'This is working for me but what is coming down the line I don’t know'

John Murphy, the local butcher in Callan, Kilkenny, first trained as a chef and spent 13 years working in kitchens around the country before taking up butchering. While chefing, meat was his area of expertise and the foundations of his business are anchored on the fact that he is able to explain, give tips and help people to cook their meat.

“This has stood to me over time and I see it especially now with the younger generation. They are getting bored cooking every day being at home. It helps that I can advise them.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he noticed new customers shopping for their cocooning parents. They were seeing what was on offer and started regularly picking up a bit for themselves then too.

“What it is all about is sparking up a food relationship or conversation with people, particularly the young people and they come back to you again.”

Adding value

John’s produce is all Irish and it’s as local as he can get it. All the beef and lamb is bought locally from Tynan’s in Johnstown.

“Neal Tynan buys all his animals in north Kilkenny and Tipperary. We can trace it right back. The ear tags are up there on the wall and it’s completely transparent. People come in and might know the farmer that is up on the board.

“I sell a lot of free-range chickens. There is a welfare aspect, not that there is anything wrong with the other chickens, but it’s the greater yield that sees them come back for it again. I remember selling free-range chickens years ago and people coming back to me saying that the legs were tough. Yes they are bound to be – they are moving around.”

Unique selling point

When John goes to the supermarket, does he look into the fridges and curse them?

“I do look into the freezer but the price is not what I am looking at first – I look at the quality. I am not going to be running down what the supermarkets are doing. You have to decide what road you are going to pick.

“You have to find your own niche that no one else is doing and distance yourself from the retail product. Yes, maybe it is going to cost a bit more, but adding that value will see people come through the door.”

For John, that value is dry-aged Irish meat and being able to advise customers on how to cook something.

Buying in the sides and dry aging them on site is unique. This means leaving the sides on the bone for a minimum of two more weeks (aged to 24-30 days), after he gets them from Tynans, who would have had them hanging for 10 days. This maximises the tenderness and flavour.

“Supermarket stuff is vacuum packed. That is what is readily available. I wanted to do something that wasn’t readily available and the dry aging has been a big hit. It is a lot of work, but worth it.”

Local initiatives

“This is working for me, but what is coming down the line, I don’t know. I will be looking for something else [to add value]. We will adapt as we are going along, like we have with this [COVID-19].”

Demonstrating that he is already thinking ahead, John is in product development with another local business, the Ging family’s BallyKeefe Distillery.

Morgan Ging feeds his cattle on distillers’ grain, a byproduct from the distillery and John is dry curing the beef. Feedback on the product has been fantastic so far and they have high hopes that it will be rolled out nationwide in the future.

“I do a bit of dry curing too. Fennellys (café in Callan) won best breakfast with my rashers that I cure for them and I also cure my own legs of pork into a ham, which you won’t find too much.

“I have a woman waiting on a pig’s head cut in half. The older generation will make brawn out of it, they boil it and strip it down and set it in its own jelly, slice it out cold. I would have a lot of the local Polish community come in, and they are big into the lesser cuts like pork necks.”

Managing through COVID-19

When John started out first in 2010, it was mid-recession and deals were popular. He says that people are back buying them again, but more out of convenience than price.

Something good has come out of this for John, in terms of meeting and getting that one-on-one contact with his customers.

“I was lying awake at night trying to work out how it would all work with the social distancing. Would I have someone on the till and someone doing the cutting or what? I decided I would be the one upfront meeting my customers.

“In the 12 weeks of lockdown, nobody served a customer only me. I would notice now if someone didn’t come in and I have met all the kids of the cocooners. They are doing the shopping for their parents and you would know by the order.”

All around the shop, there are condiments and sauces to compliment the main offering. Sitting amongst these are his sister’s jams.

“These jams and chutneys, my sister Noreen makes these (Nonie’s Kitchen Homemade Preserves). She makes it in her house in Kilkenny and they are a great seller. My other sister Siobhan (Lawlor) is out in Gowran and has her shop Glasraí and Goodies and she has won loads of awards – you should look her up.”

An industrious family indeed, and not one to miss getting a family plug in.

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