Yarra Valley Custom Meats
Farm shops are not a new concept but one that supplies meat from paddock to plate is less common.
But how this model has evolved in Victoria’s Yarra Valley has been a case of slow development.
Melissa White, the founder of Yarra Valley Custom Meats, came from a farming family where her parents had a farm at Dixons Creek east of Melbourne.
“I started with free-range pigs; that had been going for about 15 years selling from the roadside,” she said. The roadside was the Melba Highway, a main road connecting Yarra Glen with Yea with the family farm about 2km away.
“The venture was a success and one day chefs Paul Mercurio and Guy Grossi rang up wanting to see what I was doing,” Ms White said.
“They came out to the farm and asked why wasn’t I selling to restaurants because they wanted buy pork cuts from me.
“That started the ball rolling so I sent the pigs to another butcher’s shop for them to sell to restaurants.
“I then thought this is not a good idea, selling the pigs and getting somebody else to cut up my pig.”
This was where the idea of a farm shop evolved about 15 years ago. While the location of a shop was not a problem, funding such an enterprise was.
“I started a GoFund me campaign to raise the money as I was younger and didn’t have the funds behind me at that stage,” she said.
“But I did have my parents’ land to site the shop and the initial funding started the shed purchase which is today’s shop.”
Ms White had it fitted out and secured all the necessary approvals to run a butchers shop on the farm. “We open and sales continued to grow, so I next moved into beef,” she said.
“I only had one display fridge and, as soon as we stocked it, everything sold out. I was only opening three days a week.”
The demand for cuts of beef resulted in the shop opening seven days a week and the acquisition of more display fridges.
“I now have nine and we open seven days a week throughout the year,” Ms White said.
Apart from slaughtering, all boning and cuts are conducted on the premises.
Despite the shop being 2km off the Melba Highway down a dirt road, it enjoys a considerable amount of passing trade in addition to its regular customers. The shop is sign-posted on the highway. The Yarra Valley is a tourist destination, being only one hour out of Melbourne, with the main attraction being the district’s wineries. However, the shop has benefited from the foodie tourist trade.
“We do get trade from winery visitors but a lot is word-of-mouth and on a weekend it’s not unusual to have 160 cars using the dirt road to the shop,” she said.
The beef and lamb that the shop sells is grown on the farm. Goat, venison and chickens are bought in. The goal is to source produce from the Yarra Valley, but the venison has to come from Gippsland or NSW as nobody is farming the animals locally.
The company has a Facebook page with 8000 followers. There is an internet site although there is no facility to order online for home delivery. The shop also sells hides. One customer picked out the colour he wanted from the herd and then agreed to buy both the hide and all the meat from that animal when it was slaughtered.
“People like the fact we utilise the entire animal by selling not just the meat but also offal and the skins,” Ms White said.
There are also wines and condiments for sale, all coming from Yarra Valley producers. And due to demand, the company now sell hats and stubby holders.
“Our local suppliers are a selling point for the shop including items like honey and wines,” she said.
Where next with the business, Ms White admits the success of providing a wide selection of meats to a growing customer base is enough at present.