In our Meet Your Butcher series of the Moo Crew News newsletter we have been using the term artisan to describe several of the “cutters” here at Moody Meats. I was speaking with Adam Moody recently about what qualifies a meat cutter specifically, or someone in any profession for that matter, to be considered an artisan. Then a few days later I opened my email and saw that Chad Hassler, Owner and Operations Manager, had forwarded an article that also touched on this subject. It was from smallfoodbiz.com January 20, 2012 and was the result of the writer’s visit to a recent San Francisco food show. Following is an excerpt from that article.
Is Artisan losing it’s meaning? Words like “artisan” and “small-batch” were being tossed around and touted at almost every booth at the show. In many cases though when you dug a little deeper it turned out that the product wasn’t quite as advertised. In one case a small brand told me that their products were “artisan” and “handcrafted” only to find out, after a little digging, that their products are actually made by a third-party manufacturing facility that utilizes machines for all their production. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that small companies shouldn’t look for ways to make their production more efficient but at the same time I think that then disqualifies you from using terms like “artisan” and “handcrafted.” Unfortunately, since terms like that aren’t regulated, there’s really not much that can be done.
The reason that this is incredibly important to those of you who are actually artisan, handmade, small-batch, locally sourced, etc, etc is that those phrases that you’ve been using to help differentiate your products from the mass-manufactured brands may be losing their currency in the marketplace. On the one hand, if every company from the biggest of the Big Brands (franchise chain Panera Bread calls themselves “Artisan Fast Food”) to the cottage food producer is using these terms then that’s not an efficient way to differentiate your product from the crowd. Also, there’s the chance that consumers will stop trusting the word because they see it being used in cases where it so obviously doesn’t apply in which case, even if it’s true for your products, it’s not necessarily going to be something the customer will believe.
The dictionary defines Artisan as a skilled craftsman; somebody who is skilled at a craft. How is small batch defined? One definition of batch is the amount of material prepared or needed for, or produced in, one operation. But what is small? Small compared to what? Of course when we think of cooking something in small batches it does elicit images of mom in her kitchen pulling out a sheet of freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies. What do the words artisan and small-batch mean in relation to how Moody’s operates? Let’s take our ham salad, BBQ and pulled pork products as examples. All are made with overnight slow cooked meats in batches of about fifty pints. Most of the mixing is done by hand. Sure we follow the same recipe every time but each batch is still taste tested and of course, tweaked if needed to insure the right flavor and texture. Containers are hand labeled and hand packed. Our natural lard is usually made in a small batch of two or less gallons. Did you know that every egg we sell is individually inspected while hand washed? Every egg! Our Double Smoked bacon is hand trimmed, truly center cut, sixty “shingles” at a time, monitored for proper smoke coverage then individually hand packaged. Our Avon and Zionsville butchers, Steve Burnette and Dennis Richardson each have about twenty years of individual experience cutting meats. They are authentic artisan meat cutters. And Moody’s has four other Journeyman cutters with five or more years of experience. Does Moody’s have skilled craftsmen, artisans, prepping all those beautiful meat case selections and custom cutting your personal orders? Yes we do. Does Moody’s provide consistently fresh, truly small batch products? Yes we do. Does Moody’s always strive to provide you with as much locally sourced meat and other local products as possible? Yes we do! Moody’s is a leader in local, sustainable and responsible farming.
In the future when you see the words, “artisan”, “hand made”, “small batch” and “local” used to promote a company’s products remember us at Moody’s Butcher Shops…, locally sourced, small batch cooking, hands on processing and artisan staffed. Moody’s Butcher Shops, Authentic. Fresh.
Ken Burger, Chief Brand Officer
