Meet the butcher

Tim Rose

Premier Meats, Tenterfield, NSW

Tim Rose has been a butcher for 40 years, operating his own shop for 33 of those years with his wife Carmel in Tenterfield, NSW. Here, we talk to Tim about his approach to managing an award-winning independent butcher shop in a region that’s been challenged by ongoing drought and bushfires. 

Q: You’ve operated your own shop for over three decades – what’s the key to ongoing success in the industry?

Flexibility in what you do and meeting your customers’ needs is key. Your biggest asset is the ability to listen to customers and not be afraid to go out on a limb and try something different.

Over the years, customers themselves have changed of course. We started out with a lot of clientele from the previous business that was here, and they were the old-style shoppers that shopped once a week and you didn’t really have to ask them what they wanted because they ordered pretty much the same products every week.

But now, our younger customers don’t really know what they want, and you have to try to meet their needs the best you can with a variety of products that are appealing to the eye, and easy to cook. You might see the same shoppers three times in one week now – there’s definitely been a move towards day-to-day shopping rather than planning ahead.

Q: What are your bestselling beef and lamb products?

It’s still the choice cuts that customers are seeking. For beef, it’s rib eye, rump or T-bone steak. The secondary cuts are harder to sell so we have to try to value-add to them.

For lamb, it’s steady because of the price at the moment, but we still sell quite a few butterfly legs and butterfly shoulders because they’re easy to bake or barbecue.

Q: Are customers more aware of provenance these days?

Our customers are very much aware of drought because we’re surrounded by it, and the impact bushfires have had. That’s probably a question I get asked two or three times a day – how or where are we sourcing our beef and lamb under the current circumstances?

We’re very lucky to be able to source our beef and lamb directly from local Tenterfield producers, or regionally within a 150km radius of the town, so we don’t have to rely on wholesalers.

We’ve been sourcing beef from Warwick, which is only 90 minutes away, because the producers there have been able to source grain to finish their cattle on.

Around 35% of our trade is what we class as passing trade – tourists and repeat out-of-town customers who come in every month or two months, and where we source our products from is a common question among them as well.

We have a lot of grey nomads who are repeat customers every year. We had a customer come in from Canada, who had been referred to us by another person from Canada – word of mouth is a wonderful thing. 

Q: What are your points of difference that set you apart from your competitors?

When I took over the business, it came with a smokehouse and there were a few standard recipes we were using, and we’ve now expanded that into a large line of smoked smallgoods.

We put a lot more emphasis on our own smallgoods as a point of difference, and that attracts customers from further afield. We do all of our own bacon and hams and other smoked meats such as lamb, venison and duck. We also produce six varieties of salami.

We’ve been successful with the Sausage King competition at a regional and State level. It’s become a large part of our business and we have about 60 different varieties of gourmet sausages. Each week, we have a minimum of 12 to 15 varieties that we have available for customers to choose from.

Q: What are some of the challenges of running an independent butcher shop in a small community?

You have to keep your customers happy. You don’t have the advantage of passing trade where 300 people are walking past your counter every day in a shopping centre complex.

You rely on customers to walk through your door with one thing on their mind – that they know they can get good quality products. If they’re not satisfied, they won’t come back.

In a small rural community, you have to go that extra mile to keep them very happy, and not be afraid to try new things.

More information:

Tim Rose
Premier Meats, Tenterfield, NSW
pmeats@ozemail.com.au