We used to. It was a two year program--with automatic raises ever six months (provided you reached your benchmarks). It was discontinued several years ago when we went to the two tier wage program.
In all the supermarkets (Publix, winn dixie, albertsons, others) they all did not have a training program, If they did I was not aware of them and there trainers were old school
hard knock type. I did attend a Cornell meatcutting operations course through the mail paid by Albertsons, I started as clean up boy then trained under unin butchers at small retail stores. waited till some one moved on...
leon in Oregon only the union stores have apprenticeship programs like safeway,fred meyer ,winco etc it is hands on exp,for me since 1972,that how you learn to butcher,and cut meat custom and retail,mobile slaughtering ,kill floor etc their use to be a meat cutting school here in Oregon,i use to work with the guy his parents owned it and the guy was a real idiot spoiled brat ,and a lot of the stores here in Oregon want to hire journeyman as apprentices and pay them 10 bucks an hour,meat cutting and butchering has become a lost art,if you need help let me know thanks
Safeway has one but it is a 3 yrs i believe but its like 7 yrs to be up and going pay wise lol no wonder they went out lol
but i have seen them go in and out and maneger in less then 2 yrs
I started a meat apprenticeship at my shop. We do whole grassfed beef, whole bison, whole pork, and whole lamb, as well as some boxed subprimals. They have a checklist and are paired with an experienced butcher. They start as clean up and wrapper, move to sausage, then they start training on subprimals. When they test out of the subprimals, they start on whole animals. When they do yield tests on the whole animals to my satisfaction, they become a "Butcher". It takes them over a year to complete, and some of them struggle with the yield tests on certain primals, like a bone-in chuck, or where they'll find more value in shank meat or round muscles. The butchers that they are paired with sign off on the individual muscles of the species,and then I, as the manager, complete the test out. They go through their instructor, and then me. It's fool proof. They also receive written tests (they are given the answers ahead of time) on receiving, food safety, and HACCP. I think the first step is to write a good manual to guide them through, and stick to it. The second thing is to be stern. If they're scoring a 75% yield on Hanging Tenders, and their goal is 80%, then don't sign off until they are consistently hitting 80%. I think a lot of the problems in supermarket apprenticeships is that they are just thrown right in the mix and not followed up with management. Unwatched apprentices tend to develop their own habits, and they are not always the correct habits. They also tend to hide their mistakes, so its important to check their trim buckets and bone cans. If you teach them why good yields and cut skills are important, they will always work to hit their target. Let them know that it is for their own good, and that you're not being a hardass. The more scientific I explain it, the more interested they get. The more experienced butchers I kick out, the more money I make for our shop. It's win-win.
