The ‘Ontario’s Finest Butcher’ Title

Celebrating one of the world’s oldest trades, with a keen eye to the future.

By Stacey Newman

During the fall—the traditional season for the harvest and Thanksgiving—the rounds of the Ontario’s Finest Butcher Competition (OFBC) were held. On September 30th, four Ontario butchers battled it out in the finale of this much-anticipated annual competition by Meat & Poultry Ontario (MPO).

There can only be one top winner, though every meat aficionado on the stage is a celebrated champion in the craft of butchery. The 2021 finalists put on an honourable display of talent and proficiency for the audience while vying for bragging rights and the top prize.

In the end, it was Paul Gentile of Metro, Toronto who emerged victorious, bringing home the “black jacket.” Gentile fought his way through 16 of Ontario’s top butchers. His Metro colleagues, many of whom were in attendance, were noticeably proud.

Paul Gentile - 2021 Ontario's Finest Butcher

“On behalf of the entire Metro Ontario team, I would like to congratulate Paul on his incredible knife skills, and winning the prestigious title of Ontario’s Finest Butcher,” says Joe Fusco, senior vice president of Metro Ontario. Butchery is an ancient occupation that roughly dates back to the first domestication and processing of livestock in Medieval Europe. The first known use of the term butcher dates to the thirteenth century.

Butchery is also a modern occupation that has evolved across centuries and regions of the world. It is a diverse and infinitely creative trade, with meat processing forming one of the most important, and understaffed, labour segments in Ontario and Canada.

“A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks.” – Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary

“The skills demonstrated today are just a sample of the talented butchers that work tirelessly to put local food on the plates of Ontarians every day,” says Franco Naccarato, MPO’s executive director.

MPO launched its Finest Butcher Competition in 2014 with purpose— to inform and educate; and celebrate the past, present and future of meat processors in the province. Year after year—and through a global pandemic—the competition has continued to grow and draw interest from established meat professionals and up-and-comers alike.

Troy Spicer is the program coordinator of the Professional Butchery Techniques certificate program at Fanshawe College, and one of the judges of the 2021 OFBC. Spicer is a self-described “educator of most things food-related.” But we might refer to him as a real “meat geek.” Spicer grew up in the foodservice industry—his family ran a resale bakery for 67 years. He moved into institutional foodservice for a long-term care facility in his twenties and at the time the ministry mandated that cooks in LTC must be certified. He was offered the opportunity to go to Fanshawe where he continued in culinary apprenticeship and took a course called “Meat Theory.” Spicer had grown up hunting, but he says that he never considered butchery as a possible career. Because of this course, suddenly, he was fascinated with meat processing, especially around the farm-to-table movement and understanding where the meat that we eat comes from. One day he walked into a butcher shop and asked if they were hiring. He knew nothing about labour challenges in the meat industry, but he took the part-time job offered to him soon after. This began a career in and around butchery—from livestock handling to processing, to customer service. “Everything from the back to the front,” says Spicer. His interest in meat processing propelled him. That was approximately 15 years ago. In that time he garnered several credentials, not the least of which was earning his red seal as a cook.

Spicer realized the importance of meat processing and industry, for myriad reasons, including that he loves animals, and he wanted to learn all he could about how meat is processed from beginning to end. He is also an educator at heart and he retained this interest throughout his own education in meat. His worlds collided and Spicer found himself at the helm of Fanshawe’s first Retail Meat-Cutter Pre-Apprenticeship program, which was a grant program at no cost to students. This was a stream aimed at getting underrepresented groups into the skilled labour trades. Spicer says that they had about 34 students complete the program and to this day most are still employed in the meat industry.

And this is what Spicer wants people to take away from his story: Meat processing—butchery—is a prime career destination, full of opportunities, jobs, stability, great compensation, and people. It’s a fulfilling, rewarding, and unique career and companies can’t fill the job openings today. Butchery is a highly skilled trade with deep historical roots, rich culture and a bright future. This is why we celebrate the art, craft and skill of Ontario’s Finest Butchers year after year, inviting audiences to observe the competition and also learn about where the meat we love comes from.

Spicer practices what he preaches. He knows a lot of butchers that have been working in the trade for 30, 40, or 50 years. “Huge, long, rewarding careers and they love their jobs. They love cutting meat. I still do it part-time. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be cutting meat at eight o’clock, I work half a day, but I look forward to it. I love it,” he laughs.

The other part of pursuing butchery is that it is a very accessible and affordable post-secondary education, with the promise of jobs right out of the gate.

Spicer concludes with a few insights for retailers, companies and educators. There is a huge shortage of skilled labour, as well as a lack of communication to youth about the viability of this career. Butchery is a trade that is important, highly skilled and which has abundant job opportunities. Those who are trying to reach these potential future butchers are missing the mark in many ways, offers Spicer. “We need to make that connection for students,” he says.

Troy Spicer - Fanshawe College

For his part, Spicer’s strategy for boosting enrollment is engaging in the high school environment. But he thinks that the employers and brands out there could also be doing more to facilitate those connections.

“I never thought in a million years that I’d be teaching a butchery program now in my life, if you asked me 20 years ago, I never would have believed you and [that I would] enjoy it as much as I do right now,” says Spicer.