Quality craft butchers a cut above the rest with new logo
They have overcome many of the threatening challenges they faced in the 1990s to emerge with a new confidence for the future.
This was reflected at the Retail FoodShow, which the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland (ACBI) staged in Dublin recently in partnership with the Irish Association of Seafood Companies.
It is also seen in the development of the ACBI, which has 650 of the best butchers in the country as members.
And, with a new branding, the association is poised for further growth as consumer demand for the traditional quality of the local butcher grows.
Members have opened 10 new shops this year.
About 50 others have invested in refurbishment and makeovers.
ACBI has also trained almost 1,500 members and staff in food safety.
Some 382 businesses have used its Skillnets development programme. Members have been on best practice visits abroad and have also competed in international competitions with success.
In a few months, ACBI will begin the roll out of the first shop-based butchers apprenticeship scheme.
The association’s new logo, launched in Dublin recently by the former international athlete Catherina McKiernan, draws on its original symbols - the knife and steel - but it adds the words craft butcher.
Explaining the reasoning behind the branding, chief executive Pat Brady said evidence shows consumers like brands.
“People like what is familiar. It makes the exercise of choice that little bit easier in a complicated world.
“The core brand in the traditional butcher shop is the butcher, reliable, expert and capable of giving the customers what they want.
“As the consumer is bombarded by advertising and screamed at from billboards there is a danger that the small operator can be overwhelmed by the power of big advertising expenditure.
“That is why ACBI has decided to develop greater visibility for the craft butcher who is a member.”
Mr Brady said consumers liked businesses that were prepared to be a member of an association as it showed they had some degree of self-confidence and were prepared to be accountable in a public way for their performance.
“So the decision by ACBI to refresh its image is not just a change for change’s sake. Our current logo has served us well but visually its impact could be improved.
“That is exactly what we have done.
“Our new logo will be visible partly because it is fresher and more colourful and yet retains the symbols of the craft butcher, but also because consumers will see it more readily, and recognise any shop in which it appears as a place where they can shop with confidence.”
Mr Brady said many consumers wanted to know if the meat they bought was from a local producer as well as the name of the farmer who supplied it.
