Cotswold Fayre launches specialist butchers range

The main range currently focuses on meat accompaniments, such as sauces, marinades, seasoning, meat snacks and stuffing, which naturally fit with a butcher shop’s main offering.

However, Cotswold Fayre has not only seen the demand from butcher shops increase over the past two years, but also noted that early adopters of meat accompaniments are now expanding their offer to include additional categories such as desserts.

Paul Hargreaves, chief executive at Cotswold Fayre said, “The food retail market continues to evolve at a pace with savvy independent retailers, across all sectors looking to capitalise on the consumer trends of the top-up shop and dining in premium treat occasion.”

“Butchers are no different. In fact they have a huge head start as shoppers actively seek out not only quality meat but also advice on cuts and cooking delivered with the knowledge that is only offered by a specialist butcher. Offering additional products would seem to be a logical step.”

There were 15,000 butchers in the UK in 1990 and by 2016 this number was reported to have dropped to 5,400, perhaps underpinning the need for diversification.

“Talking to some of our butcher customers, sales of non-meat products can make up a substantial proportion of their total sales, with a third stating that it represents between 10-25 per cent of total sales,” continues Paul Hargreaves.

Derek Crimmins, manager of farm-based butcher and farm shop Lidgates at Crockford Bridge Farm in Surrey said, “While a major part of our shop is the butchers, we are aware that not all customers visit with the sole intention of buying meat, so we try to stock lots of other interesting products to tempt everyone. Our customers are buying top quality meat and they want accompaniments that are of equal quality.”

Mark Bradbury of butcher’s shop Bradbury’s of Ravenshead said, “It is better to offer a wider variety of produce than just rely on one main line of produce, and we have been stocking complementary products for more than 15 years.

“Now, we don’t just stock products associated with meat, but have found that biscuits sell particularly well – not quite what I would have expected when opening the shop!”

More information about the range can be found by visiting the Cotswold Fayre website.

Image: The meat counter at Lidgates