Where you can buy meat in the Gympie region

While Gympie region supermarket shelves remain bare thanks to the impact of Covid on staffing and supply chains, some small and independent local businesses are picking up the slack and loving it.

Gympie’s longest serving butcher has revealed the impact of the national supply chain shortages on his Duke Street business.

My Butcher operator Ken Simpson, who has been a butcher for 49 years, said he had seen a major upturn in customers in recent weeks due to a shrinking number of meat products on Gympie supermarket shelves.

The nationwide shortage has affected supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths, after a mass number of supply chain staff were forced into isolation by the ongoing outbreak.

Bare shelves in Gympie Central Woolworths on Wednesday, January 19, as Queensland shops struggle against supply chain staff shortages. Photo: Ella Doyle

But independent local butchers are not having that problem.

Mr Simpson said the reality of the situation was butchers had not been affected by the number of supply chain staff being forced into isolation, and therefore they were filling a gap in the market for shoppers.

However, he said product availability had been affected.

“Suppliers are struggling with stock levels,” he said.

“We’ve still got adequate stock, we haven’t run out of anything, but we’ve certainly noticed it’s been busier.”

Mr Simpson said the increase in customers in past weeks mirrored what happened at the start of the pandemic two years ago.

Ken Simpson from My Butcher in Duke Street. Photo: Elizabeth Neil

“We almost slept here,” he joked.

“It seemed to hold on fairly solidly for about six months and then it tapered off rather quickly.

“When the panic goes out of it, the heat goes out of the retail sales too.”

But despite the increase in customers, Mr Simpson said shoppers should not expect a price increase unless livestock prices surged.

“The cattle prices are the determining factor here … they’ve been very fair,” he said.

“That’s the prices they’ve been getting for their cattle, so of course there is going to be a reflection in the retail cost.”

While the supply issue facing supermarkets has no clear indication of ending, Mr Simpson hoped some loyal customers would remain once the dust settled.

“What we are hopeful of is that we were able to help them out when they couldn’t get it elsewhere, so we would like to think that we will retain some of those customers,” he said.

Rachel and Allen Neal from Neal's Family Meats in Channon Street, Gympie, have also had an increase in customers. Photo: Elizabeth Neil

Neal Family Meats in Channon Street has also seen an upturn in customers.

Manager Rachel Neale told The Gympie Times on Thursday they hoped to retain the loyalty of new customers coming to their butcher shop to get the meat they cannot buy at supermarkets.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revised the state’s close contact rules on January 9, to combat the ongoing supply chain issue; meaning if a critically essential worker becomes a close contact, they may leave quarantine to attend their workplace.

Click here for more information on close contacts and critically essential workers.