Meat is delicacy to most Kenyans, and the high demand for meat, makes butchery business in Kenya lucrative, so there is a possibility that you can succeed in this business.

You can either do small scale by selling in small parts to customers, or you can go large scale and sell in bulk to restaurants, hotels and other business ventures that use meat.

The capital for starting a butchery business in Kenya depends on the location and size of your shop. In low-income areas, a shop goes for about Ksh.100,000, in middle-income areas Ksh.200,000 to Ksh.500,000 and in high-income areas Ksh.500,000 to Ksh.1,000,000.

It is advisable that you have your shop situated at an area with high human traffic like a bus terminal or a busy street.

Requirements:

Meat Supplier

Butchers within and around Nairobi get their meat from Dagoretti, Njiru, Kajiado, and other smaller slaughterhouses. Others get their meat supply from City market. While outside butcheries get their supply from slaughterhouses near where they operate.

In these slaughterhouses, a kilo of beef goes from Ksh.250 and Ksh.320. Factors affecting the price depends on the location of the slaughterhouse, type of meat and season. Goat meat goes for around Ksh.320.

Bigger butcheries, that sell ready to eat meat such as boiled, roasted or fried beef or goat meat with ugali, matoke, etc, sell more meat than those who only sell raw meat. Such butcheries move as much as 3000kgs per day. Smaller butcheries which only sell raw meat, sell about 50-100 kgs.

Good Location

The location of butchery is partly dependent on the kind of meat you sell. You might find yourself in a location where the inhabitants don’t eat certain type of meat and this won’t be good for business. Find out what kind of meat people in your area like the most, and supply more of it.

Make sure that your shop is located where there is a large pool of people and there is also water and power to minimize loss and spoilage.

Operating Licenses

You will need a business, food handling and fire safety certificates from county authorities.

Obtaining these certificates will cost you a minimum of Ksh.26,000.

Prices

Your prices should be based on the normal pricing where your butchery is located.

Visit other butcheries around the areas you are interested in, to know how to compare and set up prices, to ensure that you use the normal market rate.

In most areas of Nairobi, depending on the type and location, a kilo of beef sells for Ksh.400 to Ksh.450, while goat may sell for about Ksh.500 per kilo.

You can make more profit off every kilo of meat if you decide to boil, choma or fry the meat. Also if you sell ugali, roast potatoes, matoke or rice.

Waste

An important point to note for when making your budget for buying meat is to get prepared for waste, which might reduce your net kilos that you can put up for sale. As you wash the meat, you can lose several kilos of meat per day to waste.

Reduction in blood and wetness in the meat can cause it to lose weight. Even as you cut to sell, the breaking of bones and falling pieces can further reduce the net kilo which you put up of sale per day.

A supply of 300kg can lose 5-10kg of waste from washing, breaking bones when cutting, loss of water, blood and falling to pieces in a day. It is important that you handle the meat carefully so as to minimize and control the wastage as much as possible.

Profits

Looking at the possible profit margins that you should expect, let us assume that your butchery is medium and you get a supply of 200kg of meat from your supplier at an average price of Ksh.300. Also, assuming that business is slow and you can only sell about 150 kgs out of 200kg of the supply for Ksh.400 per kg.

Your net profit per kilo of meat sold will be Ksh.400-Ksh.300. By selling the only 150kg of meat, your total profit will now be Ksh.100 times 150=Ksh.15,000

If you choose to accompany the meat with other things or sell it ready to eat, then you stand to make a lot more money than from just selling raw meat.

READ ALSO ON THE MOST PROFITABLE BUSINESS TO START IN 2022

Salaries

You’ll need staff in your butchery to help you with cutting, cooking (if you cook) and for cleaning.

Most butcheries in Nairobi prefer to pay their workers daily. Daily those who cut earn Ksh.700, cooking earn Ksh.500 and cleaners earn Ksh.350. You can pay your workers based on the location and experience of your bakery.

Tips To Succeed In This Business:

• To be able to succeed in a butchery business in Kenya, keep it clean, neat and organized. Likewise, give your workers clean uniforms and ensure that they maintain it. Just because they work in a butchery doesn’t mean that their uniforms must be dirty.
• Develop a network and talk to people to know if they want meat supplied to them. You can also cook and deliver meat to businesses who are into such a market. It can’t hurt to have a social media presence where you can showcase your business.
• To retain your customers make sure you sell good quality of meat, don’t just sell hard meat to them. Be honest in your sales and don’t cheat them.