Meat Factory brings home bacon... award

Meat Factory owners Deane and Tania Pitcon with their two awards and some of the bacon produced at the Kihikihi butchery.

Kihikihi's Meat Factory has collected an award for the second consecutive year in the 100% New Zealand Pork, Bacon and Ham Awards.

The Meat Factory Limited picked up gold in the middle bacon section last year and followed up with a silver this year. Owners Deane and Tania Pitcon were recognised for their quality honey-cured, manuka-smoked middle bacon.

"We're rapt to get another award. The butchery was really busy after last year's award and we've tried to keep our quality consistently high," says Mrs Pitcon.

Judges were clearly impressed - they described the bacon as having a great balance of flavour - and gave a combined score of 178/200.

The Pitcons say their award-winning bacon is crafted the old fashioned way and customers clearly enjoy it.

"The bacon is really popular and our customers have told us it's a great product, so we're pleased to again get recognition from the awards."

Sourced from local pork producer, Warratah Farms, Mr Pitcon says that using 100 per cent New Zealand pork is the only way to go.

"You need top quality ingredients to achieve a great product and that's what we get from Warratah."

The award-winning bacon is available pre-packaged or can be cut in a thickness to suit individual preference.

The Pitcons have only owned The Meat Factory for around three years, although Mr Pitcon has been with the Kihikihi-based butchery for more than 25 years.

He already had a good bacon product when he took over the business, but his aim to improve it has clearly paid off.

The butchery has retail, wholesale and homekill services, producing a wide range of bacon, ham, sausages (including several flavours and gluten free options) as well as small goods on site.

The retail area of the Lyon Street butchery has recently had a makeover and they now have two awards that take pride of place on the wall.