Butchery Apprentice Brighton, England
Job description
We are looking to expand our team and hire an apprentice to join us in our Brighton location. As an apprentice you will have the opportunity to work within RP Meats fresh meat department, breaking down carcasses to primal cuts as well as working at Blakes Meats where you will develop your finer butchery skills. You will learn all aspects of a fast-paced catering butcher business whilst developing your own butchery skills in line with your apprenticeship course with Plumpton College.
You will be working on the butchery of products for a range of customer types with some high profile and prestigious clients that you will be proud to be involved in. During your time at Blakes and RP you will be aligned to a Master Butcher who will support you and enable you to apply what you are learning at college to real customer orders. At the end of the apprenticeship there will be an opportunity to continue your career with either RP or Blakes depending on what direction you wish to pursue.
Hours: 40 per week.
Start date: 5th June 2023
As this is an apprenticeship role, you will come to college for training. Please consider how you will commute to and from Plumpton College.
About the employer
Blakes Meats is the South East’s leading catering butcher, supplying a wide range of market sectors with their fresh meat products and services. Blakes have been established since 1978 and have built up a reputation for excellence in service and product quality. We have a team of skilled butchers and butchers’ assistants with many years’ experience in all elements of meat preparation and butchery.
RP Meats is the Southeast’s leading independent meat wholesaler with a reputation for excellent customer service. Established in 1977 RP Meats serves butchers, farm shops and catering butchers with boxed and carcass meat 5 days per week.
We have worked extremely hard over the past few years to instil a culture within the group that all staff are proud to be a part of. We have a fantastic team environment where everyone is willing to help and we actively encourage all staff to raise their hands and offer suggestions on how we can improve the business. We are always aiming for perfection so we need everyone on board for the journey to ensure we get there.
What will the apprentice be doing?
- Assist in the unloading and booking in of carcass meat during deliveries
- Breaking down carcass meat into primal cuts for next day delivery to customers
- Boning out and preparation of products for stock
- Assistance in daily stock takes
- Assist butchers with the picking of the correct products from the fridges/freezers for production to begin
- Placing stock of products back into the fridges and freezers in the correct locations once completed by the butchers
- Weighting and labelling products ready for order fulfilment and dispatch
- Removal of waste products such as boxes, packaging etc from operational area and placing them into the waste areas / bins as required
- Keeping the butcher department clean and tidy during operational hours to ensure a safe, tidy and efficient working space
- Basic butchery tasks during busy times to support butchers and operational efficiency
- Checking the dates of stock and reporting any shorts dates or out of date products to the Production Team Leader
- Spend time with Master butchers learning all aspects of butchery and working on live customer jobs
- Work as part of a team to ensure all orders are accurate and prepared in time for dispatch to the customers
- Preparation of stock of simple butchered products such as dicing, steaks, mince etc for next day’s production
What training will the apprentice take and what qualification will the apprentice get at the end?
The final certification will be for L2 Butchery.
The apprentice will learn:
- Knife skills - including cutting, boning, trimming and mincing of meat
- Health and safety practices, food safety and hygiene and key legislation
- Using butchery tools and machinery – including mincing, sausage making, bacon curing, vacuum packing
- Business profitability, maximising productivity, efficiency and customer care
- Team work and customer care skills
- Specialist retail shop or processing plant butchery skills
Qualifications Awarded
- Butchery Level 2 Apprenticeship Certificate
- Level 2 award in food safety
- Level 2 award in health and safety
- Level 2 award in knife skills
- Level 1 in maths and English (if applicable)
What is the expected career progression after this apprenticeship?
In addition, to developing your career as a butcher you will also be given a fantastic opportunity once your apprenticeship is complete to move around the business if you so wish into non-butchery roles such as logistics, warehouse, operations or even sales. We are strong believers of developing talent from within and have many examples of individuals that have moved across multiple disciplines within the group and have furthered their careers beyond their original role.
Desired skills and personal qualities
- Organisation Skills
- Self-Motivation
- Trustworthiness & Ethics
- Flexibility & Agility
- Teamwork
- Communication Skills
- Speed of work
- Accuracy of work
Perks:
The company offers 20 days paid holiday per year (based on FT role), growing with length of service) and a number of other benefits such as a weekly meat allowance, ride to work scheme, employee health scheme and employee recognition scheme.
Job Type: Apprenticeship
Salary: £5.80-£10.50 per hour
Application question(s):
- Why are you interested in pursuing a career in butchery?
- Do you hold a full UK driving license? If so do you own a car?
Work Location: In person
