GUEST COLUMN:
Dawie Beyers
Farmers Pantry
I started out at Rosedew Farm in the Vale of Glamorgan as a tractor driver, spraying cauliflowers amongst other tasks. That was before we had a single butchers’ shop, before any thought of websites or wholesale rounds.
Now we’re on the verge of opening our eighth store in Brackla, Bridgend, with a wholesale business delivering to around 90 customers a day and a growing online operation. It’s been quite a journey.
At the centre of it all of course is the meat. The quality of it, the provenance, and making sure it ends up on the plates of people from all walks of life -not just the privileged few. That’s what drives me. I want the guy driving a Ford Escort to enjoy Welsh beef for dinner, not just the one behind the wheel of a Bentley.
Around 80% of the beef we sell comes straight from Rosedew. It’s something we’re proud of because we know how the animals were raised and what went into producing that meat. When we need to supplement that – for example, there are only two fillets on each cow – we’re extremely selective. We work with small, trusted suppliers for beef, lamb and other products, keeping things local where we can. Pork is harder to source consistently in volume from small producers, so we also work with a free-range farm in Gloucester. All of our chicken is British and cut fresh every day.
Provenance isn’t just a marketing point – it’s a matter of pride. People want to know where their food comes from. They want to know that care has gone into producing it. And we’ve got to earn that trust every time someone walks through the door or opens a box delivered to their home.
A lot of people still think of butchery as just counters of traditional cuts. And while that’s still important, it’s not the whole picture anymore. Around 60% of what we sell now is what I call the ‘ping range’ – meals that can be cooked in 30 minutes or less. We’ve added value by doing some of the prep: marinated meats paired with vegetables, ready to go in the oven. It’s about recognising how people live. They’re busy. They still want to eat well. They just need a bit of help getting there. That’s where we come in.
The same applies to our pies. People often comment on how much meat there is in them. And rightly so. We’re not selling pastry. If I wanted to do that, I’d have become a baker. We’re selling meals made with care, made with good ingredients, and made to be eaten and enjoyed by people who appreciate that honesty.
The business has grown because we’ve been willing to adapt. When Covid hit, we lost £70,000 a week overnight from wholesale. That was a huge blow, and we had 12 butchers in the cutting room with not enough to cut. But then a customer said, “Let’s get you online”. We sat down over the weekend, built a website from scratch, and launched the online shop the following Wednesday. We’d never sold a single thing online before. But we pulled through with a £1 million online business during the pandemic.
That sort of response is only possible when you’ve got the right mindset, and my boss Rhodri Davies, who owns and runs Rosedew Farm, has always been that way – never one to put the handbrake on. His instinct is to give things a go, and that’s rubbed off on all of us. We were talking recently about whether things might slow down, but the truth is they won’t. And I don’t think we’d want them to. That energy is what keeps us moving.
Of course, none of this happens without the team. We’re nothing without our people. The average age of our butchers is around 52, so we’ve got to think about the future. That’s why we’re working with Cambrian Training to bring new people through. We’ve currently got eight young apprentices on the books. That’s an investment in the next generation and in the skills that keep this business going.
Every day, we try to be just half a per cent better than the day before. There’s no need for big, dramatic changes. It’s about those small improvements, done consistently. That’s what pushes the business forward.
And yes, it’s great when someone stops you in the street to say how good the burgers were. That matters. Because at the end of the day, we’re here to put quality food on people’s tables – food they can trust, food they can afford, and food they’ll want to come back for. That’s the job. And I’m proud we’re doing it.
