Latest news with #butcher
National Post
18 hours ago
- Business
- National Post
Terry Newman: Why your steak sucks this summer
Article content When questioned about where the meat comes from, he said that, 'The chicken is almost 99 per cent Canadian. The beef and the pork, one day we could get 10 cases of back ribs and it's all Canadian, and the next day we get two cases of American.' Article content Yet 'none of the labels would tell you. That's what the little flags are for,' he explained, pointing to signs sitting above a bin of meat. 'Every couple of hours, they're constantly revising it in terms of what is and what isn't (Canadian).' Article content Again, there was nothing on the individual packages of meat to indicate whether the beef is foreign or homegrown, just flags or signs being shifted around to indicate whether beef is Canadian. Article content I spoke to a fourth butcher, this time at a Loblaws store, who confirmed that if it is not marked, there is no way for consumers to tell if the beef they are buying is from the United States or elsewhere. Article content At this location, a display case with unpackaged prime cuts featured some pieces of meat with flags indicating that they were Canadian. However, other meats in the case did not have any country-identifying information. Article content Article content There were packages of beef marked 'Canadian Beef,' with stickers saying, 'Pick the Beef with the Leaf,' and clearly displaying a black Canadian flag with 'Canada' written in the centre on each individual package. Article content Article content However, there was also beef that was unmarked. For example, a section filled with stewing beef, striploins and eye round marinating steaks with and without 'Canadian Pepper Seasoning' did not bear the same Canadian symbol on the individual packages. Article content Article content Article content The Loblaws butcher did, however, point to price tags above one bin of meats that had Canadian flags on it. These, he told me, were brought in as part of the 'Buy Canadian' movement against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. But these weren't everywhere in the store. In this location, they were above some vacuum-sealed, pre-seasoned pork products. Article content Article content Article content Grading requirements aside, I needed to determine whether the butchers were correct about Canadians not being able to tell if their meat is not Canadian. Article content I contacted Metro, Loblaws and the CFIA to ask why, as per the butchers I spoke with, there appears to be a lack of clarity around the labelling of meats from foreign countries, despite the rules posted on the food agency's website. Article content I asked Stephanie Bonk, communications manager for Metro, if the butchers were correct in saying that beyond marked boxes out back, consumers in the store would not be able to know if their meat was Canadian. Bonk said that Metro follows Ontario rules, which do not require country of origin labelling. Article content When I asked about store inspection, Bonk said that, 'To ensure compliance with federal and provincial requirements, the stores could be inspected by CFIA and/or' the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness. Article content She explained that, 'There is no requirement for country of origin on retail meat cuts that are cut and packaged at store level. This would include ground meats, stewing meat, kabobs, stir fry meat, etc.'
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Aussie butcher Adam Speering stuns world with Asian wet market job
Australian Adam Speering always wanted to be a butcher but he never imagined it would be on the streets of one of Asia's biggest wet markets. 'I've been in Singapore now for 10 years,' he told CNA Insider's Singapore Hour. 'This is mine and my wife's shop. 'The environment when I come here in the morning is very quiet, there's only me and a few stores open at that time of morning, then after about a couple of hours, you start to hear the people coming through and it starts to get a bit louder. Maybe bring more people.' Mr Speering's store, Outback Butchery, opened its doors at the Lor 4 wet market in Te Paio two months ago. Growing up in Sydney, he knew he wanted to be a butcher from a very young age and dropped out of school at 14 to begin to learn the trade and follow in his father's footsteps. The now 42-year-old's trajectory changed when he met his wife Ann on a night out when she was holidaying in Australia. The pair wed in 2015 and later decided to return to Ann's home country of Singapore to raise their children. 'You don't know what to expect when you get to the other country,' Mr Speering said. 'So it was a bit difficult to start with, but because Ann's family is here … they're very close family. 'It took me about a month to get used to it here. Then after that it's just like normal.' When Mr Speering arrives at the store in the mornings, his first line of business is to make the sausages – the most popular item – then moves on to preparing the minces, patties and meatballs. 'It takes about three to four hours to prep everything in the morning,' he said. In the video, Mr Speering points to his cuts, adding: 'We are a specialised sort of store … we specialise in handcrafted stuff, sausages, patties, all value-added items.' 'I will buy from my supplier, then I will give to you for cheaper. 'I only chose $9 (for) one kilo. 'This one is good for stew, but this one you must cook for very long, this one you don't have to, this one is more tender than the brisket – it's good to pass on that knowledge to the customer. 'We get a better interaction with the customer, that's why we have a lot more repeat customers as well, because we are not just like your normal wet market butcher.' The biggest challenge has been the language barrier with Mr Speering not able to speak Mandarin, and many of his customers not knowing English. The solution? Hand gestures. 'The language barrier is not so bad, but when they can't speak English to me, normally we do like hand gestures, like our shoulder or leg or, you know, like body parts where they want,' he said. 'Then we sort of communicate with sign language. 'I think generally most of the time it's very funny because we all just point at the body part, then we have a giggle after it.' He said on the home side of things, he enjoys raising his children in Singapore as it is 'safer' and offers a lot more 'opportunity' when it comes to learning about different cultures. 'My family, they love it here, so for me, home is where the heart is,' Mr Speering said. 'My kids love it, my wife is from here. 'I think I miss Australia, but at the same time, I'm comfortable here in Singapore. 'I can still go back home any time – but for me, home is here in Singapore.'
Telegraph
6 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
The barbecue taste test: Which supermarket does it best?
For all the recent heatwaves, British barbecues are often still seize-the-moment affairs. There's no time to marinade meats or concoct elaborate sauces if you are snatching the opportunity to wheel out the charcoal on a warm weekday evening or unexpectedly sunny Saturday. So, where you buy your barbecue-ready food really matters. The local butcher, if you have one, is a great choice, but for many of us a dash to the supermarket is more realistic. Which one caters for your feast best? I tested the barbecue ranges of nine stores – cooking and tasting products across five categories: beef burgers, spicy chicken, glazed pork, vegan burgers and minted lamb kebabs – to discover which supermarket is king of the grill. Skip to: How I cooked the products Beef burgers Vegan burgers Sweet barbecue pork Minted lamb kebabs Spicy-smoky chicken The big barbecue taste test verdict How I cooked the products My usual rule when cooking food for taste tests is to follow the instructions on the packet. However, many manufacturers state that their products should be cooked fully first in the oven or under the grill, then transferred to the barbecue to finish. That's not barbecuing in my book. I'm assuming that these instructions are an effort to make sure food is fully cooked through, but the twice-cooked approach means overcooking is likely, while just five minutes on the barbecue is not enough time to get a delectable smoky crust. For these products I tried them as the manufacturer recommended, but additionally, cooked solely on the barbecue. They all tasted best cooked on the barbecue only, and that is what the scores are based on.
Daily Mail
13-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
I advertised a $130,000 job and received more than 140 applications… the position is still open because of an infuriating reason
A butcher claims a $130,000 position is still open despite receiving more than 140 applications because most candidates were unqualified and struggled to speak English. Clayton Wright, 66, who owns Wrights The Butchers in Alexandria, Sydney, warned Australia is facing a shortage of young tradespeople. He said it adds to the pressures of rising wages, superannuation costs, and broader cost-of-living challenges for businesses. 'We have had a decades-long drain on people that have not picked up the trade. This is what we're suffering now,' he told He said he is desperate for staff and has enough work to double his current headcount. Despite spending $1,100 a month advertising the position online, the fourth-generation butcher said he had not attracted an application from a qualified butcher. Mr Wright said the 140 applicants were all from overseas. He claimed they were candidates with little experience, hailing from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and South America. Mr Wright believed they were seeking sponsorships to work in Australia, but said there was no one available to train them. 'This happened years ago in the chef industry, where chef was an easy entry into Australia so all these people came and did a chef's course,' he said. 'The problem is that you have no butchers, so if you bring people in from overseas, you have no one to train them.' Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter said Mr Wright was not alone in his struggles. Mr Hunter said many business owners are repeatedly advertising for roles, but still unable to recruit. 'There are three things you can do: you grow your own talent through better vocational training and skills, you can utilise the people that are already here better, or you can increase skilled migration,' he said. 'If you do those three things, then you can certainly have a positive impact for businesses.' Business NSW's 2024 State of Skills report revealed 28 per cent of employers had to make five or more attempts to fill a single role over the past year. More than three-quarters, 77 per cent, said they had struggled to recruit or could not find suitable staff, while 80 per cent had lifted wages or improved conditions to attract workers. The report also found 36 per cent of businesses had delayed expansion plans. Twenty-seven per cent had lost business to competitors due to ongoing staffing shortages. Mr Hunter said the skills shortage was particularly hard-hitting in the regions and trade industries. Mr Wright blamed the increase, in part, on young Australians getting pushed into tertiary education instead of vocational studies. The problem, he claimed, is not isolated to the meat industry. However, he said many young people are put off by the low base award wages, which don't reflect the higher earning potential in the industry.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
7 Of The Oldest Grocery Stores Still Standing In The U.S. Today
Many of the buildings, towns, and storefronts we frequent on a day-to-day basis are, admittedly, not all that old. Newness tends to spring up everywhere in the United States, and the bulldozing, tearing down, or complete renovation of our buildings seems a lot more common here than it does overseas, where it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to walk into a market, grocery, or general store from the 1600s. That said, there are stores dotted around our landscape that are relatively old, given our rather young country. Many of them were, and still are, acting as grocery stores. Grocers started out hawking items on street corners from carts and separate shops. The butcher had meat, the fishmonger had fish, the baker had bread, and farmers came to sell fruits and vegetables in larger cities. But, eventually, the one-stop-shop blueprint became the go-to for American shoppers, and grocery stores in every state followed suit. The ease of getting everything in one place saved time and allowed folks to easily navigate feeding themselves and their families without forgetting anything. From those early days, some of those "original" grocery stores across the U.S. still remain, welcoming shoppers in day after day as they have for more than a hundred years in some cases. Here are the seven oldest grocery stores still operating in the country today. Read more: The Definitive Ranking Of Grocery Store Butter Brands The oldest continually operating family grocery store in the United States is Doud's Market, located in Mackinac Island, Michigan. Doud's opened its doors in 1884 and was founded by brothers James and Patrick Doud. The grocer, at that time, was called Doud Bros. and sat on the water where the Mackinac Island Ferry Company currently is. In 1938, a fire forced the closure of the original store, but the Doud family reopened down the street, changing the name to Doud's Mercantile. In 2008, under the fourth generation of Douds, the store got a makeover and full renovation. It went back to its roots, reopening as Doud's Market. In addition to being a historic landmark, Doud's is also Mackinac Island's only grocer. With a full-fledged tourism season, Doud's supplies locals with their routine items, but it also provides tourists with all the necessities, from beer and wine to local seafood and meats. So, more than 140 years later, this little grocer is still chugging along and is absolutely worth a visit. Snuggled into a Victorian home in Napa Valley is Oakville Grocery -- a historic spot for those visiting the Wine Country (or those lucky enough to call it home) to grab everything from wine, cheese, and bread to olives and oils. Oakville may be less of a spot for your everyday shopping and more of a place for your premade charcuterie boards and finely crafted accouterments, but back when it opened in 1881, it was a rough-and-tumble spot aimed at providing the gold rushers and grape planters coming into the Valley everything from food to hardware. The grocery building is recorded as standing right where it does today as far back as 1874. Then, it was advertised as P.B. O'Neil's "dry goods, groceries, and hardware store." It changed names over the years and went from being referred to as a mercantile, to a general store, to a grocer and housed everything from butchers to saloons. But it always contained groceries for the farmers, winemakers, and later visitors to the area. If you head out to Colorado, make sure not to miss the state's oldest grocery store -- and oldest continually operating business. R&R Market has operated since 1857, outpacing Colorado's statehood! The grocer sits in the city of San Luis, one of the first permanent settlements in the state, and was built there when Colorado was still just a territory. It was founded by Dario Gallegos and his business partners. Originally, the shop specialized in groceries and other necessities for travelers working across the expansive landscape in search of land for farming and homesteading. It stocked dry goods like beans, coffee, salt, flour, and cornmeal, among other necessities like cloth, livestock, and hardware. The store faced its own hardships over the years. When restocks were needed, those running the grocery would have to travel all the way to St. Louis. Even when they picked up their wares, they could be lost to weather, bad roads, and even raids by Native Americans of the time. The original building burned down in 1895, was rebuilt in the same spot, and then burned down again in 1947 -- again, though, rebuilt in the same location. Over time, the grocer's owners changed, as did the selection -- growing to include more fresh produce, meat, and other items. The market recently underwent renovations and has been reopened as San Luis Peoples Market, continuing the tradition of being a neighborhood grocer. A stop in the Big Easy means a few things: beads, parties, humidity, restaurants serving gumbo, and one of the best Italian subs in the U.S. -- the muffuletta. If you aren't familiar, it's the most iconic sandwich in the state. It consists of a round muffuletta loaf that's cut horizontally, then stuffed with one of the mortadella (unique deli meats every Italian sandwich deserves), as well as olive salad, ham, salami, provolone cheese, and Swiss cheese. This must-have eat was created by Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant who also happened to be the owner and founder of Central Grocery and Deli, way back in 1906. Located at 923 Decatur Street in New Orleans, Central Grocery opened in the French Quarter long before it was the booming tourist destination it is today. Then, the area was mostly residential, and the grocer provided everyday necessities typical of an Italian grocer, from cured meats and cheeses to pastas and freshly baked breads. The muffuletta was born as a way to put all of the usually bought items for area farmers (bread, meat, cheese, and olive salad) into one large grab-and-go situation. Although the shop has sustained damage from hurricanes Katrina, Ida, and others over the years, the third-generation owners continue to operate as a go-to neighborhood stop for those near and far. Ohio dairy farmers E.L. (Ed) Buehler and his wife, Helen, opened the first Buehler's Fresh Foods in 1929 in New Philadelphia. But a few years later, in 1932, the family moved the business to Wooster, Ohio and slowly built a successful business with a focus on fresh, delicious offerings and a friendly atmosphere. The store, which today has 15 supermarkets and more than 2,100 employees, carries local produce, meat, and wares from the area's farmers, including Niman Ranch and Gerber's Poultry. Buehler's is also the largest purchaser at the Mt. Hope Farmer's Produce Auction, which helps to support local growers from surrounding counties. The stores, which are under the guidance of the fourth generation of the Buehler family, were sold to the operation's employees as part of a stock program in 2017. According to Buehler's website, "The Buehlers believed that selling to their own employees was the best way to assure the continuation of the innovative and creative spirit that has made the Ohio grocery store chain a pacesetter for independent grocers nationwide." The oldest full-service grocery store in New Orleans, Langenstein's, opened its doors in 1922 at 1300 Arabella Street. Although Central Grocery, the other Big Easy spot on our list, is technically older, it doesn't carry the produce and more common everyday goods that Langenstein's did and still does. The original spot was opened by Michael Langenstein and his sons, George and Richard, and was meant to be a spot carrying meat, fresh seafood, produce, and other staples for the residents of the area. Today, the fifth generation of the Langensteins operates the grocery, which encompasses four locations. The spot at 1300 Arabella -- the site of the original store -- is still owned and operated by the family, but it works as a wine and liquor store instead. The family moved the grocery store across the street to 1330 Arabella in 1954 and added locations in Metairie and River Ridge. Way out in Salt Lake City, Utah, George Reese Harmon and his wife, Irene, decided to get into the grocery business, circa 1932. The couple had made some money out west during the Depression and, with a little over $300 to their name, opened a fruit and vegetable stand named The Market Spot. The business quickly took off; the Harmons lived behind the store, adding children and making the grocery a true family business. They opened a spot in neighboring Granger in 1945, which burned down in the 1970s, but the family rebuilt. Although the original 1932 spot started out modestly, the business has grown to more than 20 stores across the wider Salt Lake City area, including Davis County, Summit County, Utah County, Washington County, and Weber County. Instead of a focus on low prices, coupons, and deals, Harmons has studied European grocery models, many of which prize quality over all else. According to Salt Lake Magazine, "They sent their bakers to the San Francisco Baking Institute to learn about artisan bread. They rethought their butcher shop, started dry-aging their own meats, and hand-cutting their chickens. They made new commitments to buying from local farmers and started cooking schools to teach customers how to use their products." It's also said that four of the stores sell fully organic items and that there are licensed wine educators in the City Creek location. Harmons stores are frequently the recipients of accolades, including one of the best independent grocers in 2024. Read the original article on Chowhound.
