Butcheries are places where meat is processed and prepared, then sold. Some might be large scale operations that sell meat wholesale and in bulk, while others are smaller retail stores accessible to the public.
Here are some things you should know about working in a butchery:
- Safety is important – not just the safe operation of tools and machines, but food hygiene and cleanliness as well.
- You’ll need a strong stomach – working with meat isn’t for the faint-hearted (and you probably won’t want to be a vegetarian either!).
- Communication is key – you’ll be doing a lot of work with other people, and talking to customers and clients.
Key Outcome – preparing and selling meat
The focus of a butchery is to prepare a wide variety of meat and smallgoods, and then sell them on, ensuring products are of high quality and safe to eat.
Key Tasks –
- Cut and prepare products
- Package and store products safely
- Sell products to customers and clients
- Ensure standards and regulations are met
Industry – you can find butcheries in the retail and manufacturing industries
Butcheries are found in the retail and manufacturing industries, as they are responsible for both the initial processing of animals and meat and their eventual sale to the public or wholesale.
Work Environment
You can expect regular hours and on-site work
Regular work hours | Work on-site | Lots of jobs in regional and rural areas | Strong job growth
If you work at a butchery, you might be expected to start early in the morning to ensure products are ready by the time customers arrive. The upside to this is your working day often finishes early too. Holidays can also be busy, as demand for meat tends to rise around these times. Outside of these times, working hours are fairly regular and reliable.
Almost all of the work in a butchery needs to be done on-site, so there isn’t much opportunity to work from home.
There are butcheries almost everywhere in the country, so you’ll be able to find work no matter where you go. But there is especially high demand in rural and regional areas, particularly on the processing and manufacturing side, where you’ll find butcheries working closely with local farms.
The Career Clusters you’ll find in a butchery
You’ll find people from all Clusters in a butchery, but the most common ones you’ll find are Makers and Linkers.