Niagara College cuts to the chase with new butchery program

Culinary management student Brodie Mason takes part in a butcher demonstration, highlighting a new program coming to Niagara College in the fall. ~ Niagara College photo

By Luke Edwards

A crucial step in the process from barnyard to barbecue is getting some help from Niagara College.

This fall the college will be launching an artisanal butchery program, following through on a long held priority to support an industry that could use an injection of fresh talent, said Craig Youdale, dean of culinary, tourism and beverage studies. The one-year certificate program will provide a mix of the basics of breaking down an animal with some more elevated concepts such as smoking, brining and charcuterie.

“We knew that in Ontario, especially, but really across the country, that butchers were really starting to age out. It was one of those industries that really needed younger life into it,” Youdale said.

The idea is several years old, going back to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Expansion projects at the Daniel J. Patterson campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake included space for a potential butchery program, but the aforementioned pandemic took the program off the butcher’s block, so to speak.

However, Youdale said the college is now ready to launch the program. And it appears students are just as ready to sign up. The dean said they’re expecting to have a full intake in year one, filling up the 24 spaces they made available. Typically it can take a couple years for a new program to fill up, he said, as potential students take a wait-and-see approach.

“We’re just really excited and I will say if the interest is there we’ll definitely grow the program,” he said.

Jobs in the industry offer a good mix of hands-on work but also a high level of creativity, something Youdale said can be overlooked. There’s no shortage of ways to break down an animal, and there can be a certain artistic skill to figuring out how and where to make the cuts.

That creativity will come in handy with another focus of the program, as students will learn how to efficiently and effectively use as much of the animal as possible.

Youdale said that’s all part of the goal to be more sustainable.

“Making sure we use 100 per cent of the animal or as close as possible, so that we’re respecting the process of raising the animal,” he said.

As a certificate program, it’s open to anyone with a high school diploma. Youdale encouraged those thinking about enrolling for the fall to do so as quickly as possible.

There are a wide variety of good paying jobs available to people with butcher skills, Youdale said, from large meat cutters to grocery stores, or even people who want to open their own shop or expand existing skills.

“We liken it to pastry, in the sense that it’s a specific skillset but it can be used both in the restaurant environment and being more skilled in the butchery side of things but you can also be entrepreneurial and start your own business,” he said.

Fortunately the school has a ton of existing talent on staff, including, among others, Olaf Mertens, who helped coach the national team at last year’s World Butchery Challenge in Paris. “He’s definitely a driving factor. And we have a variety of different chefs who have done additional training,” Youdale said. “But we’ll also be bringing in butchery experts from across the province to help us train as well.”

A few members of the national butchery team recently visited the college to check out the plans.

“When I was growing up, even though I was a second-generation butcher, I wanted to take my skills to the next level but I didn’t want to travel and there was nothing locally, so to have something like this in Niagara is absolutely amazing,” said Dave Vander Velde, a store manager at VG Meats in Stoney Creek. “Students entering the industry will succeed that much quicker because they’ll already have a foundation. And it benefits the industry by cutting down on training and attrition because students who completed the program are already committed.”

Damian Goriup, from Florence Meats in Oakville and also a member of the national team, agreed, and said the program will help fill a gap.

“The butchery trade is in desperate need of skilled labour. The Niagara College butchery program is needed not only for beginners but also to further improve the skills of many currently working in the industry,” said Goriup. “Education is key to ensuring that we maintain good quality and safe products in the industry.”

For more information on the program, visit niagaracollege.ca. 