When Stilton Butchers started back in 1978, founder and owner Peter Morgan never imagined that his humble butcher shop would become a national brand of high-quality beef. But after forty-two years and a worldwide pandemic, the small-town meat shop would blossom first into a meat-cutting facility for the catering market, then later into an e-commerce retail brand that would serve thousands of customers monthly throughout the United Kingdom.
When the coronavirus crisis first hit, Stilton Butchers was in a good place. They were turning in £7 million annually and running in a 16,000 square meter facility. But the pandemic left second-generation owner James Morgan, the son of Peter, with a huge dilemma. Left with over £1 million worth of meat products and sixty staff to employ, the entrepreneur faced the challenge head-on by changing direction. His agility and ingenuity gave him the idea of shifting the catering-based business into online retail and starting a Stilton Butchers website even as the UK and world started heading into strict lockdowns.
As a result, Stilton Butchers not only survived the pandemic. In fact, it did thrive immensely and grow its profit by over one hundred percent in record time. “We turned all our focus to our retail customer base by re-developing our website, hiring more staff, and investing in delivering nationwide,” shares company owner James Morgan. “Almost instantly, we saw sales skyrocket, and in six months, watched our retail turnover more than double the previous catering income.”
Over a year ago, James took over after his father and founder of Stilton Butchers passed away. Before taking control of the company, Peter’s son was coming off a successful run as a professional hockey player. He played for the Peterborough Phantoms and Great Britain international before running the family butchery business. Today, James has taken the company to unprecedented heights, bringing Stilton Butchers to a new level amid these trying times.
James found a way to inject an e-commerce-based strategy into the family corporation, seeing the demand for high-quality meats delivered straight to their doorsteps. They introduced a new and innovative solution to supermarket meats while also surpassing the quality of products provided by larger stores. “We believe in the business, everything we stand for, and we offer a service that the supermarket can’t match,” James adds. Fortunately, James and the Stilton Butchers team was more than ready by the time the pandemic hit, carrying the company through the storms of COVID-19 and getting on what could only be described as a business-saving “ark” that brought the company through economic floods of biblical proportions.
Today, Stilton Butchers delivers top-quality steaks, horse meats, chicken cuts, and other high-quality grade meats to over 5,000 customers all over the country every month. However, James only sees this as the beginning. He hopes to take the family’s business and his father’s legacy to even greater heights by positioning Stilton Butchers to serve the rest of Europe in the next five years or so.
Stilton Butchers stands as a monument that shows perseverance and adaptability result in ample rewards when companies are willing to shift when trying times call for it. Learn more about Stilton Butchers by visiting the company’s website and Facebook page.
