CORONAVIRUS UPDATE 22ND OCTOBER 2021

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will take place at The Landmark Hotel, Kingsway West, Dundee on Wednesday 24th November. Presentation will be from The National Craft Butchers on the UK Butchers survey, Alan Clarke, Chief Executive, Quality Meat Scotland. Gary McLean, Scottish National Chef will present the Training Awards and President Tom Courts will address the members.

The Scottish Food and Drink Net Zero Challenge Fun

Background
The Scottish Food and Drink Net Zero Challenge Fund has been launched by Interface and the Scotland Food and Drink Partnership to support Scotland's food and drink businesses as part of the Recovery Plan funded by Scottish Government. It aims to support businesses to accelerate their journey towards Net Zero and improve their environmental sustainability utilising the world class knowledge base and facilities across Scottish Universities, Research Institutes and Colleges. Please contact [email protected] and we will help identify and connect you into key academic expertise to support your project ideas.
The fund will support companies working in or with the food and drink supply chain in Scotland to reduce environmental impacts. It will pay for companies to utilise the expertise Scotland's higher education institutions and colleges can provide. Scotland is blessed with world class academia across numerous disciplines including Agri-tech, IT, data, manufacturing, engineering, food science, chemistry, biology, environmental and consumer sciences. Funding awards of up to £10,000 will be made available for businesses to partner with and fund Scottish academia on projects contributing to sustainability and Net Zero goals.

Potential funding opportunities are wide and varied:
• Projects are welcome across the supply chain including primary production, manufacturing, food service, supply chains, retail, and technology. Fundamental to a successful application will be associated reductions on environmental impact for the food and drink industry in Scotland.
• Environmental sustainability is unique to each business, organisation or subsector; so, priorities will vary. We envisage applications covering a range of issues such as food waste, waste valorisation, water usage, sustainable ingredients, packaging, resource and energy efficiency. For further inspiration please see Scotland Food & Drink's Leadership in a Climate Emergency document on the right hand side of the page.
• Ideas may have emerged from engagement with support services available to businesses (e.g.Greening Your Business) Circular Economy Business Support Service and Food and Drink Waste Reduction Business Support enabling the business to pilot concepts or embed knowledge with the support of academia.

If you are a business with a Net Zero challenge and don't already have an academic partner, Interface can provide a free, impartial connection into relevant academic experts. Please fill in the Project Brief Form. The earlier you submit a form the better as it takes time to go through the enquiry process to identify and introduce to an academic. Therefore, there is a deadline for Project Brief Form submissions of 17th November.
For full details visit:
https://interface-online.org.uk/net-zero-food-and-drink-challenge-fund

Greening Your Business: A practical guide for food and drink SMEs

Climate change matters to the world, to Scotland and the people you sell to, raise money from or employ. It also matters to your business.
As well as downloading the toolkit here, you can scroll down the page to view it online and to download individual sections of the toolkit.
https://foodanddrink.scot/media/4514/greening-your-business-toolkit-aug21.pdf

Extra Mile Award 2021

Scottish Craft Butchers and The Scotch Butchers Club are delighted to announce that nominations for the annual training awards are now open!

It is definitely worth submitting a nomination form. The benefits of winning a Craft Butcher Training award can last a lifetime.
Entries to be submitted by the 29th October 2021.

Your customer could win a £100 voucher to spend in your butcher's shop.

The presentation of the awards will take place after business at the AGM of the Scottish Craft Butchers on Wednesday 24th November 2021 in Dundee.

The “Extra Mile Award” has a cash prize for the winner and a shop voucher for the customer who makes the best nomination.
Online entries can be submitted in the link below. There are also printable entry forms and a poster you can print out and display on the premises.

https://craftbutchers.co.uk/story.php?t=Scottish_Craft_Butchers_Extra_Mile_Award_2021&ID=2656

Sustainable Food Production – https://reviewframe.com/collab/view/id/89
Quality – https://reviewframe.com/collab/view/id/90
Food Manufacturing Excellence – https://reviewframe.com/collab/view/id/91
If you would like further details or to discuss the consultation, please contact Matt Hardy, Qualifications and Assessment Manager at NSAFD – [email protected]

Butcher Shop of the Year Awards 2022

We want to hear from you! The Butcher's Shop of the Year Awards honour and recognise excellence and innovation. You have a fantastic opportunity to display your company credentials, quality products, artisan knowledge, and support for the local community and agricultural landscape by entering the awards.
There are 11 categories to enter – and we guarantee that there will be a match among them for your location and business model. The Awards provide a national platform for positive media attention – whether a family run independent butchers in a rural location, or a chain of outlets.
It's now your turn to show why you're a cut above the rest!

Entry deadline: Tuesday 30 November

Entry Fee: £35 + VAT

Scotch Pie Awards open for entries

The World Championship Scotch Pie Awards 2022 are now open for entries.
Scottish Craft Butchers members have been very successful in the past in the various categories. Indeed, the Champion of Champions Scotch Pie title went to our own James Pirie and Son in Newtyle earlier this year.

CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES 31 OCTOBER 2021

The link to the entry form and rules is below

https://worldchampionshipscotchpieawards.org/competition.php

Update to e-mail contact details

As we have now completed the process of changing the name of the organisation to “Scottish Craft Butchers” we have also taken to opportunity to change our e-mail addresses to reflect this.
Please note the new e-mail contact details for Gordon and Bruce below.
Our mobile numbers remain the same.

Gordon King: [email protected] 07917524313
Bruce McCall: [email protected] 07834490922

The Scottish Craft Butchers office in Perth is staffed every weekday.

We will be available to our members to answer any queries via email or by mobile phone
and will be available out of office hours for any members wanting to contact us.