Greg’s Family Gourmet Butchers

The seaside town of Rosebud, on the Mornington peninsula in Victoria, has the unique privilege of being home to Greg’s Family Gourmet Butchers, a retailer and wholesaler who supplies the full range of high quality, naturally grown beef, lamb, chicken and pork products. The business was established 20 years ago when Greg and his wife decided to buy it from the company that owned it. Over the years it has earned itself a reputation for stocking the best products.

Greg has four sons, one of whom is in the trade. Our son Kyle is now running a second shop. Greg describes how he began his business, “It started 20 years ago. My aim was to give people good quality meat. Growth in the business began in the second year after we took over. It went very well and then it plateaued out.

“The increase in sales took place because the big company which owned the shop sold out to our small family business and as we were involved in the community, it made a difference in helping the sales grow. A lot of the growth in the business is through word of mouth. I’ve actually been in this shop for 44 years and I was working for the two companies that ran the shop before my wife and I bought it.”

In the period immediately following purchase of the shop Greg diversified the range of offerings and concentrated on gourmet sausages and shop made small goods. This proved to be a success and the business flourished. He purchased new equipment which enabled him to improve the quality of the products and was rewarded with the appreciation of his customers and increased sales.

Use of the most modernequipment and methods

Over the years the laws in Victoria changed and it progressively became harder for new entrants to conform with what the health department requirements. This gave Greg an advantage as he had an established business which used the most modern equipment which surpassed the specifications laid down by the government.

Greg explains how constant attention to the equipment used in the business has helped him, “This shop that we have a business in, is nearly 80 to 90 years old. It has been modernised by everybody that has owned it. The first two companies installed new equipment and then when we took over, we made further improvements. About 10 years ago we modernised the front of the shop, which meant new windows and new cabinets, which resulted in the saving of a lot of work-time. Switching the refrigeration system to an upgraded version has saved us about 16 hours a day.”

Outsourcing of work

The business has used innovative techniques to stay ahead and has incorporated several strategies aimed at increasing its sales while maintaining the highest quality in its products. One step which it took in this direction was that we stopped the cooking process and outsourced it to a company who was also responsible to ensure the quality of the product that it delivered. As a result of this, Greg could use the time which became available to him to concentrate on increasing his retail and wholesale business.

Greg has also outsourced the work connected with preparing the beef for sale. When he was doing this in-house he had to employ three butchers for the task. After outsourcing the process, he now saves $500 a week in addition to the wages of the three butchers. He has also saved himself the trouble of finding competent butchers as this is a skill that is not readily available.

The business has initiated a loyalty club which results in repeat visits by customers. It has done exceedingly well by garnering 3500 members. Here too, the work is outsourced to a vendor who manages the entire process. We feel the introduction of the Loyalty Club helped us through the GFC crisis.

Computerisation

Greg is always looking out for ways to improve the business and save on costs. Here he describes one such step that he took, “I have been butchering for 50 years this year and I have been in this shop for 44 years. I have worked elsewhere during my apprenticeship. I love technology, I think its terrific. When we first took over the business we computerised our operations. My wife took over all the work relating to wages and tax statements.

“We switched over from handwritten dockets to computerised dockets. There are ways and means of doing things. In the first two years we used to print a full A4 page for a docket and it used to frustrate me because it looked very big and cumbersome. So we found a way of creating two dockets on one page sideways and with this little change we have saved $6000 in one year in ink cartridges and paper.”

Suppliers

Greg has built a network of reliable suppliers that provide his establishment with everything that he needs to run his business. He says, “We have good relations with quite a few companies. We probably have 16 to 20 suppliers for different things including dry stores, chicken, poultry, beef, lamb, veal and bacon meats. There would probably be four suppliers whom I would have a really close connection with. One is M.C. Herds, Cutfresh Pty Ltd. and there is a company in the city called Pacific Meats – these are all meat suppliers.

“The chicken supplier that I have been dealing with for ten to fifteen years is called KRC Chickens. There is another dry store company that I do 90% of my business with called Complete Butchers Supply. When I buy my machinery I go to a company called Viking, it used to be called Butcher’s Machinery.”

Changing demands of customers

Over the half century that Greg has been a butcher he has seen the evolving tastes of the customer. What has remained constant is his constant desire to give them the best at competitive prices. Greg is confident that customers will always want quality and the success of his business shows how true that is.

“The demands of customers have changed a lot since I began. It is a lot harder now. People now know exactly what they want, they are very fussy about what they eat now. That’s why we deal in good quality meat. We don’t even attempt to try and compete with the supermarkets. We have two big meat suppliers down here that sell meat for next to nothing. But we are still here and we have people coming in because they know they are going to get good quality all the time including service and a smile.”

No plans to retire soon

“I’ll probably never retire,” says Greg, “I have a goal of coming to work two or three times a week and letting my son take over and that is probably within the next five or six years. And I would like to step back and just do it that way. I have customers that used to come in as little children. So it is a great reward to see those sort of customers come back and I enjoy it. I enjoy the people and I can stand there and talk to them. I try to make people happy and makes sure that they walk out of my shop smiling. If I can stay at it, I will, because that’s the way I am.”