Select was established in 2000 by James George with the invaluable help of his Dad Keith.
James’ love of the meat industry and the traditions of cutting started at the age of nine working alongside his Dad every school holiday in a beef, lamb and mutton stall at Smithfield’s Market and continued through to the point that whilst on a holiday break from a BA Hons in Advertising the meat bug finally got the better of him and he decided not to return and stay on in a salesman position which he had been offered.
On encountering many a bleary eyed chef wandering the avenues of the market at unearthly hours in search of what their current suppliers couldn’t give them, James realised that there was a gap in the market between the jolly high street butcher and the huge catering companies operating long continuous production shifts with butchers who didn’t have a clue who they were preparing meat for.
This gap was filled by Select Butchery, whose aim was to cut bespoke for every order, every day, fresh! No picking off of shelves or from huge fridges full of vacuum packed products waiting to be picked by people who were only trained to identify labels and not good quality meat produce.
With this ethos proving popular, the company rapidly grew from there, so that now James has been in the business of supplying meat successfully to the UK’s top restaurants for over 14 years now – ‘It’s all about the meat. You can dress it up how you want, but if the meat isn’t perfect, a chef will know, and his customers will know.’
