Business

Meat Industry relies on everyday Fijians

January 14, 2021 6:40 am

The consumer purchasing behaviour has changed and local butchers are having to make adjustment accordingly.

The consumer purchasing behaviour has changed and local butchers are having to make adjustment accordingly.

Businesses which used to supply meat to hotels and resorts say they are actually selling more to everyday Fijians than they did to the entire tourism sector and this is partly due to reduced prices.

Sabid Ali the General Manager of Tebara Quality Meat one of the leading butchers which relied on wholesale tourism orders says they have found local consumption is better than commercial sales which have been halted by COVID-19.

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Ali says they have even kept all employees and moved most of those in their processing outlet to their retail shops.

Leylands Ltd Development Manager, Steven Lee says as sales in tourism dropped, they quickly restructured their business to tap into over the counter sales.

” The customers nowadays are very price-sensitive, they are obviously looking for more affordable things and we have to adapt absolutely, we are still concentrating on trying to maintain that quality and yet trying to find value for money.”

For Ali’s Halal Butcher in Nabua, Manager Joseph Sung says supply to restaurants has been affected but all ten employees have kept their jobs, thanks to counter sales.

He says they are getting more counter sales.

Meanwhile, owner of Eden Bistro and Bar Sangeeta Maharaj says price reductions by butchers are being passed on to customers.

“Usually a serve would have been $45 for an eye filet but now we have taken it down to $25, so you can see it’s a lot more affordable and I think all the restaurants are utilizing this.”

These businesses say BBQ lamb chops, lamb shank and luncheons are popular with customers and supply to hotels is slowly picking thanks to the Love Our Locals campaign.