative Food Ingredients (IFI) at the National Barbecue Competition organised by the NFMFT at its ‘Spring Road Show’ which took place, last month, at the Windmill Village Hotel, Coventry. Paul Freemantle of
Bosworth’s Butchers from Cheylesmore, Coventry won Traditional Pork Sausage before going on to scoop the award for BBQ Product of the Day with an ‘Old English Sausage’. Andrew Ringrose
from Broughton Astley, Leicestershire won 5 out of 9 awards for Beef burger, Koſta Kebab, Pork Speciality Sausage, Traditional Kebab as well as Innovative BBQ Product with a ‘Mediterranean
Skewer Koſta’. Craig Finch of Harborne,
Birmingham with an ‘Aussie Lamb Sausage’ won Meat Speciality Sausage. While Complete Meats Shaun Vining of Axminster, Devon celebrated winning Meat Speciality Burger with a ‘Premium Steak Burger’. Following initial evaluation,
products were then cooked by international BBQ and professional cook Viv Harvey and experienced judge Les Smith. Te judging concluded aſter five hours with Head
Judge and Competition Adjudicator John Taylor MBE thanking the ten judges for their valuable assistance. He then went on to praise the 25 competitors for the ‘overall quality’ produced with the 152 products entered in the competition. Te day kicked off before
noon with registration and entries, followed by a ‘Butchers Forum’ chaired by Derbyshire Butcher and NFMFT Immediate Past President John Mettrick. With 18 butchers, there was
to convenience with the introduction of ready meals and hot food counters for adding sales and increasing customer spend and profit. However, they agreed that this strategy also required well thought out investment and ROI plans. Acquiring skilled staff
seems to be a problem verging on a national crisis. Older butchers in the group talked about a ‘lost generation’, a gap between the late forty somethings and the early twenty somethings, when looking for trained butchers. Tis prompted a reminder of the NFMFT’s role with apprenticeships. With ‘Trailblazer’ apprenticeships designed by butchers, for butchers and offering incentives for butchers - something that everyone should be looking at! Other matters
touched upon were using slow periods for experimenting and developing products, particularly ‘lifestyle’, low salt-low carb varieties. Also on the radar was social media with day to day as well as ‘special occasion’ promotions like Fathers’ and Mothers’ day seeming to gain momentum, just as growing
Andrew Ringrose accepting his Koſta Kebab award from President Jim Sperring and Jonathan Lelliot of Leonards (sponsors)
popularity for pre-packaging and unit pricing continues to
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