Despite five kids, a herd of goats and “a lot of chaos,” the Robinsons managed to open a 24-hour retail store.

Due to the cost of living crisis Many small businesses to closeKarin and Kayle Robinson are thriving despite the odds.

Later in 2023, the Charters Towers couple opened Butcher 2 Go, a self-service, unmanned 24-hour butcher shop in Townsville, an hour and a half away.

“It’s a modern day version of farm to table and the modern honesty box system,” Karin Robinson said.

But for Kael and Karin, the past year has been “total chaos” as they juggle raising their five sons, running a contract fencing business and navigating the retail meat industry.

TikTok and Goats

They own 10,000 hectares of land near Muttaburra, six hours west of Townsville, where they raise goats selected for their hardiness, allowing them to survive on “low-quality soil”.

“I think the main motivation for me taking this job was that it would make a really good income because they reproduce faster than cattle and I could buy land at a reasonable price and basically renovate the property,” Cale Robinson said.

But over 12 months ago, goat meat prices plummeted.

“The goat market has completely collapsed,” he said.

Robinson worked as a fence builder and had some income off farming, but the couple needed a new market for their goats.

A scroll through social media presented me with an idea.

“I always criticize Kail for scrolling through TikTok, and then one day he met this guy named Jacob Woelki,” Karin Robinson said.

“He’s doing some pretty cool stuff. 24-hour self-service butcherHe opened it and I thought the whole concept was amazing.

“We actually reached out to Jacob and he was amazing.

“We were struggling with the current market that was available so we thought this might be an alternative outlet for our goats,” she said.

How to use

The Robinsons knew there was a demand for their goat meat – they had existing connections with Townsville’s Middle Eastern and African communities, who are their main customer base.

“I [processed] “We load the goats into the back of a minivan, meet them in a car park in Townsville, they pick them up and off we go,” Karin Robinson says.

Opening a butcher shop solved the problem of where to sell the goats, and the Robinsons decided to diversify their range by sourcing locally produced beef, lamb, pork and eggs.

Customers can use the app to enter the store at any time, any day of the week.

The Robinsons lost very little of their assets through crime.

“They are [customers] “You can literally walk in, take your meat and walk out. It can and does happen,” Cale Robinson said.

“But the people who sign this are in it to support farmers, and I think if they’re going to steal, they’re probably inclined to steal from the bigger retailers.”

Local support

For Karin Robinson, sourcing local produce and using local processors means Butcher 2 Go is “relying on family-run businesses.”

Dan Walton, owner of Dan’s Country Meats, a butcher and meat processor in Charters Towers, helps the Robinsons make their products.

“They have nowhere else to go,” Walton said.

“We do it all, from processing to packaging and everything else.”

Walton said he was “honored” to be able to provide the “vitally important” service.

“I can help them in a way and they can help me in a way … it’s kind of a working relationship,” he said.

“This is really important because not only am I supporting them and they supporting us, but we’re also trying to support a lot of other local businesses around town.”

The Robinsons agreed.

“Without a processing facility in Charters Towers it would be very difficult to run an operation like this,” Cale Robinson said.

Steep learning curve

Despite the lack of retail experience, Butcher 2 Go is thriving.

“It’s grown by leaps and bounds,” Cale Robinson said.

“We’re only seven months old and we have just over 900 members,” he said.

This is a significant achievement given the low survival rates of small and medium-sized enterprises. The lowest in history, More than 15% of Australian businesses have gone bust in the past 12 months to August 2023.

For Karin Robinson, working in retail was a “completely different world” to the livestock industry.

Selling or “removing” the entire animal proved difficult.

“We want to educate our members to eat the whole animal, from head to tail, rather than just going for the best cuts,” she said.

“Any cut of meat is delicious, you just need to cook it in a way that suits that cut.”

Cale Robinson estimates that a 500kg cow produces just 43kg of high-value meat.

“These expensive cuts will sell out the first day Karen restocks, so they need to be priced higher to slow down sales compared to other cuts,” he said.

“Some of our customers don’t necessarily buy the expensive steak meat, and we don’t buy it by the box, so that’s the limit. It’s all shipped directly from the farm, so we have to try to sell the whole animal.”

Only time will tell if the Robinson family’s bold decision pays off.

“It’s a very scalable business because it doesn’t require staff and it’s not labor intensive,” Cale Robinson said.

“It’s a good model, we just need to sort out the retail and whole animal sales.”