Butchers benefit from cooking-at-home surge – and long may it continue says Scott Brothers

There are many things that we have learnt in recent months, and two of these are the importance of shopping local and cooking at home. Being unable to eat out in restaurants until recently has encouraged us to be more creative in the kitchen as lockdown living not only boosted our appetite for home-cooked meals, but for quality too.

One industry that has benefited from these positive changes is our butchers.

So who better to speak to than Scott Jarron of familyrun Scott Brothers butchers in Dundee, which has been in business for 85 years.

Like other butchers in Scotland, the three Dundee branches of Scott Brothers have benefited from a sharp rise in customer numbers during the coronavirus outbreak, especially as we can begin to barbecue again and host al-fresco gatherings at home.

Scott, who is also president of Scottish Craft Butchers, an organisation representing all the butchers in Scotland, explained: “Barbecuing and eating at home in general has become the norm, as Covid has pushed people to experiment at home, meaning butchers and other local business have had a massive boost.

“The weather has been in our favour this year which helps.

“There are massive benefits to cooking and eating at home, including seeing the ingredients you are using and portion control so you tend not to eat so much. And when people start considering what they are eating, they begin to think about quality of ingredients, and that’s when butchers step in.

“We have a huge variety of burgers, sausages and kebabs, many of which are allergen free as we are trying to grab as many customers as possible.”

During the pandemic, when supermarkets failed to meet the demand for mince and other meat products and were unable to keep fridges stocked, butchers came into their own, as they were able to meet the demand.

Scott added: “Butchers stepped in, and we can do that because we mince different parts of the animal, whereas supermarkets don’t have that flexibility.

“We have enjoyed a fabulous upsurge in trade during these months and, as butchers, we would like to try and hold on to that. Moving forwards, I would like to think that people would choose butcher meat over supermarket meat.”

Besides being guaranteed a quality meat product by shopping at your local butcher, there are many other benefits to buying from a butcher including: personal service and consistency.

Scott points out: “You can physically speak to the butcher, have a conversation, and ask a question, you’re not going to get an answer in a supermarket.

“We also guaranteed consistency, as we have a short supply chain that is regular because the customers like it. So, week in week out, we go to the same sources to get the meat we put on our counter.

“I source 15-20 cattle from two farms every week throughout the year – not from a processor which deals with many different breeds of cattle from hundreds of farms – so the tastes and flavours remain consistent, just as our customers like it.”

“...the tastes and flavours remain consistent, just as our customers like it.”