Booths Butcher Training Academy

Pioneered by our Craft & Skill Manager, Colin Porter, our Booths Butchers Training Academy is now proudly in its fifth year.

Over 40 years ago, Colin started his own Booths journey on the meat and fish counters in our St Annes store, where he began to develop his butchery skills. As our Craft & Skill Manager, Colin now works with his team to help our colleagues across Booths Country develop their own skills on our specialist counters.

Colin identified there was potential in our specialist areas to improve our customers counter experience through colleague’s skills, knowledge and understanding of the meat industry as well as the day to day running of the meat counter. With help from Operational Trainers, Mark, David and KJ, Colin and his team are able to guide the students through the programme, so they graduate with a wealth of knowledge.

What’s involved?

The academy involves an intensive 20 week training course that runs alongside their store working hours. Broken down into 6 learning sets, colleagues learn both theoretical and practical skills, from how to order the correct items for the counters, to how to create a commercial display and the traditional butchery practices for various cuts of meat.

At the end of the programme, each trainee is assessed on their skills, showcasing to Colin and his team what they have learnt to ensure all expectations are met. Upon graduation, colleagues remain in contact with the trainers so they can ask any questions about how to improve customer experience and share updates on their progress in store. Whether it’s giving cooking tips, recipe recommendations or advice on which products to choose, colleagues leave the academy well equipped to offer a fantastic service to you on the counters.

Hear from the team:

Colin Porter, Craft & Skill Manager

We have an academy social group on WhatsApp that allows every academy colleague to share ideas, showcase their learnings as well as ask questions from other group members, which is a fantastic way of sharing and inspiring each other. I’ll also create regular videos to not only support our ‘craft and skill’ programme but also how to prepare and cook certain dishes/ cuts of meat. I think it is really important that the students have a good understanding of how to cook the products they are selling so they are able to make suggestions and recommendations to our customers. We want our colleagues to start thinking more like a chef, so they can start to really inspire everyone who shops with us.

Stephen Doyle, Butchers Academy Trainee, Longridge

I’ve worked with food for a long time and wanted to join the academy to learn some new skills. So far, I’ve really enjoyed learning about where the different cuts of meat come from and the best ways to butcher each type

Heidi Dowie, Butchers Academy Trainee, Milnthorpe

I first started at Booths as a Specialist Team Leader but lacked experience on the counters so I joined the Butchers academy to upskill myself and gain more knowledge to help the rest of the team in store. It’s been really good looking at the big picture of it all, from doing the correct orders to looking at sales at the end of the week and commercial displays. I’ve found it really valuable having a holistic outlook and better understanding of why we’re doing what we do

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