NSW farmer Jacob Wolki hits back at critics

A farmer had a savvy idea to build a self-service butchery in a regional town and business is booming. But it has attracted mixed opinions.

Wolki Butchery in Albury is an unstaffed butchery open 24-hours a day and 365 days a year.

The members-only butchery in Lavington went viral after the store owner showcased its innovative way of selling meat to customers without a human employee.

The store owner Jacob Wolki told the Herald Sun the business operated as a “big walk-in vending machine.”

“When we started the butchery two years ago, we didn't have enough spare produce to make the front of the shop viable,” he said.

“I thought it would be good to have a big walk-in vending machine so I wouldn't have to pay a full salary.”

The butchery works similarly to a 24-hour gym, requiring customers to get a unique code to access the store.

“We’ve got security camera systems, a PIN code, and then we’ve linked all that into a smart app. So people can use their phone as their checkout machine,” he said.

While the concept impressed people as a way to save revenue, others criticised the NSW farmer’s move as “eroding the job market and destroying jobs”. 

But Mr Wolki disagreed.

A self service Albury butcher shop has gone viral after the owner shared his innovative way to save revenue. Photo: Supplied

“We’re not anti-jobs because the business was never viable to support a job in the first place,” Mr Wolki said.

He said he’d have no net profit if he hired a full time employee for the shop.

“The revenue the butchery generates is funnelled straight back into growing the business,” he said.

“It hasn't removed the job; all it’s done is create an opportunity for me to sell some more meat.”

“We've got multiple businesses in town; we employ 50 people with a payroll of over $30,000 a week, so we’re clearly not anti-jobs,” he said.

He said it cost him less than $5000 to run the butcher in the current style.

“It’s way cheaper than paying $60,000 a year minimum in salary,” he said.

While some social media users expressed their disapproval of the automated butchery, others praised his tech-savvy idea. 

“People clearly have no idea how a business works. Well done for figuring out the best way to make it work for you,” wrote X23Lea.

Another user, Crazydogmum, wrote, “You can really tell the people who have never run a business and have no idea the costs involved.”

Mr Wolki said the chances of theft were low in his member-only butchery because everyone who went to the store was known to them.

“To apply to be a member, you must come to one of my free farm tours. We normally do the monthly and we have about 40 or 50 people every tour, and they come around and understand what we're doing,” he said.

“They buy into our mission and then get a unique code.”