Melbourne's 'butcher of distinction' has the 'chops' to be the best

In fact Peter Bouchier's love for his trade follows him on holidays.

"We (the family) travel overseas a lot and the first thing I do when I get to where I'm going is go to a butcher's shop, or manufacturer," Mr Bouchier said.

Mr Bouchier, who trades under the slogan "butchers of distinction" is currently celebrating the 40th year of running his own business.

He nowhas two shops and a large manufacturing facility in Moorabin's industrial area.

"My father (Thomas) was a butcher, as were his brothers - my brothers are butchers, a few cousins are butchers," Mr Bouchier said.

"At last count I suppose there are 14 or 15 of us in the trade."

He grew up in Noorat, western Victoria but said his choice of profession was not inevitable, as he never really planned to be a butcher.

"But when you are brought up in the shop, you learn how to make mince and sausages and clean up."

He said his brother Geoff, who was working in the very Melbourne shop Mr Bouchier now owns, put out a call for help.

Peter ended up working there three days a week, "going home on the weekend to play football", and was eventually offered an apprenticeship.

"My old man said,' get back on the next train and say yes'," Mr Bouchier said.

"I finished my apprenticeship in March, 1980 and in December I started managing the shop - which I did for two and a half years - then I bought it," he said.

There had been significant changes, from cutting up carcases to processing boxed beef, he said.

"Counters used to be full of straight meat cuts, now they are full of value-added meat - you have a lot of marinated skewers and all that sort of stuff," he said.

"In the early days a lady would come in with a shopping list and she would buy for the week - you would see the same type of lady three or four times a week now.

"Often she has the children with her and will turn to each child and say 'what would you like for dinner tonight?"

Some of the best-known members of Melbourne society are regulars at his Toorak shop, while he also runs another business at Malvern Central.

He delivers packaged products to IGA supermarkets and a myriad of delis and smaller grocers, through his fleet of five vans.

He said his shoppers had disposable income for a reason, "because they are smart - they are not about to throw it away.

"My customers, we serve the Who's Who of Melbourne, have to get value.

"If that means cutting the meat better, trimming it more heavily, presenting it better, that's what you have to do."

He said he believed he got the inspiration for new cuts and products because he "read the play.

"I give people what they want, in that Toorak area, you have people travelling overseas, they are coming back telling me what they bought overseas," he said.

They then asked him if he could replicate what they'd eaten overseas.

"I was always really interested in different things, new things, I still have a bit of passion there."

He said much of the lamb processed at the factory was sourced from Herds, Geelong, while beef came from Lee Pratt's abattoir at Casino, NSW.

"He will kill 200 animals every couple of weeks and I will get the pick of them, he will often refer to me as 'getting my cherry-picker out and taking what I want," Mr Bouchier said.

"We do use a bit of JBS, Pinnacle brand or Great Southern and Greenham's Cape Grim."

Bouchiers also sells as pork, chicken and turkey. as well as award-winning smallgoods.

"My interest in smallgoods developed as my career progressed," he said.

"I started with a homemade smoker out the back of the shop. My passion for it grew as I became more determined to perfect what I was doing."

Mr Bouchier said cattle and lamb prices had been "horrific.

"I do believe we will see meat prices come back - as far as I am concerned, it's too expensive for the average punter."

One of the other problems was carcase weight - "it's just too big, they are massive.

"It's alright for a couple of guys who want to go out and have a big steak and a bottle of red [wine] in a restaurant, but for a family, they are cutting these massive steaks into three pieces," he said.

Cost of living pressures would see people reducing red meat consumption, he said.

"Instead of having consistent [sales] days you have a good day, then you have a pretty ordinary day, there is a bit of that going on," he said.

But, on the bright side, cooking shows, like MasterChef, had a marked influence on sales.

"It's magnificent," he said.

"If it's lamb shanks, look out for lamb shanks next day, if it's ox cheek, look out for ox cheek," he said.

But that was nothing new.

"Years ago, there was the Vogue Entertaining Australia magazine - whatever was in that, all the Toorak ladies would come in with it in their arm and they would want a recipe out of that.

"I would go down and buy it, every time it came out, just to know what was in there."

He said his son Thomas was "coming through" into the business, daughter Jacqueline handled social media and marketing and Danielle was wholesale marketing manager.

Wife Sue used to run the delicatessen in the David Jones Food Hall.

"Dinner time was always talk around the table of what happened that day, and there were always a few stories," he said.

Bouchiers is posting 40 recipes, to celebrate its 40 years in business, every day on social media.