There are no staff at this family's self-service butcher shop and it runs 24/7 (2024)

With the cost-of-living crisis forcing numerous small businesses to close, Karin and Kale Robinson are thriving against the odds .

In late 2023, the Charters Towers couple opened 'Butcher 2 Go' — a self-service, staff-less, 24/7 butcher shop —an hour and a half away in Townsville.

"It's paddock to plate and a modern take on a modern-day honesty box system," Karin Robinson said.

But for Kale and Karin, the past year has been "absolute mayhem" as they have juggled raising five young boys, running a contract fencing business, and navigating the retail meat industry.

TikTok and goats

They own a 10,000 hectare property near Muttaburra — six hours west from Townsville— where they run goats, chosen for their hardiness to survive in "lower quality country".

"I would say my main motivating factor was that you could make really good income — better than cattle— just because of how quickly they reproduce, and you could buy affordable country and basically renovate the country," Kale Robinson said.

But over 12 months ago, the price for goat meat plummeted.

"The goat market totally collapsed" he said.

Mr Robinson had off-farm income, working as a fencing contractor, but the couple needed a new market for the goats.

A scroll on social media presented an idea.

"I always have a dig at Kale for scrolling on TikTok and one day he came across a fella called Jacob Wolki," Karin Robinson said.

"He's doing some pretty cool things and he was posting about his 24/7 self-service butcher shopthat he'd opened and we thought that whole concept was amazing.

"We actually reached out to Jacob and he was amazing.

"We thought, well, this might be something to use as another avenue for the goat, since we were having such struggles with what markets were currently available" she said.

How it works

The Robinsons knew there was demand for their goat meat. They had previously connected with their main customer base, the local Middle Eastern and African communities in Townsville.

"I'd have the [processed] goats loaded in the back of my minivan and then we'd meet at a car park in Townsville, and they would come and pick up their goat and off they'd go," Karin Robinson said.

With the creation of a butcher shop solving the outlet issues for the goats, the Robinsons decided to diversify their range, sourcing local beef, lamb, pork and eggs.

Customers use an app to enter the shop at any time, any day of the week.

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The Robinsons have lost little stock to crime.

"They [customers] could literally go in and take the meat in and walk out, that could happen, and it may happen," Kale Robinson said.

"But the people that are signing up for this, they're there to support the farmer, like if they're going to steal, they'd probably be more inclined to steal off a bigger retailer I'd think."

Local support

For Karin Robinson, sourcing local produce, and using a local processor, means Butcher 2 Go is "relying on family businesses".

Dan Walton, who owns Dan's Country Meats, a butcher and processor in Charters Towers, helps the Robinsons with their products.

"They've got nowhere else really to go," Mr Walton said.

"We do everything from the processing side all the way through to all their packaging and everything else."

Mr Walton says he feels "privileged" that he can offer a "crucial" service.

"I can help them in one way, then they can help me in one way … it is a bit of a working relationship," he said.

"It's very important because not only do I support them, and they support us, but we try to support a lot of the other local businesses around town."

The Robinsons agree.

"Without a processing facility in Charters Towers, it would make it very difficult to run a business like this," Kale Robinson said.

Steep learning curve

Despite a lack of retail experience, Butcher 2 Go is flourishing.

"It's grown exponentially," Kale Robinson said.

"I mean, we're only seven months old now, and we have a bit over 900 members," he said.

It is an achievement, considering that small business survival rates are at an all-time low, with more than 15 per cent of Australian businesses failing in the previous 12 months to August 2023.

For Karin Robinson, working in retail has been "a whole different ballgame" to the livestock industry.

Selling or "moving" the entire animal has proven a challenge.

"We want to educate our members to eat from nose to tail, and not just go for those prime cuts," she said.

"Every cut of meat is good: it's just you've got to cook it the way it's meant to be cooked."

Kale Robinson estimates that one of their 500-kilogram cows supplies only 43 kilograms of high-value cuts.

"Those high-value cuts sell in the first day that Karen restocks, so you have to have it priced higher to slow it down in comparison to the rest of the animal," he said.

"It's a limitation because some of the customers don't always get high value steak cuts and we don't just buy it in boxes. It's all straight out of the paddock, so we have to try and sell the whole animal."

Time will tell if the Robinsons's leap of faith will pay off.

"It's a very scalable business because you don't need staff and it's not labour intensive," Kale Robinson said.

"It's a good model, we just need to sort out the retail and selling the entire animal".