Business in Focus: Smith & Elis Butchers Tamworth
Last year, Smith & Elis Butchers entered our Festive Windows competition to bring the spirit of Christmas to our local town and surrounding area during a different and somewhat more challenging festive period due to the pandemic. The community voters and the Mayer of Tamworth were very impressed with their display which led them to win the ‘Out of Town’ vote for our Festive Windows competition.
We wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate on them once again for their win, but to also share some more information about their traditional, family run business to spread awareness of their award winning butchers and to provide more support to our local traders.
Smith & Ellis are a family owned butchers, with shops in Tamworth and Fradley. The shops were started in March 2017 when Marc Smith took over the existing butcher’s that was previously known as G & B Hunt (following the retirement of the existing owners). Dan had worked for the previous owners for around 8 years.
Dan is married to Marc’s youngest daughter Stacey. Soon after taking over, Mike another member of the family joined and the business continued to gain popularity. Two years ago, the decision was taken to open another shop in Fradley, and Mike went to help set up and run the Fradley shop to ensure that same values and standards were maintained there too. Note: many locals know Dan, along with the other staff – Brian, Xander and Sonia, and recently they will have also met Stacey who has been helping out during busy periods.
They have built a reputation on three pillars: Local, Ethical and Sustainable. When they say that Smith & Ellis is great quality and doesn’t cost the Earth, they really mean it! They always try to buy their stock from the most local sources possible - for example, lamb from Wigginton and Shrewsbury, Pork from Packington and Beef from Worcester. This enables them to cut down on ‘food miles’ which helps to reinforce their sustainability values, but more importantly, allows them to audit the supply from the field to their shops. This means that they can verify the ethical and high-welfare methods they require for their products, and can ensure that they have witnessed the sustainable farming methods that guarantee great quality, but also give them confidence that their partners are ‘doing the right thing’ too.
It is these values that have enabled them to win multiple awards and gain gold accreditation status with the Agricultural, Horticultural Development Board and allows them to promote their ‘Quality Standard Mark’ status to their customers. In addition, they are registered as a Premier Butcher with the National Craft Butchery and hold ‘recommended supplier’ approvals that allow them to supply local schools and colleges.
Their staff are trained in traditional methods, and when taken together with their values on sourcing, means that they supply some of the best quality products in the region.
They are incredibly happy to be part of the local community and always ‘do their bit’ when help is needed. We are sure there are plenty of stories about some of the things they have done, but they have informed us that they don’t talk about their community contributions because they don’t do it for publicity, they do it because that’s was community is all about – doing the right thing.
You can find out more about their great award winning business and fantastic produce available over on their website.
You can also follow their Tamworth Facebook page for latest information and offers.
Thank you for taking the time to read more about this amazing butchers and for supporting your local community and businesses.
