Kevin Armstrong outside his Maddington butcher shop, The Beef Shop.
26 Dec, 2009 04:00 AM
BEEF producer and meat retailer Kevin Armstrong has called for an industry-wide conference to encourage communication along the beef supply chain.
Mr Armstrong, a beef farmer for 35 years at Boyup Brook, Benger and Kalgan, was inspired to open The Beef Shop after the 2007 beef crisis meeting.
"I came home from that meeting more confused than when I arrived," Mr Armstrong said.
"I said to my wife that if we want to keep going in this industry, we need to have a butcher shop."
So the Armstrongs purchased a wholesale butcher store in Maddington, hired a farm manager, and moved to Perth.
After spending $1.2 million and developing their own beef brand, Willowbank, the duo now process between 15-20 beef carcases per week.
Mr Armstrong said they had come a long way but it was a very hard business to be in.
Like many producers, he said prior to starting the business he thought butchers were making a fortune while beef producers did it tough.
"It's been a lot harder than we ever thought," Mr Armstrong said.
"I used to sit back on the farm and think that butchers have got it easy and were killing the pig, but that's not the case.
"My eyes have been opened.
"Now I invite farmers to come and have a look to help them understand the costs invovled with this side of the industry."
Mr Armstrong said the best thing that could happen for the beef industry would be a seminar-type function whereby everyone involved in the industry, right along the supply chain, attended.
"Farmers, butchers, chefs - everyone could attend and showcase what they're about so that the whole industry can come together and have a better understanding of where each other are coming from, from start to finish," Mr Armstrong said.
"At the moment the beef industry in WA is full of meat from the east because of the high Australian dollar.
"Some butchers buy it because they are trying to cut a profit but that's not why we got into this in the first place.
"We're new kids on the block and it takes a long time to get a good name.
"But we know we've got a quality product, it's just a matter of getting it out there."
Mr Armstrong, a beef farmer for 35 years at Boyup Brook, Benger and Kalgan, was inspired to open The Beef Shop after the 2007 beef crisis meeting.
"I came home from that meeting more confused than when I arrived," Mr Armstrong said.
"I said to my wife that if we want to keep going in this industry, we need to have a butcher shop."
So the Armstrongs purchased a wholesale butcher store in Maddington, hired a farm manager, and moved to Perth.
After spending $1.2 million and developing their own beef brand, Willowbank, the duo now process between 15-20 beef carcases per week.
Mr Armstrong said they had come a long way but it was a very hard business to be in.
Like many producers, he said prior to starting the business he thought butchers were making a fortune while beef producers did it tough.
"It's been a lot harder than we ever thought," Mr Armstrong said.
"I used to sit back on the farm and think that butchers have got it easy and were killing the pig, but that's not the case.
"My eyes have been opened.
"Now I invite farmers to come and have a look to help them understand the costs invovled with this side of the industry."
Mr Armstrong said the best thing that could happen for the beef industry would be a seminar-type function whereby everyone involved in the industry, right along the supply chain, attended.
"Farmers, butchers, chefs - everyone could attend and showcase what they're about so that the whole industry can come together and have a better understanding of where each other are coming from, from start to finish," Mr Armstrong said.
"At the moment the beef industry in WA is full of meat from the east because of the high Australian dollar.
"Some butchers buy it because they are trying to cut a profit but that's not why we got into this in the first place.
"We're new kids on the block and it takes a long time to get a good name.
"But we know we've got a quality product, it's just a matter of getting it out there."
as posted here
No comments:
Post a Comment
comments will be moderated before posting, allow some time before they appear if they are accepted ...