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Butcher & Smallgoods Equipment
A butcher shop works in one direction: break, process, pack, display. That means mincers and slicers, vacuum packing for shelf life, dry-age and cold storage behind the counter, and a refrigerated serve-over that sells the cuts. Commercial Kitchen Appliances supplies each stage, ex-GST.
- Australia-wide delivery
- SilverChef finance available
- Manufacturer-backed warranty
- Granville showroom
Popular in this range
A selection from 62 products, priced ex-GST.
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-36%
Who this range is for
Retail butchers, smallgoods makers, deli counters, and supermarket meat rooms. Whether you are opening a shop, adding a dry-age program, or replacing a mincer that cannot keep up with mince demand, the sequence below is how the room should be planned.
How a butcher shop is equipped, front to back
A butcher shop runs in one direction - break, process, pack, display - and the room should be laid out to match. Cold storage sits behind, processing in the middle, display at the front where the customer is. Cross that flow and you create both a hygiene problem and a labour one.
1
Processing
The stage that determines how much of a carcass you can turn into saleable product per day.
| Deli and butcher equipment | Mincers, slicers and processing gear. Mince demand usually dictates the mincer size, not carcass volume. |
| Meat mincers | Size on daily mince output. Under-buying here shows up as a queue every morning. |
| Meat slicers | Consistent thickness on smallgoods, which is what customers judge quality on. |
| Bone saws | Primal breakdown. Blade length has to suit the largest cut you handle. |
2
Packing and shelf life
Where margin is protected - or lost to product you have to discount.
| Chamber vacuum sealers | Chamber machines handle liquid, so they suit marinated and wet product where external sealers fail. |
| Vacuum bags and accessories | Consumables sized to your standard cuts. |
| Food storage containers | Standardised sizes so product rotates predictably in the coolroom. |
3
Cold storage and ageing
Temperature discipline behind the counter is what makes the front of shop possible.
| Dry age fridges | Controlled humidity and airflow for a dry-age program - a genuine margin add. |
| Upright storage fridges | Bulk cold storage feeding the display each morning. |
| Commercial freezers | Frozen stock and long-hold product. |
| Blast chillers | For cooked smallgoods, which must meet the legal cooling curve. |
4
Display and front of shop
The only part the customer judges you on.
| Deli display fridges | Refrigerated serve-over. Glass height and reach depth affect both selling and staff speed. |
| Countertop display fridges | Additional refrigerated display for value-added and ready-to-cook lines. |
| Stainless benches | Cutting and packing benches in 304 food-contact stainless. |
Chamber vacuum sealer vs external sealer
This decision is settled by what you pack rather than by budget. If any of your product is wet - marinated, brined or in sauce - only one of these will work reliably.
| Chamber sealer | External sealer | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Evacuates air from a sealed chamber around the bag | Draws air out through the neck of the bag |
| Handles liquid | Yes - the deciding factor for marinated and wet product | Poorly - liquid gets pulled into the seal and it fails |
| Bag cost | Lower - uses plain smooth bags | Higher - requires embossed or channelled bags |
| Throughput | Higher - multiple packs per cycle | One pack at a time |
| Best suited to | Retail butchers, smallgoods, anything wet or portioned at volume | Occasional dry-goods packing |
What drives the cost of fitting out a butcher shop
We have not published dollar ranges, because the figure depends on how much of the processing you do in-house versus buying pre-broken - and that varies enormously between shops. What we can tell you is what moves the total.
Refrigerated serve-over display is usually the largest single item, and it is sized in linear metres of counter. Processing equipment comes next, and the sensible order is mincer first (mince is the highest-volume line in most shops), then slicer, then saw. Cold storage and a dry-age cabinet follow.
If budget is staged, buy display and cold storage first. You can outsource or hand-work processing for a while; you cannot sell from a counter that will not hold temperature.
For a real figure on your own operation, send us your service details and we will quote it. Finance is available through SilverChef, with approvals up to around $65,000 in about five minutes.
Food safety requirements for meat retail
Temperature. Meat is a potentially hazardous food and must be held at 5°C or below under Food Standards Code 3.2.2 - in display as well as in storage. Any cooked smallgoods must be cooled from 60°C to 21°C within two hours and to 5°C within a further four, which in practice means blast chilling rather than a coolroom.
Surfaces and equipment. Food Standards Code 3.2.3 requires food-contact surfaces to be smooth, impervious and easy to clean, and meat processing equipment must be able to be fully disassembled for cleaning. 304-grade stainless is the standard for benching and food-contact parts. A dedicated handwash basin is required and cannot be substituted with a prep sink.
Meat-specific licensing. Meat retail and processing is regulated more tightly than general food premises, and in most states sits under a dedicated meat safety scheme with its own licensing and audit requirements. This varies significantly by state - confirm with your state food or meat authority as well as your local council before fit-out.
Butcher equipment FAQs
How do I size a mincer for a retail shop?
On daily mince output, not on carcass volume. Mince is the highest-turnover line in most butcher shops, and an undersized mincer creates a queue every morning regardless of how much other capacity you have. Work out your peak daily kilos and buy above it.
Do I need a chamber vacuum sealer or is an external one enough?
If any of your product is marinated, brined or in sauce, you need a chamber machine. External sealers draw air through the bag neck, which pulls liquid into the seal and causes failures. Chamber machines also use cheaper plain bags and pack several at once, so they usually work out better for a retail shop even before you account for wet product.
Is a dry-age cabinet worth the investment?
It can be one of the better margin additions in a butcher shop, because dry-aged product commands a premium and differentiates you from supermarket meat. What it requires is discipline: controlled humidity, airflow and temperature, plus the space to hold product for weeks without touching it. If you have the throughput to justify tying up that stock, the return is real.
What temperature does display meat need to be held at?
5°C or below, the same as storage, under Food Standards Code 3.2.2. Serve-over display has to hold that temperature with the glass being opened repeatedly through the day, which is why retail display refrigeration is specified differently from a storage fridge and should not be substituted with one.
Do I need a special licence to run a butcher shop?
In most states, yes - meat retail and processing sits under a dedicated meat safety scheme with its own licensing and audit regime, separate from general food-premises approval. It varies significantly between states, so confirm with your state food or meat authority before you commit to a fit-out.
Can I use the same equipment for raw and cooked product?
Not without separation. Cross-contamination between raw meat and ready-to-eat product is the main hygiene risk in a butcher shop, which is why slicers, boards and benches used for cooked smallgoods should be separate from raw processing, or fully cleaned and sanitised between uses. Plan the room so the two flows do not cross.
Supplying another kind of venue? We stock commercial kitchen equipment for every trade in Australian food service.
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