Butcher Shops Dying? There is, definitely. But there are also butchers who are starting out with new ideas in these times. Because Katharina Koch’s curriculum vitae is also very interesting, the Hessischer Rundfunk took on her. And produced a report that gives hope for the industry even in difficult times.
By Markus Riedl
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Thousands of sausages hang behind Katharina Koch. More precisely: Ahle sausages, a Hessian specialty. The interview scenes with the butcher from Calden in North Hesse in the report “Katharina and her sausage heaven” are taken in the middle of the butcher’s storerooms. When she talks about her passion, butchery, the 35-year-old does not conform to any common cliché about butchers.
Confident: “I’m a butcher, and what do you do?”
Right at the beginning of the Hessischer Rundfunk report, Katharina Koch states her motto. “The craft just has to get cool again, kinda desirable for people to be able to brag about it again and say, hey, I’m a Fleischer, what do you do?” she says into the camera with a defiant grin. And it’s entirely true that Fleischer isn’t exactly is the profession that young people peddle as a goal in life. This is due on the one hand to the zeitgeist, the romanticized view of animal husbandry and changing eating habits. But also to the reputation of the butcher trade in general. And it is precisely this reputation that Koch does not live up to.
After high school graduation she studied political science and worked at the United Nations. Her father, who was very relieved about Katharina’s decision afterwards, called her in New York. He basically asked “whether she wants to come home again.” In a nutshell: she came home and has been running the butcher shop since 2018.
Customer-oriented: “Butcher I trust”
In addition to selling her goods online, Koch also slaughters for regional farmers from the surrounding towns. The meat industry is sometimes rightly criticized when it comes to sustainability, she says. “We want to show in the trade that there is another way, that you can also produce meat in a sustainable way.” A customer appreciates this directly when she makes her purchase at the display. “It also tastes completely different,” she says. “My trusted butcher.”
Koch is in close contact with the farmers in the region. She drives by on site to look at the pigsties. She says on the subject of organic versus conventional: “It’s much more important to me that I know the farmer and knows how the pigs are kept, because they don’t have a seal on them.” A true sentence that shows that knowledge of regional production structures is more important than squinting at the organic seal in the supermarket.
The report paints the picture of a hard-working, creative woman who is passionate about her work. “I think it’s a shame when I hear people who are always just waiting for the end of the day or for retirement,” says Koch. “I look forward to driving here and working here every day.” And you absolutely believe her commitment to her job. The Hessischer Rundfunk garnished the documentary with modern but not obtrusive music, which underlines exactly the style that Koch himself cultivates in the various scenes. Humanely approachable and relaxed, but with seriousness in the matter. Everything fits together perfectly. And last but not least, the trade also appears in a positive light.
Academization: “No one wants to work in the trades anymore”
However, all that glitters is not gold. The report covers that too offspring problem. In one scene, when a painter paints the walls in Koch’s company, the two talk about the trainee situation. “Nobody wants to work in the trades anymore,” says the painter. “We are at the top of the economy.” Koch confirms that. “Many are advised to study, most think that they will find a better job and earn more that way. Which is not necessarily the case, but that’s the prejudice.” Many young people no longer know the trades, which is why they go to local schools and career information days, says Koch.
This is also a progressive way of thinking that does not seem to have arrived everywhere. For trainees, Koch offers an electric vehicle that they can use to drive to school. Flexible working hours, a driver’s license subsidy and other benefits there is on top. It’s about a “relaxed working atmosphere, the strict distinction between work and private life may no longer exist.” Two student interns who are currently helping out may come back as trainees. In this way, Koch fights the “image problem” that she attributes to the trade. “Perhaps trainees weren’t treated so well in the past, but today you have to show that these are modern professions that have evolved.”
Looking ahead: “In this way, craftsmanship has a future”
The butcher also strives for innovation and marketing with her products. She also makes vegan products, for example for the Documenta art exhibition in Kassel, which also prints her logo on tea towels. A great success for the small company. “I think handicrafts have a future in this way, that you produce something special that you can’t get anywhere else,” says Koch. And he emphasizes, in classic marketing jargon, that you have to “position yourself sharply” for this. So say, “we’re doing something here with a lot of passion and expertise”. Then you can also survive very well as a craft business.
You can have whatever opinion you want on this approach. Whether vegan sausage belongs in a butcher’s display is also a matter of debate. In addition, many young trainees have quirks that cannot only be encountered in the way they practice cooking. And it’s all a matter of price in the end. But the master butcher is successful on her way. And the conversations with her satisfied employees on the show didn’t seem as if someone in front of the camera was telling what the boss wanted to hear. Customers also seem to like it. And like the operation of Katharina Koch in the successful report was shown – without many classifying words, but simply as a documentary – that was one of the significantly better moments of public television. Especially when it comes to craftsmanship.
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