Cranstons win prestigious training award!

Peter Pott’s Cranstons Senior Retail Area Manager accepting the award.

Cranstons were awarded the ‘Best Company Training Scheme’ at the Institute of Meat and Worshipful Company of Butchers Annual Prizegiving in London recently for their Butchery apprenticeship scheme. Over one hundred guests gathered at the Butchers Hall in London to applaud the achievements of butchery apprentices, their employers and training providers.

Peter, our retail area manager said ‘’It is really exciting for Cranstons to be recognised at a national industry event for the quality of the butchery training we provide. The judges praised our consistent record of creating quality career opportunities and for our track record of producing highly skilled butchers. The produce and service our customers love is underpinned by our skilled butchery teams. More than 80% of the Cranstons butchery team, including myself and all our current shop managers started as apprentices’’

At any one-time Cranstons will typically have a handful of butchers qualifying through the apprenticeship scheme throughout their retail and production sites. Apprentices work alongside a more experienced butcher within their team learning the craft whilst also being supported through a series of training modules and practical’s delivered by external training provider Meat Ipswich.

Martin Jones, Managing Director and former apprentice explains ‘’Cranstons have a long history of taking people with a passion for food and service and training them to become highly skilled butchers. As a company we have found time and time again that investing in apprentices produces truly skilled butchers who develop into our future shop managers and business leaders. Just now we have Jamie, Leah and Amy working through the scheme, Michael waiting for his final results and our 6 most recently qualified butchers Ian, Callum, Connor and Spencer, Brandon and Adam really excelling in their roles’’

Martin also said ‘’Our apprenticeship scheme has been crucial in producing the skilled butchers our customers know and love. As a business we are actively expanding the range of apprenticeships we offer, we currently have two apprentices in our business resources team, Natasha and Poppy, and we are also considering whether to add a new deli apprenticeship via the company that delivers our butchering training’’

Cranstons butchery apprentices cover health and safety, hygiene and customer service alongside more specific butchery modules on handling a beef, lamb or pork carcass. Cranstons have a mixture of school leavers and mature apprentices. In recent years several of Cranstons mature apprentices have come out of careers as chefs, fed up of the shift patterns but keen to train as butchers as they still want to work with great food.

Cranstons apprentices get to experience the full supply chain as the company deals directly with local farms and receive whole carcasses in their production unit. During their apprenticeship they will have exposure to both production butchery and retail butchery. Apprentices are encouraged to spend time in different parts of the business developing all round knowledge.

Martin Jones ‘’Cranstons are truly passionate about training the butchers of the future and consistently support our brilliant students to achieve their goals – it’s really all our apprentices past and present who deserve the credit for this award- they really but the hard work and enthusiasm into their training.  The learning doesn’t stop once the apprenticeship period ends. Cranstons continue to develop these passionate people and skilled butchers who become our supervisors, managers and even directors of the future.’’