Western Morning News (Saturday)
Carving out a fantastic future with hard work
I’VE recently come across two chaps whose ambition and desire to succeed seems to be paying off in spades, despite the difficult times we live in.
As a young lad, Oliver Horrocks didn’t like to ask his Dad for pocket money. Instead he went along to his local butcher’s shop in Surrey and got a Saturday job sweeping up, watching the master butcher cut the meat and learn how the shop ran.
After his GCSEs the butcher’s offered Oliver an apprenticeship. He jumped at the chance, completing his three-year apprenticeship in half the time, despite being badly dyslexic. “I was really enthusiastic and excited at the prospect of becoming a butcher” he says.
After 12 years, Oliver left to work alongside Michelin star chefs in a London butchery and started the catering wing of the business for them. “I learned so much from working at the elite end of the company. It was a fantastic opportunity to understand recipes, the creative side of butchery, making convenient, oven ready products and it fuelled my desire to open up my own place.”
In October last year that desire came true. An old-established butchers in Totnes High Street came up for sale and Oliver and his partner Hannah poured their savings into making it work. “It took me four months to clean the place and another two before we could open at the end of March this year,” he says.
Oliver thinks butchery is changing. “People want convenience meat nowadays,” he says. “They’ve lost their connection to the kitchen and have come to rely on Deliveroo and McDonald’s. So I have to cater for that too. I do meat that is ready to put in the oven – for example marinated pork that I make into a roulade, stuffed and dressed.”
Oliver also makes his own scotch eggs, sausages, pork pies and pasties. “We make everything except black pudding. I buy the complete carcass of meat, from nose to tail so I can provide any cut. I use wholesalers for part of our business but I also buy from small local farmers and only then after I’ve visited the farm. I source meat for quality over locality.”
There’s no shortage of choice in “Oliver’s”. Everything from guinea fowl, hare, roe deer, quail, wood pigeon, and roe deer are obtained from a local stalker. Pork comes from woodland reared pigs, such as Gloucester Old Spots.
Meat may not be suitable for everyone’s budget but Oliver reckons that we don’t need to eat too much protein and can buy cheaper cuts of meat and make them go further. “I’m always being stopped in the street and asked about meat. People come into the shop and ask for recipes and I’m delighted to be able to help. I never stop learning. I think I’m quite quirky. I love Totnes and don’t have ambitions to open other branches but I would like to be able to teach butchery one day.”
Fletcher Andrews, 27, could be Oliver’s twin, matching him for enthusiasm, professionalism and hard work. He started “Fletcher’s” restaurant on Princess Street, Plymouth four years ago. Plymouth born and bred, Fletcher hasn’t worked outside of Devon. “I love the area and I don’t believe the grass is greener elsewhere,” he says.
His restaurant has raised the restaurant bar in the Westcountry. Fletcher has a 19-strong team working flat out to provide some of the best food I’ve eaten – and I say that from a standpoint of having worked with Michel Roux in his Michelin
I also buy from small local farmers and only then after I’ve visited the farm. I source meat for quality over locality
star restaurant in London. “Fletcher’s” though does not charge London prices.
Fletcher learned his trade working at the New Continental hotel, Plymouth from the age of 16. At the same time he trained at Plymouth’s City College, passing his exams there with distinction after two years training. Three months after Anton Piotrowski won BBC’s Masterchef, Fletcher started work at his restaurant, The Treby Arms in Sparkwell, Devon. Fletcher was part of the team that saw the restaurant get two rosettes and a Michelin star.
Working a minimum of 80 hours a week was tough but he learned many skills. “It was make or break,” he says. It turned out to be “make” and Fletcher went on to open his own restaurant – the dream of every chef. He doesn’t compromise on standards. “I spend a long time sourcing the very best of the best. I talk to supply companies on a daily basis and once I know what’s available, my team and I get together to produce the best innovative dishes we possibly can – we make everything from our own butter upwards.”
Despite times being tough – he’s just coping with gas and electricity bills that have just gone up by £900 a month – Fletcher is trying hard not to pass on the costs, but hopes customers realise what goes on in a restaurant to justify the costs. “People don’t realise that we start work at 8.30am and finish at 12.45am.
“So many people have no idea of the painstaking work that goes on behind the kitchen door or realise that we are a team of passionate, professional individuals who put a lot of love into what we are doing”.
Visit: Fletchersrestaurant.co.uk and Oliversbutchery.co.uk