The Ultimate Butcher Tools List: 7 Tools You Need To Open a Butchery
If you’re opening a butcher shop, a passion for quality meat is a good start — but it’s not enough.
In addition to great customer service and relationships with local suppliers, you’ll also need the right tools for the job. The jump from small-scale or at-home butchery to professional meat shops is a large one, requiring equipment that can take a greater level of wear and tear. You’ll also need tools to help manage the business operations and finances.
In this article, we give you a list of the butcher tools you’ll need, including physical items, such as knives and grinders, as well as software and technology.
Let’s get started.
What To Consider When Building Your Butcher Tools List?
When starting a new business, you want to cut down on costs wherever you can. However, tools and equipment cannot be included in your cost savings.
Even an exceptional tool for a home chef may fall apart when put under the strain of a professional butcher.
Here are four key aspects to consider when purchasing equipment:
- Quality and reliability: Visit other butcher shops and see what brands of equipment they’re using. Ask them questions and do research online to see if there are any issues to be aware of.
- Ease of maintenance and cleaning: You’ll use your equipment every day. Make sure it’s easy to take apart and clean to maintain food safety compliance, and easy to maintain yourself if mechanical problems arise.
- Size and space constraints: Don’t invest in equipment before you understand your working space. Make sure the tools you buy fit your shop.
- Customer support: Inevitably, equipment that’s used every day will have parts that wear down or break. Ideally, find equipment suppliers that can help you diagnose issues and get you the help you need.
Consider the equipment on the butcher tools list an investment. Better equipment will last longer, lead to higher quality work, and happier customers.
7 Tools Every Butcher Shop Needs
The tools of a successful butcher extend far beyond the tools of butchery itself. Every piece of equipment is a small piece of a puzzle that combines that form your business.
Here are seven tools that every small butcher needs to set themselves up for success:
1. Quality Knives and Other Butchering Tools
Knife skills are the first thing a butcher needs to develop and blades are also the primary tools of the trade. Every butcher has slightly different preferences on exact knife types and sizes, but as a starting point you’ll need:
- Scimitar
- Boning knife
- Filleting knife (especially if you deal with fish)
- Saw or cleaver (to cut through bone)
- Scissors
There are also some other tools you’ll need.
- Sharpening steel
- Bench scraper
- Cutting boards
- Cutting gloves and protective gear
Don’t forget box cutters and general-use knives. You cannot cross-contaminate items in your store by using your butchering knives to open a package, for example.
2. A POS System
A modern point of sale (POS) system does more than process payments — it helps small business owners manage all aspects of their business.
There are many general retail POS systems out there, but not all of them are equipped for butcher shops. In addition to standard features like contactless payments and employee tracking, look for the following features in a butcher shop POS system:
- Sell by weight functionality: Butcher shop owners need a way to track items by weight. This feature helps track the quantity sold of specific cuts and compare it to your remaining inventory.
- Scale integrations: Use a POS system that can integrate directly with your scales. This feature helps automate pricing items, ensures your inventory is accurate, and streamlines the checkout process.
- Custom barcodes and SKUs: Create custom barcodes and SKUs for specialty items like marinated steaks or spice mixes.
- E-commerce capability: Reach more customers by offering online sales for either in-store pickup or delivery. POS systems with native e-commerce support will ensure your online sales processes are connected directly to your other systems.
A POS system shouldn’t be an afterthought. Choosing the right solution can save you time and money in the long run. Quality POS systems cost between $1000 and $3000 per year.
3. Scales and Barcode Printers
Quality scales are a key part of any butcher tool list. If you don’t have scales, you might want to buy a legal-for-trade scale. “Legal-for-trade” is a designation from the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) and signifies that your equipment is up to commercial standard.
If you already have scales, check out the NCWM’s database to see if your equipment is up to snuff.
Ideally, use high-quality scales that integrate with your POS system and a barcode printer. This allows you to quickly weigh a cut of meat, input the type of inventory it is, and quickly print out a barcode to scan at checkout. This is not only more convenient for customers but also prevents errors that arise from manual inventory reconciliation.
Scales typically range in price from $500 to $2000. Scales with built-in label printers may be more expensive, but save you from having to invest in a separate barcode printer that you would need to enter values manually.
4. Refrigerated Display Case
Put your products on display while keeping them safe using a refrigerated display case. When evaluating a display case for your shop, consider the following factors:
- Size of the case
- Ease of maintenance
- Temperature control standards
- Humidification systems
- Lighting
A great display case will keep your meat fresher and make it more appealing to customers. Make sure you regularly rotate stock to ensure your best cuts are front and center.
Closed display cases can be as cheap as $1500 and go above $10,000 for larger or more advanced models.
5. Meat Preparation Tools
Nothing, and we mean nothing, beats a hamburger made with freshly ground meat. Fresh ground meats or custom mixes are a big draw for local butcher shops. Invest in a quality meat grinder that can get the right consistency and is easy to clean and maintain. If you offer lunch and deli meats, a deli slicer is also a must.
Having a deli slicer and a connection with a local bakery also gives you opportunities to expand your services by offering freshly made sandwiches. However, if you are offering ready-to-eat options at your butcher shop, you need to have sufficient space to keep a separate, food-safe preparation area for all of those meats.
There are a few additional (but admittedly optional) pieces of equipment to consider:
- A meat mixer for mixing ingredients into burger and sausage meat. These typically cost between $200 and $500.
- A sausage filler to prepare sausages in bulk. The average cost of a professional sausage filler is about $500 to $1000.
- An industrial tenderizer stamps meat with small needles to make it more tender. The average cost of a commercial meat tenderizer is $900.
- A burger press presses ground meat into consistently sized, ready-to-make patties and varies in cost from $100 to $400 depending on the model.
Pro Tip: Don’t buy every toy you can get your hands on. That’s a surefire way to put your finances in the red early on. Start with the basics then use your POS system to see what your consistent bestsellers are. This will allow you to invest in the tools that will most benefit your business.
6. Walk-In Refrigerators and Freezers
If you’re opening a butcher shop for the first time, make sure you invest in walk-ins that are made for butchery. Outside of keeping your meat at the appropriate temperatures also look for models that have:
- Space for butchering
- Easy-to-access storage bins
- Easy to clean surfaces and materials
- Butcher hooks and rail systems
- Humidity control
Also, don’t neglect your storage layout. Use your inventory management system to see what your bestselling cuts are and make sure they’re easily accessible.
7. Markers, Butcher Paper, and Packaging
Hear us out: if you look at any forum and discussion among butchers of what equipment they use the most, markers come up a surprising amount. You’ll constantly be writing up current specials, marking packages, and writing notes. If you convert your shop to run with custom barcodes and labels, this is less of an issue.
Additionally, keep any packaging supplies you need well stocked. Butchers tend to be held to a higher standard when it comes to food safety, so don’t improvise. Use vacuum sealers for items that are being sold frozen, and good quality butcher paper for things being sold on the day.
If you sell online, make sure you have the proper insulated packing materials to ship meat safely.
Use the Right Tools To Set Your Butcher Shop Up for Success
There are many types of meat markets out there, from fishmongers to halal butchers. Each type of shop will require slightly different tools to be a success. Before you start buying new tools, figure out what your store’s niche will be so you can strategically invest in the items you really need.
Regardless of what type of butchery you pursue, the right technology partner will help your business run smoothly.
Markt POS is designed with meat markets and butchers in mind, offering features like deli integration, weight-based inventory management, and streamlined supplier management. It also comes with added-value features that will help you make smarter business decisions and increase customer satisfaction like reports and analytics, customer loyalty, marketing tools, e-commerce support, and more.
A comprehensive meat market POS system gives you all of the functionality you need out of the box, which will help keep business operations simple as you grow.
Schedule a demo today to find out how Markt POS can help your butcher shop opening run smoothly
