Butcher shop in Mirow remains on the road to success despite staff shortages!

Butcher shop in Mirow remains on the road to success despite staff shortages!

Gunnar Pape, a butcher from the small town of Mirow, is faced with an unpleasant challenge: Although his business is booming, he is forced to downsize his branch. The reason? An acute personnel deficit caused by the retirement and health problems of its long-term employees. Pape, born in 1965, is concerned that fewer and fewer young people are willing to begin training in the butcher trade. “Times have changed,” he says, “the profession has lost a lot of its reputation among younger people.”

The shortage of staff is a widespread problem. According to that Deutschlandfunk In 2023, just around 2,300 young people will be training to become butchers, which represents a decrease of five percent compared to the previous year. In 2000, however, there were still over 9,500 trainees. And that's not all: the shortage of skilled workers now affects many skilled trades - in total, the skilled trades in Germany are lacking around 250,000 skilled workers.

Despite these difficulties, Gunnar Pape's butcher shop can point to successful sales hits such as cabbage liver sausage, slag sausage and game salami. A sign in the Netto store recently caused confusion as it stated that the branch was last open on September 6th. However, Pape clarifies that he will remain on the market and that customers still enjoy coming to his butcher shop. “There is no switch to industrially manufactured products here,” he emphasizes, “we rely on old recipes that we adopted from the Mirower Wurstfabrik from the 90s.”

Current situation of the butcher shops

The situation of butcher shops in Germany is serious. According to [NDR]. While supermarkets drive down prices through large purchasing campaigns, many small businesses are left behind.

The butcher shops are not only fighting against this competition, but also against rising energy and production costs. Around 113,000 of 226,000 vacancies in skilled trades are unfilled, which further exacerbates the situation. Nevertheless, there are also positive developments: Some butcher shops are using creative solutions such as meat vending machines or offering delivery services to better reach their customers.

Challenges and perspectives

The challenges for the industry are diverse. As demand for high-quality, local meat products increases, many businesses are having to reduce their opening hours or close completely. Jörg Dittrich, President of the Central Association of German Crafts, emphasizes the need to give craft professions more social recognition and support. Consumers are increasingly placing more value on sustainability and are willing to pay more for local products - but is that enough to save small businesses?

Pape remains optimistic and firmly believes in the quality of his products. “The craft is unique and we won’t let it get us down,” he says. Despite the broad discussion about meat exports and industrially manufactured products, solidarity in the community is crucial in order to give small butcher shops a chance for the future.

In the meantime, the butcher shop in Mirow remains open to customers and offers its traditional delicacies. Because despite all adversities: well-filled plates are a piece of home and tradition, even in times of change.