General News
31 August, 2023
Pyrenees Premium Cuts crowned kabana kings
Locals shopping at the Pyrenees Premium Cuts will be able to enjoy Australia’s best kabana after the business won a string of top awards last week. The butcher brought home a total of nine medals at this year’s Australian Charcuterie Excellence...
Locals shopping at the Pyrenees Premium Cuts will be able to enjoy Australia’s best kabana after the business won a string of top awards last week.
The butcher brought home a total of nine medals at this year’s Australian Charcuterie Excellence Awards — a premier event that celebrates and recognises small-goods manufacturers from across the country.
Bagging four golds, three silvers and one bronze for a range of products including the cheese kransky, chili cheese kransky and the bacon — Pyrenees Premium Cuts also won the coveted national title of Best Kabana in Australia, an award which saw it go up against some of the industry’s best and biggest.
“We were in direct competition with smaller retailers as well as Bertocchi and KR Castlemaine,” owner Hayley Collicoat said.
“When we heard we’d won, I couldn’t belive my ears. Out of all the categories we entered and received gold for, we were the least confident in the kabana category.
“There were roughly 25 other gold medalists competing with us for that title and for us, out in tiny little regional Victoria, to come first was incredible — we were just floored.”
Ms Collicoat said the win was a testament to the way they operated their business, preserving older butchering values.
“What sets our kabana apart is that it’s a consistent, local, traditionally made Australian product — it’s that simple,” she said.
“We tip our hat to traditional butchering in everything we do, whether it’s our sausages or our small-goods.
“While it’s quite a lengthy process, we do make it all by hand and the benefits really speak for themselves because I don’t think we would be winning awards if we used machines like some of the other butcher shops do — it really makes us stand out.”
With stores across Avoca, Maryborough, Ararat, Stawell and Castlemaine, Ms Collicoat said the awards also reflected the business’s popularity among the community.
“I think it gets us that recognition we deserve because as retail butchers we work really hard and we’re the most heavily regulated industry in the country,” she said.
“When we win an award like this, it makes people want to stop by and it also goes to show the quality of skill that our butchers have.
“Our customers know that everyday when they come into our shop, everything they buy out of our window or meat display, they know it’s award winning.”