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| 1989 | to | 2014 |
West Country butchers Complete Meats is celebrating 25 years in business
The history of Complete Meats by its owner Shaun Vining
“I started in the meat industry early in my life through holiday visits to my cousins and going to work in my uncle’s business. With an insight into butchery I then got a Saturday job in a butchers shop. Deciding that I would like to work in the meat industry, I managed to get a place at Smithfield College learning the technical side of the trade.
In 1988, after jobs in various sectors in the UK and abroad, I knew the time was right to have a go for myself. I found a butchers shop in Axminster in East Devon where the lease was available, in those days it was opposite the cattle market. I felt there was a good chance that I could build the retail side of the business up and then be in a position to start supplying the local catering sector.
It has been hard work and lots of hours. Over the last 25 years I have invested everything back into the business, opening my second shop just before foot & mouth hit. This was a scary time but we pulled through. Now Complete Meats has three shops (Chard, Axminster and Honiton), a bakery and an EC licenced cutting plant and employ 60 staff.
I started going to the butcher trade’s product competitions many years ago this gave me a chance to benchmark our products against what the experts and judges say. We had success early on with Gold Awards but I wanted to really be able to shout about my products by winning not just a category but best overall product. I really listened to the judge’s 
comments; it turned out it is very often only 1 point that makes the difference and 99 out of a 100 is not good enough. I have since gone on to win many awards for Complete Meats which I am very proud of, but more importantly our customers love Complete Meats sausages!
Last year I was invited to be a judge myself at the launch of British Sausage Week in Smithfield Market in London which was a real honour.
Looking ahead, we are continuing to expand our factory unit in Axminster so that we can offer other products, as well as launch a new online shop to enable nationwide delivery”.
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