A Sunshine Coast butchery has carved its way to a prominent award, with a combination of traditional values and new-age initiatives.
Budd’s Butchers was acknowledged as the top butcher shop in regional Queensland, at the Australian Meat Industry Council awards in Brisbane.
The Coolum Beach business can also lay claim to the state’s second-best pork sausage and the third-best gourmet burger patty.
The husband-and-wife team of Ben Budd and Lisa Mitchell-Budd opened their shop in April 2017 and they’ve worked hard with a small team to make it a cut above the rest.
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Mr Budd said their secret to success was relatively straightforward.
“We’ve always had the same basis of good quality service and good quality products,” he said.
“We focus on grass-fed, free-range meat, that’s ethically raised and farmed.
“We also have an online store, home deliveries and a new website – we’re trying to interact with customers more than traditional butchers.”
Budd’s Butchers is renowned for its good quality steaks and sausages.
Mr Budd said the recipes for their award-winning sausages and burger patties were simple but effective.
“They have the right ratio of fat and meat,” he said. “We try to stick to around 15 per cent fat content per sausage, because that gives you a nice flavour, but it doesn’t have too much (fat) spitting out.
“And we always put fresh herbs and ingredients into our sausages and burger patties, to give them a different dimension.
“We try our best to use local green grocers who get their herbs locally.”
Mr Budd said sourcing ethically farmed meat was “the main thing”.
Most of their free-range beef and lamb comes from Tasmania and most of their free-range pork hails from near Goondiwindi.
They also use local honey and eggs.
Mr Budd had worked in butcheries in Brisbane before his family moved to the Sunshine Coast to follow their own business dream and “go to the beach instead of the smog”.
“We spent two years looking for a shop to move into and then we came across this one. It was empty and we just built it up over time,” he said.
The shop, at Coolum Park Shopping Centre, was formerly a butchery, so it already had a cold room and cabinets.
“A lot of businesses suffered through COVID, but we were one of the positive stories,” Ben said.
“I think people put a lot of trust back in butcher shops, especially when meats sold out at supermarkets.
“Butchers helped keep things going across the country and I think it restored people’s faith in them again, so business is booming because of that.”
Mr Budd has just gone on a well-deserved holiday but will return for the Christmas rush.
“We’ll be straight into getting our hams organised and I’ve got turkeys ordered,” he said.
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