Hi has anyone setup a small home butchery game dealer business

[Banksy007]

So my experience is different to Quixote but a) I'm in England (rules are slightly different) and b) I'll be completely honest - I don't do this just to make money!

For me, this is all about moving carcasses to allow me to shoot deer. All I shoot are reds and they are big lowland buggers. We have no gamedealer locally and most of my permission has been gained on the basis of my ability to move carcasses. "one for the pot" doesn't cut it with big groups of 30+ red hanging out on farmland.

Hence, my ability to move carcasses is more important than maximising value for them. Thankfully, I have a decent paid main income so deer money is a nice perk rather than a necessity for me - a privileged position which I am more than well aware of. But it does highlight that different folk have different drivers for doing this and it will impact how you go about running your business.

My routes to market:

• I sell whole carcasses at game dealer rates to butchers, farm shops and restaurants. I charge a few quid if they want them skinned but get a min £2/kg all season. I work on a waiting list so my customers message "I'm ready for another one when you get one" and I normally run at a slight backlog - currently waiting list for 6 for August!
• I sell venison boxes to general public - I use a local trade butcher who cuts and packs for me. It would be cheaper to butcher myself (and I sometimes do) but I'm slow and would rather stick to the bits I'm good at and pay him a few quid for the bit he does well. I've found £100 is the sweet spot that folk are happy to pay and adjust weight in box accordingly. There is a mix of cuts in there from dice to fillet so I'm not left with anything and I don't sell individual cuts. Again, I have a waiting list for this option from a few regulars but if I have surplus I advertise it on FB and usually gone in under an hour.

This is the easy bit - honestly! PM if you want a chat but it really is simple. I'll dig out another old thread in a min which should help...

Just messaged you

 

[Banksy007]

Thread 'Registering as a food business - direct supply'

Sep 3, 2020

I thought I'd stick this up here as I know a few folk have either done this or are thinking of it but these posts are often tucked away in other threads.

So first off, this isn't a thread about do you / don't you need to register in order to take a carcass to the game dealer. That's been covered extensively elsewhere - see here for example: Registering as a food business

I registered with Manchester City Council about 3 years ago as a Food Business. By the inspectors own admission, my application sat on their desk for a few weeks as they didn't know what to do with it! They'd never...

• 75
• Replies: 72
• Forum: Carcass Prep, Butchery & Recipes

• 

Some more light reading!

Thank you

Ah, ok. For inspection purposes, you'll need hot water and separate handwashing facilities, chilled storage for both in-fur carcasses and meat, blue roll dispenser, and adequate disposal facilities (small amounts can go with domestic waste, larger amounts would need a commercial disposal service). Stainless work area, or decent boards (I use the large polypropylene boards), and the work area should be wipe-clean with no exposed brickwork, etc. Pest control needs to be considered too, and you'll need public liability insurance, food hygiene level two, a demonstrable knowledge of safe temperatures, and your cleaning materials need to comply with EN 1276 and 14476 (which most do anyway, but check) You'll also need to maintain chiller temperature logs. Not sure if you need to keep a carcass log in England though, but it'd be pretty good practice anyway. Separate aprons for butchery and handling in-fur carcasses too (I use disposable ones for skinning) And you'll need a skinning area separate from the butchery, too. Hopefully @VSS, @sauer and others can fill in anything I've forgotten

Brilliant thanks

 

[Banksy007]

Thread 'Registering as a food business - direct supply'

Sep 3, 2020

I thought I'd stick this up here as I know a few folk have either done this or are thinking of it but these posts are often tucked away in other threads.

So first off, this isn't a thread about do you / don't you need to register in order to take a carcass to the game dealer. That's been covered extensively elsewhere - see here for example: Registering as a food business

I registered with Manchester City Council about 3 years ago as a Food Business. By the inspectors own admission, my application sat on their desk for a few weeks as they didn't know what to do with it! They'd never...

• 75
• Replies: 72
• Forum: Carcass Prep, Butchery & Recipes

• 

Some more light reading!

Good to chat thank you, ive sent you my email

 

[Malxwal]

@sauer

 

[Banksy007]

@sauer

Great gun

 

[jthyttin]

Some things come to mind reading the thread:

- make sure your customers understand it's a seasonal business
- also other restrictions in supply, so they don't think it's like water or electricity "that comes out of the wall"
- probly minimizing the waste is as important as maximizing value
-- venison boxes make sure you get rid of everything, but customers might not get best value
-- could you sell fillets / loins to e.g. restaurant and mince / dice to consumers?
-- maybe you can consume personally or give away stuff that is not popular?
-- don't forget "raw food" for dogs; if you can sell it and have means to "mince" it can be profitable and get rid of large part of organic waste

 

[VSS]

-- don't forget "raw food" for dogs; if you can sell it and have means to "mince" it can be profitable and get rid of large part of organic waste

Don't forget the legislation relating to the production and sale of pet foods. I posted a link on here a while back.

 

[Banksy007]

Some things come to mind reading the thread:

- make sure your customers understand it's a seasonal business
- also other restrictions in supply, so they don't think it's like water or electricity "that comes out of the wall"
- probly minimizing the waste is as important as maximizing value
-- venison boxes make sure you get rid of everything, but customers might not get best value
-- could you sell fillets / loins to e.g. restaurant and mince / dice to consumers?
-- maybe you can consume personally or give away stuff that is not popular?
-- don't forget "raw food" for dogs; if you can sell it and have means to "mince" it can be profitable and get rid of large part of organic waste

All these are good points apart from my dogs are elegiac to venison, all their fur falls . I am fortunate to have multiple parcels of roe land that does reduce production but fils in the gaps between the fallow. Also Im not looking at building a large business, is more an exit for he meat to the community and surrounding areas. I Also have food charities that want me to donate, exist for the least popular and will be cooked immediately. Ive had some great advice on this thread on how to get to this point

 

[Banksy007]

Don't forget the legislation relating to the production and sale of pet foods. I posted a link on here a while back.

thanks Looking into this

 

[jthyttin]

Don't forget the legislation relating to the production and sale of pet foods. I posted a link on here a while back.

Yes this is what I meant with "if you can sell", not whether you have customers for raw food or not. Not being familiar with UK legislation.

 

[Banksy007]

Yes this is what I meant with "if you can sell", not whether you have customers for raw food or not. Not being familiar with UK legislation.

Yep in the uk every thing is complicated in the uk, where are you?

 

[VSS]

Yep in the uk every thing is complicated in the uk,

If all you want to do is sell butchered venison directly to the consumer, from deer that you have shot yourself, then it is remarkably uncomplicated in the UK.

It only starts to get complicated once you begin to move outside that basic parameter.

 

[Banksy007]

If all you want to do is sell butchered venison directly to the consumer, from deer that you have shot yourself, then it is remarkably uncomplicated in the UK.

It only starts to get complicated once you begin to move outside that basic parameter.

Yes that seem to be that case. Had a great chat with the user @75 , really helpful chap. I think Ive nearly got my head around it. I registered today with the borough, hopefully they will vist soon.

 

[sauer]

Cleaning records
Labelling use by and best before dates / rules quid statements, allergens
Food hygiene certs
Large / small game meat hygiene certs

I'd go on to FSA website and do their free allergen training & also their free vak packing course ... literally 20mins but informative


Paul.

 

[Banksy007]

Cleaning records
Labelling use by and best before dates / rules quid statements, allergens
Food hygiene certs
Large / small game meat hygiene certs

I'd go on to FSA website and do their free allergen training & also their free vak packing course ... literally 20mins but informative


Paul.

Brilliant bit of advice ill do that tonight, I understand the the vac pack is can be a little rad flag for them. Thank you Paul

 

[weblyish]

Brilliant bit of advice ill do that tonight, I understand the the vac pack is can be a little rad flag for them. Thank you Paul

Check the obvious but bitty cross contamination risks around fridges counters and other spaces being either in fur or not

Vac pac correctly labelled -Raw food only

(If you prepare no cooked food this is not strictly nec. But it's something they may pick up on if they usually inspect butchers etc

 

[sauer]

Brilliant bit of advice ill do that tonight, I understand the the vac pack is can be a little rad flag for them. Thank you Paul

It's more to do with botulism awareness as creating a low oxygen environment

If only raw then you'll be OK...but if planning cooled as well you need separate machine for each class raw / cooled as Weblyish says

Get in contact with EHO early on and build rapport relationshinp with them....they there to help and should do .

I did have to point out wild.game.guidance and some bits she misunderstood and I advise make a brew or a glass of wine and spend bit of time reading to get head round it and gen up .

Cheers
Paul

 

[Banksy007]

Check the obvious but bitty cross contamination risks around fridges counters and other spaces being either in fur or not

Vac pac correctly labelled -Raw food only

(If you prepare no cooked food this is not strictly nec. But it's something they may pick up on if they usually inspect butchers etc

Hi yes fur fridge, remove skin and butcher in a separate clean area straight away pack clean down, repeat. cleaning product kept in a separate area, no cooked products

 

[Banksy007]

It's more to do with botulism awareness as creating a low oxygen environment

If only raw then you'll be OK...but if planning cooled as well you need separate machine for each class raw / cooled as Weblyish says

Get in contact with EHO early on and build rapport relationshinp with them....they there to help and should do .

I did have to point out wild.game.guidance and some bits she misunderstood and I advise make a brew or a glass of wine and spend bit of time reading to get head round it and gen up .

Cheers
Paul

Got it, I'm on going to prepare raw, still maybe worth haveing a look and taking the 30 mins to do the caurse.

Thank Paul

 

[Freeforester]

but fils in the gaps between the fallow

Are those the spaces where the lead/copper fly, or are they really fallow gaps?