Perelle Butchery: Meet the producer
Being a butcher takes more than early starts and long hours - it takes passion, resilience, and a deep understanding of quality.
For one Guernsey butcher, the trade runs in the family. After learning the craft from his father and spending decades in the industry, he and his wife Kim took on a new challenge: running Perelle Butchery and continuing a proud local tradition.
What made you want to become a butcher?
You could say butchery is in my blood. My Dad was a butcher straight out of school until he retired. My Mum would help in his shop and do deliveries which from a young age I often tagged along for the drive.
When I was old enough I started working Saturdays in the shop and when I left school I started fulltime, learning the trade from my Dad.
I am now in my 35th year in the trade and still have plenty of energy and passion for it, something I believe is key to being successful in this profession.
Outside of work I enjoy cooking various cuisines and love cooking a good BBQ. This comes in very useful when asked for advice.
When Tony approached Myself & Kim (my wife) with his intension to retire and giving us the option to purchase Perelle Butchery, we knew it was too good an opportunity to pass up. The timing couldn’t have been better; Kim had been looking for a new challenge for some time and I was ready for a bigger role and here we are. Ed, Rick, Nick, Kim & myself make up ‘Team Perelle’
An average day?
Myself & Kim’s day is non-stop from the moment we arrive and doesn’t often end when we lock the door at closing time.
From preparing products for our eye-catching display counters to serve up to our amazing customers whose enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment of what we do pushes us to provide the best and to keep coming up with tasty new ideas.
Ed & Rick’s average day consists of making, packing and delivering our range of high quality sausages to The Coop stores island wide amongst other things.
Nick runs our in-store counter in the Coop store in St Martins, keeping him busy.
The hardest part of being a butcher?
That’s a tricky one for some it probably the early starts and long hours but its something you adjust to overtime.
What's the importance of buying local?
Buying locally is a positive in many areas, providing jobs, supporting the local economy, reducing carbon footprint, to being able to ask advice, recommendations and seeing your purchase first hand before you commit to buy.
