Butchery Apprentice
PERRY HILL ORCHARDS LTD
HARTFIELD (TN7 4JJ)
Closes in 16 days (Monday 18 May 2026 at 11:59pm)
Posted on 1 May 2026
Contents
Summary
Join our family‑run fruit farm and farm shop as a Butchery Apprentice. You’ll learn traditional butchery, food preparation and retail skills in a busy on‑site butchers' café and shop near Ashdown Forest. This is a genuine career opportunity with mentoring, qualifications and a full‑time role on completion.
- Wage
-
£16,640 to £26,436.80, depending on your age
National Minimum Wage
- Training course
- Butcher (level 2)
- Hours
-
Tuesday - Saturday working week. 9am-5pm. Some occasional Sunday work.
40 hours a week
- Start date
-
Monday 1 June 2026
- Duration
-
1 year 6 months
- Positions available
-
1
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
You’ll spend most of your time in the butchery, with some exposure to other parts of the business to give you a well‑rounded skill set.
Typical duties include:
- Learning traditional and modern butchery techniques
- Cutting and breaking down carcasses and key meat cuts
- Preparing products for sale (including sausages and marinated meats)
- Weighing, packaging and labelling products accurately
- Maintaining high standards of food safety, hygiene and health & safety
- Working in a customer‑facing role as part of a supportive retail team
Typical week:
- 3 days in the butchery
- 1 day supporting other areas of the business
- 1 day training with Plumpton College (every two weeks)
Where you'll work
BOLEBROOK LODGE
EDENBRIDGE ROAD
HARTFIELD
TN7 4JJ
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
PLUMPTON COLLEGE
Training course
Butcher (level 2)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Comply with regulations and legislation relevant to their role and business.
- Maintains and sharpens knives and cutting equipment.
- Manual handling of carcases or primals through the manufacturing or butchery process.
- Adhere to the organisational policies and standard operating procedures.
- Maintain the meat product to the given customer specification and food safety compliance and traceability procedures in the meat supply chain.
- Support colleagues in delivering the daily workplace requirements.
- Use technology and applications to support production, sales, and customer service.
- Contribute to continuous improvement activities which focus on improving sustainability within the business.
- Communicate with customers and stakeholders to meet their requirements.
- Process and dispose of waste material.
- Uses knives and cutting equipment to undertake a range of primary and secondary butchery skills.
- Serve customers in line with brand standards.
- Advise customers on the use by dates, storage, preparation, and cooking of meat products.
- Prepare, produce, and display meat products such as joints, portions, sausages, burgers, value-added products and offer alternative products when required.
- Plan and prepare for seasonal supply and demand of meat products in the merchandising and promotion of seasonal foods.
- Provide provenance and heritage product information.
- Set up and close meat counter displays.
- Balance the customers’ needs with additional linked products and services such as marinades, and encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
- Produce meat to the specific volume, size, and weight to meet the needs of stakeholders.
- Maximise the saleable yield for the business relating to carcases or primals.
- Contribute to efficiencies to support the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the business through working to agreed specifications for their role.
- Adhere to customer specifications and contracts.
- Contribute to foreign body control and metal detection.
- Meet key performance indicators within meat processing.
- Comply with regulations and legislation relevant to their role and business.
- Maintains and sharpens knives and cutting equipment.
- Manual handling of carcases or primals through the manufacturing or butchery process.
- Adhere to the organisational policies and standard operating procedures.
- Maintain the meat product to the given customer specification and food safety compliance and traceability procedures in the meat supply chain.
- Support colleagues in delivering the daily workplace requirements.
- Use technology and applications to support production, sales, and customer service.
- Contribute to continuous improvement activities which focus on improving sustainability within the business.
- Communicate with customers and stakeholders to meet their requirements.
- Process and dispose of waste material.
- Uses knives and cutting equipment to undertake a range of primary and secondary butchery skills.
Training schedule
Training will take place in-person at Plumpton College once every two weeks.
Requirements
Desirable qualifications
GCSE in:
- English (grade 4)
- Maths (grade 4)
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Presentation skills
- Number skills
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
- Physical fitness
Other requirements
- This is a physical role involving standing, lifting, and manual tasks
- We are in a rural location, the nearest bus stop is in Hartfield village (approx. 1 mile away)
About this employer
Perryhill Orchards has been a family business since 1966, originally established as a commercial apple orchard. We invest in our staff and we value loyalty, development and community.
Visitors enjoy:
- Our well‑known farm shop and craft centre
- Perryhill Butchers, offering locally sourced, affordable meat
- The Orchard Tea Room
- Apple juices and ciders
- Dog‑walking areas and countryside access
Our butchers specialise in traditional cuts, sausages, pies, game (seasonal), marinated meats and more, using high‑quality local produce.
Company benefits
Store discount avalivble to staff.
After this apprenticeship
Full-time position available after the apprenticeship.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
PLUMPTON COLLEGE
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000029732.
Apply now
Closes in 16 days (Monday 18 May 2026 at 11:59pm)