“Meat cutters are encouraged to walk the counter and talk to the customers — particularly as people are loving to cook again,” says John Middleton, project manager for commercialization at the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency, based in Edmonton. Previously, Middleton has worked for Calgary Co-op in the meat department and owned Calgary’s largest specialty meat shop, so he knows all sides of the meat cutting business.
Both Middleton and Shane Eustace, a butcher and apprentice sausage maker at Second to None Meats in Calgary, stress that for those interested in a career as a butcher, it’s the love of cooking and food that brings most people to the business. Meat cutting is a physically demanding and messy trade, so if you don’t love food, it will be hard to share enthusiasm for it with your customers on a regular basis.
“In the meat business there is so much interpretation from a recipe required, with multiple terms for the same thing. It requires knowledge and intuition on the part of the butcher, almost like a psychic,” says Eustace.
Unlike becoming a psychic, however, becoming a butcher doesn’t just happen naturally. It requires time and training.
The first place to start is with a meat cutting or processing program through a post-secondary institute. SAIT, NAIT and Olds College all offer programs that train students on the details and theory of meat, safety, sanitation, value-added processing and actual cutting. The majority of graduates find work in a retail setting, with some moving to large processors and others becoming butchers.
According to Rupert Kaupp, the academic chair of the SAIT Meat Operations and Management Program, the training program is heavily influenced by industry demands. An advisory board works with SAIT, addressing trends and changes in the meat cutting industry. The program is responsive to customer requests — from the stores and the people who shop there.
Kaupp emphasizes the importance of customer service.
“Customers see the meat and wonder what they can do with it. The program is educating students not only on how to cut meat, but also how to pass on the knowledge to the customers — knowledge of where the meat comes from, tenderness and how to best prepare it. Not only at high end shops, but also at the grocery store,” he says.
The second starting option is actually at a butcher shop, learning the trade by working the trade. There is no formal apprenticeship program to be a butcher, but expect to start at the bottom in a small shop if this is the chosen path. You have to be everything to all people if you want to work there. As Eustace says, “It is a little about training and a lot about practice.”
For the customer, the key difference between the grocery store meat counter and the butcher shop is the meat itself and the services provided. The grocery store must sell federally inspected, wet-aged meat. A butcher shop can sell provincially inspected, dry-aged meat. Personal preference will dictate the consumer’s tastes.
The other key difference is best described as a layer of customer service. At the butcher they can dress, stuff, and custom tie your roast, for example. Some grocery stores will also do this, but you should check before you make the request. Specialty or odd cuts may also only be available at the butcher shop.
With more of us cooking at home and seeking out both the simple and challenging, cultivating your relationship with your local meat cutter is bound to improve your day, and your dinner.
