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He went on to explain that in 2002 when he was only 23, heavily in debt
and struggling to provide for a wife and young family, he had the choice
of sequestration or raising the cash to rent the Malcolm Allan butchers
shop in Kilsyth.
He went to the PSYBT
as a last resort, got the loan to rent the premises and has never looked
back. He said, “The PSYBT has changed my life, it is not just the money
it lends, but the advice and aftercare which is so important. My mentor is
Sheila Devlin Thorpe, who came from a retailing background with Marks and
Spencer and she has been invaluable to me.”
Paul was set on the
road to become a butcher when he got a weekend and after-school job
washing up in Malcolm Allans at the age of 13. He did his apprenticeship
with James Allan but struggled to make ends meet on a butcher's wage.
The loan and an
understanding manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland allowed him to open in
Kilsyth under his own name and that first year he was projected a £70,000
turnover. Hard work and a way with customers meant Paul achieved a
£230,000 turnover in his first year and after 18 months he had not only
paid off all his debts, but bought his shop and a house.
Initially he bought
boxed beef which has a quick turnover but progressed to buying sides of
beef and then to dealing with farmers such as John McKerrow, who supplied
him with quality beef. He has only been buying at live auctions for
a year and he said, “I am learning all the time, but so many people have
helped me along the way, and I am much more confident now in selecting the
type of animal I want for my shops.”
This is Paul's seventh
year in business, he now has four shops, in Kilsyth,
Bonnybridge,
Grangemouth
and Kirkintilloch,
all sporting his distinctive blue and cream branding, and his turnover
this year is projected at £1.6million.
He specialises in
buying heavier cattle at 600 to 700kg and was delighted with his Winter
Fair purchases. The champion killed out at 71.3% and was graded E3 while
the other four beasts he bought killed out at between 68 and 70%.
Paul said, “The
quality and consistency provided by a butchers shop is second to none and
far superior to a supermarket which has to deal in volume.”
Having started his
business in the wake of BSE and foot and mouth and since then coped with
Ecoli, bird flu and blue tongue scares, he firmly believes that building a
relationship based on trust and quality with customers is all important.
He said, “A butcher's
shop is a meeting place, somewhere to enjoy a
bit of gossip and banter while buying quality products and I
believe every main street should have one.” |
