An unstoppable passion for red meat

Doug Piper is Meat & Livestock Australia`s resident butcher who has been with the company for 14 years, learning and sharing his knowledge around many aspects of the beef and lamb industry. Doug shares about his career in the meat industry.

Q: When did you first realise you had a passion for butchery?

A: Like many young people, I had had enough of school and wanted to get out into the workforce. In 1977, I unsuccessfully travelled around the Adelaide suburbs applying for an apprenticeship in carpentry. Eventually, I decided to follow my uncle`s footsteps into the meat industry.

My apprenticeship started in a busy inner city butcher shop in the Central Markets of Adelaide. For the first six months, all I had in my kit was a scrubbing brush and I became very talented at raking the sawdust on the floor. At that stage the closest I got to cutting meat was cutting up the freshly culled kangaroos in the store owner’s pet shop and displaying the offal in the meat display on Friday and Saturday mornings.

Our family moved to Sydney 12 months later where I completed my apprenticeship and continued to work in an industry that I am proud to be a part of today. In 1985 I purchased my first butcher shop. I was about 24 years old and thought I knew everything. Since that day I have never stopped learning.

I have worked in many areas of the meat industry from owning retail shops, working in large wholesale outlets, working as the meat manager for a supermarket chain, selling continental small goods, working as a meat specialist for a broad line foodservice company to selling sausage casings to butchers out of the back of a van.  

Q: What does a normal week look like for you?  

A: To be honest there is no such a thing as a normal week for me. My role is extremely diverse. Some weeks I can be in the office planning workshops and retail programs, sitting in on many internal and external meetings, providing advice, answering questions from consumers and trade to working across many of MLA`s business units to educating production staff in a processing facility in Russia.

Q: What drives you to work in the meat industry?

A: The interaction with people throughout the meat industry, producers, processors, wholesalers, hospitality staff and, most of all, butchers.

I have been fortunate enough to meet many butchers from all over the country. Out of this I have created many great friendships. I understand what it takes to run a business and how hard it is today so being able to listen to butchers and share my knowledge about beef and lamb is a valuable driver for me.

Over the years, I have been extremely fortunate to work around Australia and throughout the world, educating retailers, chefs and consumers about the quality of Australian beef, lamb, goat and veal through carcase breakdowns and meat appreciation workshops.

Australia has some of the best meat in the world grown by passionate and hardworking farmers; this is a part of my work I love to talk about when travelling; being able to talk to people about the Australian beef and lamb industry and how well our farmers are at sustainably growing our unique product.

Q:  What is your favourite cut of beef or lamb?

A:  At the moment it’s a toss-up between the hanging tender and a flat tron steak; both are full of flavour, easy to cook and a little bit different.       

Q: What are you currently working on?

A: Our retail team is currently creating a new Australian Butchers Guild website. The website will be a hub of information for butchers to use. The site will house information about beef, lamb, goat and veal, including images, recipes, value added resources and cuts, sections on sustainability and processing, the whole paddock to plate industry and will also host videos that butchers will be able to use in store.