{"id":6658,"date":"2014-08-15T17:18:55","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T16:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/?p=6658"},"modified":"2014-08-22T10:41:05","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T09:41:05","slug":"value-over-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/6658\/value-over-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"James Whelan Butchers:Value over Cost"},"content":{"rendered":"

It can be quite the battle these days to get people to focus on value rather than price.\u00a0 The two are not interchangeable.\u00a0 It is also a folly to compare sectors.\u00a0 Wearing a low quality t-shirt cannot be compared to eating low quality or poor food. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we get to the value over cost debate it\u2019s important to ask ourselves why we eat in the first place.\u00a0 While I\u2019m aware that the industry has spent a fortune in linking food with lifestyle and creating a veritable past time out of all things \u2018foodie\u2019, eating is not a \u2018hobby\u2019 and eating good food is not a luxury, nor should it be considered the preserve of the rich.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a modern, first world country, like the one we are blessed to live in, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves some questions.\u00a0 Have we lost all sense of respect for our health and well being when we only use price as a guide to what we eat?\u00a0 Are we just blindly ignoring the blatantly obvious correlation between what we eat today and our health tomorrow and the associated costs of sickness and disease?\u00a0 Do we leave our thinking brains at the door of the supermarket and get sucked into the idea that food with a long shelf life is acceptable when the truth is the shorter the shelf life the fresher the food.\u00a0 Why do we blindly count calories without ever considering the energy value of the calorie; not all calories were created equal.<\/p>\n

In any business there are three main pillars.\u00a0 You will often hear it discussed as \u201cPrice, quality, service; pick two\u201d.\u00a0 The theory is that you can only build a business on two of the three. Look at any retail business and you can easily pick out the top two core values they operate from. \u00a0Personally, I don\u2019t run my business from this expert point of view.\u00a0 Instead I essentially approach it by asking why we eat in the first place.\u00a0 I believe we eat first and foremost to nourish our bodies with energy giving and life supporting foods in order to live long, healthy and productive lives.\u00a0 Secondly, I consider taste and variety.\u00a0 Thirdly we constantly keep that difference between value and price at the forefront of our minds.\u00a0\"Irish<\/a><\/p>\n

I appreciate choosing value and quality over price may seem difficult given the financial demands of modern day living.\u00a0 Families are acutely aware of this in the present back to school season.\u00a0 Our little bundles of joy seem like bottomless walking money pits at this time of year as we contend with the costs of school books, school bags, school uniforms, stationery, voluntary contributions to the school and shiny new lunchboxes.\u00a0 I can quite understand how there is a tight budget left for the contents of those same shiny new lunchboxes!\u00a0 However for many of us, myself included, we have allowed our children to be taken over by hype and advertising.\u00a0\u00a0 We are happy to shell out over the top for the special lunchbox with One Direction, Peppa Pig or the Marvel Comic characters adorning the front, while we baulk at paying a little extra for the better quality content of the sandwiches the little boxes will eventually hold.\u00a0 So One Direction, the Peppa Pig creators and Spiderman\u2019s inventor get rich while your child\u2019s diet becomes poor.<\/p>\n

In an average supermarket the shopper is constantly faced with these choices and I know it can be a minefield.\u00a0 Usually supermarkets stock three ranges, the value range, the mid price range and the luxury range.\u00a0 Some people believe that the only difference is the packaging, but I can tell you it\u2019s not as simple as that.\u00a0 Looking at meat offerings in particular for example I can see how the large bulky value pack of mince meat is often chosen over the Irish steak mince in the obviously smaller pack with the greater price tag.\u00a0 I can honestly tell you that you would be better off buying the smaller pack and bulking it out with vegetables and grains.\u00a0 This is a mindset we need to acquire. \u00a0It is always better to buy the smaller local free range chicken than the large water injected, battery reared chicken.\u00a0 Eating less of greater quality is always to be preferred when it comes to food. \u00a0Why? Because food is fuel.<\/p>\n

Would you knowingly put cheap, substandard petrol in your car?\u00a0 Of course you wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 More to the point, would you put fake petrol in your car?\u00a0 Not a chance!\u00a0 While the fake petrol may get you from A to B in the short term, the long term damage it would do to the car\u2019s engine would prevent you choosing it every time.\u00a0 Yet we constantly buy \u2018fake\u2019 food; items that are over processed and stripped of all goodness or food created from chemicals in a laboratory that never existed outside a test tube.<\/p>\n

At James Whelan Butchers all our food is real food.\u00a0 The meat we sell is nutritious, natural and supportive of health and well being.\u00a0 We know our suppliers, we know where they are and I can honestly say that some of my customers travel from a further distance to my shop than the meat and produce that we sell.\u00a0 I am aware of the provenance of every item of food inside the door of my shop; I\u2019ve always known it.<\/p>\n

At James Whelan Butchers we are constantly aware of the financial pressures families are under and so we strive creatively to make best quality into best value.\u00a0 Come and see our range of ready to cook foods.\u00a0 If I\u2019m honest I don\u2019t want people shopping at James Whelan Butchers because we have the cheapest meat in town.\u00a0 I want people to come because they know they will get quality, excellent service and the best value for money around.\u00a0 Surely your family is worth it.\u00a0 I welcome your feedback to info@jwb.ie<\/a><\/p>\n

We hope you enjoyed reading this post by Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers. Pat is a 5th generation butcher, cook book author and the director of \u00a0James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin.\u00a0Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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It can be quite the battle these days to get people to focus on value rather than price.\u00a0 The two are not interchangeable.\u00a0 It is also a folly to compare sectors.\u00a0 Wearing a low quality t-shirt cannot be compared to eating low quality or poor food. \u00a0 Before we get to the value over cost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[605,134,99,48,47,754,755,756],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n