New Katanning butcher aims to support local farmers

Business has been booming for Katanning’s new butcher shop — JB’s Quality Meats.

It’s been at least eight years since the town has had its own dedicated butcher shop.

For owner Jay Beeck, it was been a year-long process to get the doors open for the first day of trade on March 25, but well worth the effort.

Along with Damon Powell, the Katanning butchers are bucking the trend, according to the Australian Meat Industry Council.

In the past 20 years, the number of butcher shops in WA has halved to 250.

AMIC WA member services Michael Thomas said it was quite a celebration when a butcher shop opened in a country town.

Across the board, Mr Thomas said the meat council was not seeing growth in the number of butcher shops and several small retailers had closed recently in Perth.

“We are seeing that established butcher shops are holding their own and growing their market share against supermarkets who at the moment are fairly aggressive.”

The price war between supermarket market giants Coles and Woolworths has hit many small businesses, and butcher shops have not been immune.

“There is always going to be a need for service, and butcher shops give a good service with a good product and fulfil that role,” Mr Thomas said. “Those that are doing well are located in close proximity to supermarkets which attract consumers.”

Mr Beeck said he built his shop around old-fashioned good-quality customer service and quality.

“It’s the chance for locals to buy fresh, quality meat and I think butcher shops are coming back into fashion,” Mr Beeck said.

Beef, sheep and chicken are sourced from WA farms, through Western Meat Packers and Goodchild Meats — to meet halal requirements.

“We also have a line of Harvey Fresh milk for sale,” he said.

“We really want to support WA farmers in dairy, sheep and the beef industry, (with) pressure on farmers to sell below cost of production.”