Previous Kaponga Four Square owners open up The Family Butchery in Stratford

Karl and Tina Tuner in front of their shop The Family Butchery.

Opening the doors to their butchery business in Stratford was a dream come true for Karl and Tina Turner.

The Family Butchery opened last Tuesday in the building which previously housed the Stratford branch Paddock to Plate, a butchery business which went into liquidation last year.

Tina says it has always been Karl's dream to own a butchery since he was 20.

"When this came up for sale, we thought we'd give it a go."

Karl has been in the butchery trade since he was 12 where he started working as a clean-up boy in New Plymouth at a butchery. Later he undertook a four-year apprenticeship at Tuson Butchery in New Plymouth. Since then, Karl has worked at a wide range of butcheries in New Plymouth and Hawera.

"The price of meat is so dear, we want to make it more reasonable where we can," Tina says.

Before buying the butchery, Karl and Tina owned the Kaponga Four Square for nine years and Tina says they did close to 80 to 100 hours a week working in the business. After selling the Four Square, Tina and Karl took a well-earned break before buying their new business.

"This will give us more of a life and more time to spend with family," Karl says.

Tina and Karl have future plans to get a chiller van on the road in the next four to six months so they can visit other places in Taranaki.

"We will start out with the van in Taranaki but later on we will expand down to Palmerston North," Tina says.

"Our focus is putting out a good product at a good price and to keep the people happy," Karl says.

The Family Butchery also has a full licence to do home kill and game meat, says Karl.

Their new business has received a lot of support from the community, Tina says.

"We are always grateful for all the support we get."

Karl says they also have a great team behind them.

"We have a fantastic working team. They are friendly so we encourage people to come and talk to them as they can help with any inquiries."