Butcher: What is the cost of hiring?

Why recruit a butcher

A reputable butcher will sell your customers high quality meat cuts, advising them on portion sizes and recommendations for cooking. They will be skilled at using a range of tools like meat grinders, saws, and knives to cut meat for your customers. Good butchers are coordinated and can use equipment safely to provide your customers with the meat portions that they have requested. 

Contributions of a great butcher:

– Skilled at using a range of meat cutting tools, which they use safely.

– Can organise meat deliveries to customers, or arrange pickups with your customers.

– Organises your budget for meat, and keeps an inventory.

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance butcher

Hiring a butcher on a full-time or permanent basis is useful if you run a supermarket, or retail outlet where your customers would benefit from a butcher’s counter. Hiring a permanent butcher can be useful here as your customers can get to know them on a personal basis, and it means that there is always someone in your shop who can advise customers on different cuts. However, if one of your butchers is on leave, you can hire a butcher on a contract basis to cover their shifts during their absence. You may also hire part time butchers on a contract to deal with especially busy times of the year, such as Christmas, when customers are looking to buy cuts for a roast dinner.

What are the different types of butcher?

You should look for a butcher that understands the duties and responsibilities of your business. If you are a supermarket, then you should look to find a butcher that has strong experience of working in retail alongside their butcher skills. If you run a butcher’s shop and are looking for additional support during busy periods, then you may look to train an apprentice butcher, or hire a butcher’s assistant. If you run a kitchen, then you may look for a butcher who is familiar with working alongside chefs to provide your customers with requested cuts.

• Kitchen butcher: Has experience working alongside a team of chefs to provide different cuts.
• Supermarket butcher: Works on a counter in a retail outlet, talking to customers about their preferences and providing professional cut recommendations.
• Apprentice butcher: Works alongside an experienced butcher to gain on-the-job experience that goes towards a qualification.
• Butcher’s assistant: A recently trained butcher who works alongside an experienced butcher to gain further on-the-job experience.
• Industrial butcher: Slaughters livestock in a slaughterhouse, which also involves skinning and cleaning carcasses.

Where to find a butcher

Tailoring your search to the kind of butcher you are looking for is a good start. If your butcher candidates do not require highly specialised techniques or skills, then you can aim to begin your search locally, posting advertisements in your shop window, on your jobs board or in your local jobcentre. However, if you need a specific skill set from a butcher, such as being familiar with working alongside chefs working in a particular cuisine, then you may need to broaden your search. In this case, you might use a recruitment agency or network with other professionals in the food industry.

To find the right butcher for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Networking with food industry professionals: Find candidates looking for a change in job by networking with other food or butcher professionals in your local area. 
• Advertising in your window: Post a flyer containing a short job description and contact details in your shop window.
• Advertising on a jobs board: Advertise the role on an online jobs board or in the window of your local jobcentre.
• Attending jobs fairs and advertising apprenticeship vacancies: Meet potential butcher candidates face to face at food industry jobs fairs or food industry networking events across the country.

Post your job online: Try posting your job for a butcher on Indeed to find and attract quality butcher candidates.

Writing a butcher job description

A great candidate for a butcher will have the following skills and attributes as well as work experience that reflects:

• Attention to detail
• Calmness and methodical approach
• Great customer service
• Mathematical skills
• An interest in cooking or food

Writing a butcher job description

A thoughtful description is important for finding qualified butcher candidates. A butcher job description includes a compelling summary of the role, detailed list of duties and responsibilities, and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your  job description for a butcher, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on butchers jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Butcher
• Butchers
• Trainee
• Butchery
• Meat
• Apprenticeship
• Morrisons
• Warehouse

Interviewing butcher candidates

Strong candidates for butcher positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Time management on busy days with queues
• On-the-job experience and butcher training
• Knowledge of meat cutting techniques and tools
• Personal interest in meat dishes and cooking
• Why they are interested in your business
• Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of butcher interview questions for examples (with sample answers).