Meat the company that’s a cut above

BELIEF in a product is one of the prerequisites of good business. It’s not essential, but it certainly helps to sell something if you know that the goods you’re selling are the best.

However, a genuine passion for a product, caring about how it is sourced, lovingly preparing it, delivering it with instructions on how best to enjoy it and using social media to share the experience with customers...that is rare.

That is the approach of the Great British Meat Co., the brainchild of brothers in butchery Dan and Jamie Freeman and their partner Sam Wass.

The brothers combined their passion for locallysourced, top quality meat with Sam’s marketing expertise to come up with the online concept and help encourage consumers to not only buy the best, but enjoy the experience.

“We’re from a generation that no longer uses a butcher,”

said Sam. “The vast majority of people nowadays will buy their meat from the supermarket on the weekly shop in vacuum packed polystyrene trays – we’ve forgotten how to buy meat.

“Our parents would chat with the butcher and he’d tell them which part of the animal the cut was from, how to prepare it, how much they would need for a family of four...these are all things that we’re trying to bring back.”

The Great British Meat Co.

is an online retailer of meat, but that is not its USP. The company prides itself on not only providing the best product, but also providing the best customer experience.

THE company is an offshoot of Freeman’s Catering Butchers, which started life as J Freeman & Sons Butchers in South Shields in 1953.

Employing 45 people, Freeman’s has grown in popularity and size thanks to its traditional values passed through three generations of the Freeman family. The firm is one of the best known catering butchers in the North of England supplying top restaurants and hotels.

The company has an annual turnover in excess of £5m and earlier this year claimed the title “National Catering Butcher of the Year”.

Dan said: “We’re third generation butchers. Our grandfather started the business in 1953 and we’re carrying on the traditions he prided himself on 60 years ago.

“There is almost a fear in asking questions about meat these days, but what we’ve found is that people will ask these questions online – how many servings will I get from this cut? What is the best way to cook this meat? Can you tell me how best to prepare it?

These are all questions that were commonplace in butcher’s shops years ago, but people just don’t ask anymore.

“Through our website and social media, we encourage this interaction. We want to hear about customers enjoying the product, but we also want to make sure they are getting the most from their purchase – it’s one of the key reasons why they’ll come back again.”

Every purchase made through the Great British Meat Co. is delivered with a hand-written card from the butcher, of whom they have 27. This can include details of where the meat has been sourced, how it was prepared or just a simple message wishing them an enjoyable meal and a thank you for their custom.

“We’re committed to buying locally,” added Jamie. “We believe the best produce is here, on our doorstep, but if there is better elsewhere then we will follow the quality and that is why we’re doing so well. While it is true that people do not use butchers like they used to, there is an increase in interest in food, with the amount of cooking shows on TV and celebrity chefs these days, so we’re making it easy for them to source quality.

“Those people who are passionate about their food will ask for specific cuts, American cuts are quite popular. They understand that we can meet their specifications and we deliver anything they want.”

The Freeman brothers and Sam tested the market for the Great British Meat Company last Christmas and after positive feedback officially launched the company in June.

They have enjoyed a 50 per cent increase on business each month since June and are gearing up for a busy Christmas.

“Each month helps us understand our market a little bit more,” added Sam, who cut his teeth in event management before concentrating on the Great British Meat Co. “We were worried that people would just not feel comfortable buying meat online, but we knew that if we could build momentum then we could win people over with customer service.

However, there was much more of an appetite than we gave people credit for and we have been kept incredibly busy since we launched the company.”

ESTABLISHING a solid business base in the North East was the first key milestone set by the company. Within a month that was secured and orders started to flow in from further afield.

Dan said: “We have these small, but rapidly growing markets all over the country.

We got one order from Pembrokeshire and within a month we have 20 new customers all ordering meat from Pembrokeshire. The same thing has happened in Devon.

“People like what we do and how we work. They tell their friends or engage with us and them on social media and before you know it via good service, excellent product and the all-important word of mouth we have a customer base.”

In keeping with the traditional family butcher values and focus on customer service, The Great British Meat Co. has invested heavily in its website. All meat is photographed professionally, with no standard “catalogue”

images. Customers can shop by cut, shop by meat, browse the shop, interact with the owners and butchers, get recipe advice and even access a blog with industry news, tips and special offers.

“We’re your friendly, neighbourhood online butchers,” said Sam. “Our reputation is growing and our customers are happy.”

This growing reputation is being enhanced by the company’s modern approach to marketing itself. They organised a “pop-up”

restaurant in Saltwell Park, where North East chef Dave Kennedy served nothing but Great British Meat Co.

produce. They are also holding a series of butchery classes at Blackfriars Restaurant in Newcastle.

The next venture will see the company tackling overseas misconceptions about British meat as they look to open up foreign markets. It may seem like a daunting task given the stigma attached to British meat after both foot and mouth disease and the BSE crisis.

“We’re keen to expand into exports after receiving a great deal of interest in our products from overseas,”

added Jamie. “At the moment it’s not economically viable to send a box of steaks over the California where we have received interest, but we’ll work out a way to do it.

“Likewise there’s Europe.

We have had enquiries from forces bases in Germany where they’ve basically said to us “tell us how much we need to order for it to be worth your while”, but it’s not easy selling UK meat overseas.”

The export market promises a great deal and the Great British Meat Co. is working closely with the North East Chamber of Commerce to ensure it can get its products to overseas markets.

NECC chief executive, James Ramsbotham, said: “The Great British Meat Co. is a modern, forwardthinking new business that has grown out of a great established North East institution.

“Breaking new ground in business while maintaining the old-school traditions associated with a proud trade is what has set them apart from the competition and helped them blaze a trail not only across the North East, but increasingly across the UK. Freeman’s Catering Butchers is a business that grew during the recession.

They are experts in their craft and I feel certain they will make a huge success of this latest venture.”

Visit the Great British Meat Co. at greatbritishmeat.com/ or follow on twitter @meat_people