Smallgood lovers snap up excess stock caused by event cancellations
A Mount Pleasant butcher found himself up to his neck in a tonne of meat with no one to eat it after coronavirus put the brakes on his business. But social distancing doesn’t apply to social media.
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It was a shocking day for the popular Mount Pleasant butcher.
On Friday, it manufactured a tonne of mettwurst, as it does on a minimum weekly basis.
But within an hour, the business’ Melbourne distributer cancelled all orders for the next month.
To add to the pressure, the butcher’s local Mount Pleasant Show was also cancelled on the weekend, leaving the business with significant stock to move.
So director Jamie Hylan took to social media on Sunday afternoon, putting out a call to help the business with its oversupply problem. And the community responded in droves.
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By midafternoon on Monday, the award-winning business had sold out of its 800 gram garlic and plain mettwursts.
Mr Hylan said the response well and truly exceeded his expectations.
“It was a real predicament, just how we were going to move the stock,” he said.
“But after putting up the post, we took more than 400 orders from across Australia.
“One Easter a few years ago we were really busy and took 380 orders, but this was something else.
“We also had an incredible response from people visiting the shop. There were queues of 20 people lining up outside.”
With the rush on meat sales due to coronavirus and livestock prices hitting record levels, Mr Hylan said the next challenge in the coming weeks would be sourcing enough meat for manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Kalleske Meats at Smithfield also put out a call for help, following the cancellation of one of its biggest selling events – the South East Field Days, which also drew a strong public response.