Looking For A New Butcher

[Christina]

It does not matter if a customer is spending 50 cents or $500 every customer deserves treating with courtesy & politeness, a smile is bonus & costs nothing.

The 50cent customer may be the one who comes back & spends $500 one day & tells other people how nice you are.

Word of mouth is the biggest advertising for small businesses.

There is a shop I used to go in that undercuts the one 2 doors away. Many people have stopped going in there due to their rude & surly manner, despite the cheaper prices.

You can find another butcher.

[westielover]

Woolies have turkey necks from time to time - keep an eye on the section where they sell the chickens - the turkeys necks & wings are usually there too.

Alternatively - checkout petdeli.com.au and their BARF section - they are now selling turkey necks, chicken frames & some lamb or beef bones.

[Golden Rules]

I'd just keep going back to that butcher for dog bones only, just to piss him off!

[Earthdog]

My only comment, apart from finding a new butcher, is, do butcher shops have to be dog friendly? I would assume that their major focus is people. Given the number of pet supply places and online pet food stores, especially in somewhere like Sydney, for butchers to be supplying the pet market is not their aim.

[APBT]

ive walked into countless butchers and just asked if they have dog bones, always get treated more then i expect, asking what size the bone need to be cut, then cutting and double checking with me ect.

The only thing that varies alot is price, one bag of meaty bones that even i could eat was $2 then 3 shops up a bag of just bones the same size is $8,

[Greytmate]

My only comment, apart from finding a new butcher, is, do butcher shops have to be dog friendly? I would assume that their major focus is people. Given the number of pet supply places and online pet food stores, especially in somewhere like Sydney, for butchers to be supplying the pet market is not their aim.

They don't have to be.

But being a dog lover, I will support businesses whose proprietors and staff also love dogs and animals in general. People that don't like dogs and animals can go broke and live in poverty as far as I am concerned.

Let's have names please. Butchers that seem happy to sell food for dogs, and butchers that would rather not. I would hate to inadvertently support businesses that are anti-dog.

[Earthdog]

Of course it would be fantastic to find a butcher happy to supply meat for pets. Mine certainly is. He is also happy to keep any off cuts and bones from beasts he has butchered and sling them our way. Point is, no use whinging, take your business elsewhere.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

My only comment, apart from finding a new butcher, is, do butcher shops have to be dog friendly? I would assume that their major focus is people. Given the number of pet supply places and online pet food stores, especially in somewhere like Sydney, for butchers to be supplying the pet market is not their aim.

Seriously?

Dogs have been fed bones for far longer than dry & other processed foods. It used to be that when a person visited the butcher shop, they would buy the meat for the family and the butcher would throw in the bones and off-cuts for the family dog. Fast forward 40 yrs and now butchers - who used to give this stuff away because it wasn't human grade or table ready - now charge ridiculous amounts for what is essentially unsaleable scrap.

Customer service is not what it used to be but guess what? We vote with our feet and wallets and any business that doesn't treat its customers well will most certainly lose out eventually. When we lived in Cairns, there was a local butcher we had for the dog food only. I had to ask them to make up bags of suitable bones because what was on display wasn't ideal for our dogs at the time. They did it, but it was begrudgingly. I stopped going there altogether and found another butcher 2 kms down the road where the service was awesome and the prices good.

Edited May 2, 2010 by lillysmum

[Earthdog]

My only comment, apart from finding a new butcher, is, do butcher shops have to be dog friendly? I would assume that their major focus is people. Given the number of pet supply places and online pet food stores, especially in somewhere like Sydney, for butchers to be supplying the pet market is not their aim.

Seriously?

Dogs have been fed bones for far longer than dry & other processed foods. It used to be that when a person visited the butcher shop, they would buy the meat for the family and the butcher would throw in the bones and off-cuts for the family dog. Fast forward 40 yrs and now butchers - who used to give this stuff away because it wasn't human grade or table ready - now charge ridiculous amounts for what is essentially unsaleable scrap.

Customer service is not what it used to be but guess what? We vote with our feet and wallets and any business that does't treat its customers well will most certainly lose out eventually. When we lived in Cairns, there was a local butcher we had for the dog food only. I had to ask them to make up bags of suitable bones because what was on display wasn't ideal for our dogs at the time. They did it, but it was begrudgingly. I stopped going there altogether and found another butcher 2 kms down the road where the service was awesome and the prices good. :D

Glad I gave yu a giggle. 40 years ago there weren't places specifically for supplying pet food, be it run of the mill or the gourmet stuff.

[dogbesotted]

jeeze..what an idiot! if you pay the price it is no business of the butcher who eats the meat....stupid reason to put off customers.

i had two very large dogs ( The divine miss Sophie ( wolfie x dane) and Morris - cross breed for lugging approx 65-70kgs of dodggy muscle LOL) they were both very partial to their wednesday night meal of lennards chicken in filo accompanied by lightly steamed snow peas -- note the lightly steamed not soggy.. whn OH rejected the offer of a special of apricot chicken in filo he accidently said it was because the dogs did not like them! the people nearly choked laughing.. bet they did not realise that the dogs in question were not little toys but great huge slobbering hounds ..

H

[spottychick]

They don't have to be dog friendly because it doesn't matter. Their major focus is not 'people' but making money from selling meat products, pure and simple - it makes no difference if it's fed to people, dogs, rats, cats or even native wild life - or thrown in the bin. If you're willing to pay the going price for their meat they have no right to refuse you - on any basis. And it is plain stupid as a business to start imposing your own silly prejudices upon your customers!

Just like a shop that sells herbs or veggies doesn't care who you're buying the herbs or veggies for. It's none of their business.

The point is that if you are serious about your business you cater to whatever the market is demanding. So if you're a butcher and you have people wanting to feed their dogs a good healthy raw meat diet and/or bones - then you'd be a complete meat-head (giggle!) to ignore that demand - or worse - deliberately alienate that sector of the market. You deserve to have your business go belly up if you're gonna behave like that IMHO.

[PRADA68]

A very very good friend of mine is a butcher and a grumpier person you could not get on the job. Early starts late finishes etc however when it comes to customers I have never ever seen him grump at anyone and would bend over backwards to get what you wanted. Regardless if it were for humans or dogs. He showed exhibited and bred for well over 26 years his wife would have killed him if he didn't supply good dog meat. Apart from that I would not go back either to be honest his loss I guess. Pity about the wife though grumpy or not. Rude customer service is not acceptable in my opinion.

[Ashanali]

I love my butchers. Older twin brothers who are a bit cheeky and know all the locals. They order me stock in just for the dogs and I've asked them if I can run batches of meat through their mincer when I have my litter of pups. They've said as long as they can do it during a quiet time they are happy to help me out. A good butcher is like gold when you have a dog. Hope the OP can find another who is willing to help!

[WreckitWhippet]

I've been using Cliff from the Fresh Meat Store for years now. Cheap and cheerfull

[sas]

This guy can get you turkey necks even though they're not on the website, he gets them for another DOL member: http://www.justfood4dogs.com.au/

Hope you're not talking about me, sas, cause I don't get my turkey necks from him. I tried but he said he couldn't get them??

Ohhh poo!!! What were you getting form him?

[poodlemum]

We were essentially stopped to asking using a butcher for the same reason. The guy was lovely - a father and his three sons I think. We'd buy ten kilo boxes of chicken drumsticks and necks, and often ask for any trimmings or scraps they had for the dogs, as well some big thigh or calf bones, which had never been a problem. Then one day one of them simply told us they wouldn't sell us food if it was going to be given to dogs. If we had said it was for humans there wouldn't have been an issue so I have no idea what the problem was. They lost a regular customer anyway.

- that is a totally stupid attitude - like the local newsagent who REFUSED to sell me several copies of the Saturday "Age" because I wanted them for my puppies (I was paying full price). Guess who got no more business from me?

I would love to find a good local butcher (if anyone can recoomend one in Bairnsdale). I would much rather buy meat from a butcher than from the supermarket. I've usually found, in the past, that butchers are great people to deal with - usually a bit cheeky & full of jokes.

[Dogawne]

We were essentially stopped to asking using a butcher for the same reason. The guy was lovely - a father and his three sons I think. We'd buy ten kilo boxes of chicken drumsticks and necks, and often ask for any trimmings or scraps they had for the dogs, as well some big thigh or calf bones, which had never been a problem. Then one day one of them simply told us they wouldn't sell us food if it was going to be given to dogs. If we had said it was for humans there wouldn't have been an issue so I have no idea what the problem was. They lost a regular customer anyway.

Weird, because what are they going to do with all that stuff anyway necks etc, sounds like they would rather throw it than make a dollar, and when the customer is buying other stuff too, and they make a bit on the "offal' what is the problem, it really is their loss.

[SkySoaringMagpie]

I've run into this "not for dogs" rule before, I just switched butchers. Strikes me as a bit odd, but I just shift my business where it's wanted. We do usually buy "human" food at the same time, I actively avoid buying supermarket meat, so perhaps that is why we've only run into the problem once.

[iltby]

I've been using Cliff from the Fresh Meat Store for years now. Cheap and cheerfull

Cliff's great, we also used to use him for a number of years. We use Steve from Pet Food Supplies now.

[Teebs]

This guy can get you turkey necks even though they're not on the website, he gets them for another DOL member: http://www.justfood4dogs.com.au/

i can vouch for these guys I used to use him heaps before my spare freezer blew up Now i have no room to store my bulk food