Being a butcher is about more than just being good with butchers knives and machinery. As every experienced butcher knows, there’s also a whole host of skills and qualities that you need to reach true success – so we’ve listed some of the most important ones below!

Excellent hygiene

It is very easy to under-appreciate just how important good hygiene is when you work with food. But when you are working with meat, and you are not only selling it but also preparing it, maintaining proper hygiene standards is absolutely essential. Failures of hygiene can reflect poorly on your business, or they can even present a serious danger to your customers.

Staying serious about your hygiene is essential for every butcher, and there’s no such thing as too cautious when it comes to maintaining a clean working environment.

butcher in butchers shop

Genuine enjoyment of the work

From the outside, lots of customers might think being a butcher looks amazingly simple. However, any experienced butcher can tell you that it is actually a lot of hard work. Anyone who enters into this profession need to be genuinely enthusiastic and passionate about the work, otherwise, they are soon going to find themselves struggling.

And if you’re a novice or someone still considering whether or not to become a full-time butcher, it’s worth taking the time to find out exactly what is involved. It's also worth having a go at making your own sausages and burgers so you can get a feel for what it is like working with meat in this way.

Enjoy interacting with customers

Lots of people who come into a butchers’ shop will come in with only a vague idea of what they want, so they will be relying on their butcher to provide them with guidance. As a butcher, you always need to be approachable and personable. Any potential customers who have queries that need answering or reservations about what to buy will turn to you for help, so you’ll need to make sure that you have the answers – and sometimes, plenty of patience when relaying them!

butchers equipment - get people through the door

A desire to learn the underlying science

Standing out as a top-class professional butcher means demonstrating an understanding of the science that underpins the work you do. Everything from the deconstruction of an animal carcass to the slicing and preparing of meat needs to be done with an awareness of what you’re doing and why. Sure, you can learn what you need to do without really knowing why, but not if you want to be at the very top of your game. And of course, the better you understand each part of the process, the better the advice you can give to your customers!

We’ve got a wide range of butcher’s equipment to suit you right here at Butchers Equipment Warehouse. This includes market-leading butchers knives such as our Victorinox Butchers Knives, or reliable, machinery such as our meat bandsaws. And don’t forget, if you need any help or advice, you can always enlist the help of our experts by giving us a quick call on 01254 427 761!