After nearly 40 years of trading in a small corner shop in Fraserburgh, I.J McIntosh Butcher has made the move to a new custom-built, eco-friendly premises.
Manager Gavin McIntosh hopes the move will see the family-owned business become the “greenest” butcher shop in Scotland.
It took up the premises of an old local car dealer’s showroom on Charlotte street only a minute’s walk from their smaller original shop.
Well-known family business
Mr McIntosh, who has managed the butchery since 2017, said: “The business was started by my father who worked as a messenger on a butcher’s bike until he began his apprenticeship in 1967.
“He brought his first shop in Fraserburgh in 1982 and after I left school, I joined him in the business.
“It’s always been a dream of ours to expand, but it took a while to find the right shop.”
Mr McIntosh hopes investing in equipment, lights, and fans that are low wattage, refrigeration insulation that is low CGC impact and wall cladding that is low CFC impact it will result in the most eco-friendly butcher’s shop in Scotland.
He said: “When we secured our new location, it provided an opportunity to build the shop we’ve always dreamed of.
“As a business, and personally, I’ve wanted to do my bit for sustainability, so the new shop is fitted to be as environmentally-friendly as possible.
“Because it’s a large building – approximately 200m2 – we’re in talks with an energy company about putting solar panels on the roof to harness and generate electricity that will not only power the shop, but a future electric vehicle we plan to purchase to make deliveries.
“We continue to source our produce locally and have invested in new machines that use recycled packing.
“This means that our customers purchase products with low food miles, consciously packaged with a focus on helping the planet.”
Moving butchery forward
Gordon King, Scottish Craft Butchers executive manager and Tom Gibson, Quality Meat Scotland’s (QMS) director of market development, cut the ribbon to officially open the new store last week.
Age-old craft in the 21st century
Mr Gibson said: “It’s really fantastic to see what Gavin and the team I.J McIntosh Butcher have achieved and it’s been a delight to support him, as a member of the Scotch Butchers Club, as he enters this new era.
“Butchery is an age-old craft that has modern values and butchers, such as Gavin, are now taking that forward; investing in their businesses for the future, keeping them up to date so they can thrive.”
Mr McIntosh has shown his support for the North East Now campaign, which has made it easy for people to support local firms from a wide range of industries during the pandemic.
The initiative is driven by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce and backed by creative agency Hampton and Aberdeen Journals.
He said: “The North East Now website is a fantastic resource to support people to source local and promote the hard-working local businesses that are essential to thriving rural economies.”
For further information on I.J McIntosh Butcher visit www.facebook.com/mcintoshbutcher/
To find out more about North-East Now, visit www.northeastnow.scot