With the Meat Management Industry Awards nomination and voting process well underway, we take a look at one of the programme’s most prestigious awards - Britain’s Best Butcher’s Shop. Last year’s winners Gigli’s Butchers explain what winning the award meant to them.
Voted for by readers of Meat Management magazine and meatmanagement.com, the Meat Management Industry Awards is the biggest and most important annual awards initiative serving the meat sector. The awards celebrate the best of the best across a total of 20 categories, with this year’s winners being announced by host Martin Bayfield during the ceremony on the evening of Thursday 19th September 2024 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole.
The 2023 Meat Management Industry Awards saw Lytham St Annes-based Gigli’s Butchers take home the title of Britain’s Best Butcher’s Shop after a rigorous judging process. Situated on the Lytham St Annes high street, the butchers has its own bistro and coffee shop connected to the main store.
Speaking on the win, owner of Gigli’s Butchers and president of the National Craft Butchers (NCB) David Gigli said: “I am immensely proud of the whole team at Gigli’s for the hard work and dedication they exhibit on a daily basis.
“To be named Britain’s Best Butchers Shop is absolutely fantastic, and I know I speak for the entire team when I say we are honoured to accept this prestigious award.”
In an interview for Meat Management magazine’s October 2023 edition, Gigli spoke of how his shop has evolved over the last few years. He said: “The future of the business has always been about diversifying our range and services.
“In 2008, we relocated to a new shop with better and larger premises to allow us to make and sell more pies directly from the retail outlet. I also diversified into a cafe by purchasing and incorporating the property next door. This allowed me to offer butchery courses and barbecue demonstrations.”
Gigli commented on how butchers “often complain about the supermarkets”, but ultimately he believes that supermarkets haven’t been in competition with butchers for a long time.
“Supermarkets have been around since the 1960s, and butchers can’t be complaining about them now,” said Gigli. “They’ve been a fixture for the past 30 years!
“If you were to offer me a magic wand, where I could wish to have another 10 butchers in town but with fewer supermarkets, I would still choose what I have now, because I’ve become a specialist… people come to me because they recognise my expertise.”
Vouchers, loyalty cards and phone apps help retain customers
After trialling numerous methods to attract customers to the business, Gigli has settled on a voucher system, used in conjunction with a Gigli loyalty card.
He said: “It comes down to the simple idea that it isn’t for the customer to remember you; it’s for you to remind the customer about the business. You have to give a bit to get a bit back.
“I used to spend a lot of money on newspaper advertising. At Christmas, I also used to spend £3,000 on printing 20,000 leaflets and distributing them around the town. But I’ve stopped all that now. It wasn’t targeted enough.
“We’re still investing that budget into something useful, which is our new voucher system that we’re launching in the New Year. It’s about giving something back to the customer, and hopefully, we can reap the benefits. Another strategy we’ve heavily adopted, for the past 10 years, is our loyalty card.
“We also have an app that customers can download to their phones. Some customers do struggle with it. So, we’ve introduced a key fob that attaches to a key ring, which can be scanned to add points.”
Gigli said that winning Britain’s Best Butchers Shop at the Meat Management Industry Awards was “fantastic”, and highlighted that product competitions are an excellent way to market a business.
To nominate a business for the 2024 title, fill out the form listed here.
For more information about the 2024 Meat Management Industry Awards, click here. More information about this year’s awards partnership packages are available from Michelle Ingerfield on 01908 613323 or by email michelle.i@yandellmedia.com.
With thanks to the 2024 Meat Management Industry Awards partners:
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
