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SA's top butcheries announced at 17th Cleaver Awards

25 Mar 2022

The 17th Cleaver Awards recognised South Africa's best butcheries, following a tough 24 months for the red meat industry and the country's agricultural sector at large.

National Winners: Deon van Vuuren (Saveway Superspar Witbank), Eloff du Toit (Kings Meat deli Castle Walk Erasmuskloof), Clayton Lombard (Bluff Meat Supply Beach Road, Durban), Walter Rossouw (Impala Vleis Brits) and José de Klerk (West End Vleismark, Kimberley). Absent: Franks Meat Mall, Middleburg.

This year's awards, once again supported by Freddy Hirsch, honoured the top butcheries from both 2020 and 2021 at an awards luncheon held at Emperors Palace on Thursday, 24 March.

The Cleaver Awards, a Red Meat Industry Forum initiative, are held annually to recognise the country’s best butcheries based on quality, service, hygiene and value for money. The awards have become respected by consumers countrywide as a seal of approval. This is primarily due to the fact that butcheries, once they have entered, cannot nominate themselves, as the awards are given based on customer votes.

All butcheries that receive over 100 votes are then anonymously audited by The South African Meat Industry Company (Samic) against an extensive 212-point checklist.

“With lockdowns, changes in demand and shifts in consumer behaviour, our butcheries have had to become increasingly agile, in some instances transforming their approaches and accommodating new ways of business. And even though many were hit hard due to the pandemic, these Cleaver Awards confirm that our butcheries are still very much worth their beef,” says Dewald Olivier, executive officer of The South African Feedlot Association (Safa).

Several common attributes amongst the winning butcheries have been reinforced, including training and upliftment of staff, a passion for the business, and above all else, customer-centricity, being core to any successful butchery.

And the winners are...