The teacher who bought a butchery
Former owner Grant Hurley was keen to retire after 32 years of butchery alongside being part of the town’s volunteer fire brigade and its fire chief for a dozen years.
The business has been known for years for its old style and dry cured bacon, which has always attracted those in the know passing through the town, as well as locals.
‘‘Fans of our bacon describe it as real bacon – thick, perfectly salty, crispy without sticking to the pan,’’ Frengley-Vaipuna said.
She’s aiming to beef up demand for their meat and Flying Pig bacon through online orders, and has high hopes of glory in the Retail Meat NZ’s bacon competition, which will be judged next week.
The couple took over the business on a wet and windy day in June 2021.
‘‘A horrible day and we were full of enthusiasm,’’ FrengleyVaipuna said.
Two years on and that enthusiasm remains, whether it’s getting to grips with the administrative side of the job, or the marketing, and making sure the website is firing with online orders.
For Ingrid, the business was a chance for a total career change after a lifetime in education.
Trained as a teacher in Perth, she has also taught in Tonga (where she and Paul met and married) and Taranaki, where she was head of English at
Hāwera High School and then deputy principal at Pā tea Area School.
‘‘I’m still involved in education, one day a week at Te Paepae o Aotea in an advisory role. But I decided if I didn’t do something different now, I never would,’’ she said.
Her husband is engineering manager at Taranaki Byproducts, a job he enjoys, she said.
The couple have four adult children and a whā ngai daughter.
‘‘They’ve all gone through phases of being vegetarian and vegan. I call them ethical eaters,’’ she said, laughing. ‘‘I’ve been quite carnivorous lately – I must be the quality control.’’
The couple, who live on a lifestyle property, have always raised their own meat animals.
‘‘We got used to eating really good-quality meat and I refuse, even though it’s costing us, to use anything except New Zealand meat in the butchery.
‘‘We’re trying to hit these sustainable niches, future-proof the business by offering the best ethical choices.’’
Her chief executive ‘‘office’’ is a modest space the size of a large wardrobe. There’s a row of white gumboots next to her office chair and the rolltop desk used by Hurley.
Butcher Mark Parata manages the shop and home kill sections, assisted by newly minted apprentice Jack Tamakehu, one of FrengleyVaipuna’s former students, who listed ‘‘I like steak’’ along with his other skills, on his job application letter.
Jack has already mastered sausage-making, which is his favourite part of the job, he said.
‘‘I don’t think I could ever be a vegetarian or vegan, I like meat too much.’’
Frengley-Vaipuna is getting to know about the art of butchery from the apprentice’s assignments.
‘‘I get to look at what he’s learning, and I’ve learned so much too,’’ she said.
She’s also dreaming of renovating the cafe space next door, and of hosting ‘‘pig occasions’’ with an ethically farmed Berkshire pig on a spit in the courtyard behind the shop.
‘‘I have big dreams,’’ she said.
‘‘I don’t think I could ever be a vegetarian or vegan, I like meat too much.’’
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