Taste the Nation: The Tipperary butcher who says community is the heart of his business

Kevin O’Neill, outside his shop The Gourmet Butcher, in Thurles, Tipperary

Kevin O’Neill dreamed of working in the food industry from a young age, but when he began training as an apprentice butcher aged 16, he knew he had found his calling.

“I knew immediately that this was where I wanted to be,” says the Tipperary man, now 32. “I worked out pretty quickly that the butcher is the link between the farmer and the customer, and saw how essential our service is, really.”

Learning every aspect of the business, from sourcing the animals, to visiting the abattoir, O’Neill says that he quickly fell in love with the industry.

“I appreciated immediately the bit of hardship that comes with butchery. The nose-to-tail aspect of the business shone through from the very beginning. I loved the process of meeting the farmer in the abattoir on a Monday and selling the product to the customer on a Friday.”

Community is at the heart of his two-premises business, The Gourmet Butcher, with shops in Clonmel and Thurles. He opened his first shop in 2018, at a time, he says, when the butchery industry was facing significant challenges.

Authentic Tipperary Dry Aged Beef? We've got the food stuff!! Dm me for wholesale enquiries pic.twitter.com/2zBpyIbitQ

— Kevin Walsh (@ClonmelButcher) October 12, 2021

“People demand convenience more and more, and I understand that. If you have two children under two and you are trying to do your shopping, it is far easier to buy your entire food shop under one roof.”

With that in mind, when sourcing locations, parking and location was key. Positioning himself in shopping centres in both Clonmel and Thurles was a clever move, making himself accessible to the customers as they do their supermarket shop.

The pandemic has enabled people to slow down and really think about where their food comes from, says O’Neill. “People definitely turned towards home cooking during the lockdowns, with a huge emphasis on knowing where the food they eat comes from and that has not gone away. People’s routines are gone back to normal, but they still want the best quality meat they can source.”

Young, vibrant staff are at the heart of The Gourmet Butcher, where they make their own sausages, burgers and oven-ready meals thanks to an eight-strong team in the production kitchen.

Tuning into a customer base that wants top-quality food without too much heavy lifting at home is the core to his success. The team cures their own bacon and specialises in dry-aged beef, sourced from producers that are as local as possible.

In a business that has become process-driven and streamlined, O’Neill is determined to maintain the traditional methods of butchery he learned as an apprentice.

“It’s harder to find skilled staff with experience in butchery now,” he says. “It’s difficult to train staff in nose-to-tail butchery now because that experience isn’t readily available anymore. We have to seek the experience out for our staff, focusing on educating our staff on the whole journey of butchery – so they appreciate the product and can communicate that to our customers.

“The butcher is at the heart of the community. Not only are we the link between farm and fork, but we recognise our role in maintaining community spirit. Lots of our customers come to us as much for a chat as for their meat for the week, and we take that job very seriously.”