What does a meat cutter do?
Meat cutters are responsible for cutting meat into small and convenient portions meant for retail. Most of the time, they must prepare the meat products by labeling them according to their weight, kind, and price. Aside from this, meat cutters must use and operate various cutting tools, keep their knives sharp and clean, and appropriately store products into freezers. Furthermore, it is vital to monitor the inventory while adhering to the health standards and safety guidelines.
Meat cutter responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real meat cutter resumes:
- Manage a high pace cutting room for Kroger.
- Manage meat department, purchase all perishables for dept, receive and and rotate product.
- Experience with equipment such as, meat saws, slicers, grinders, wrapping machines, and knives.
- Demonstrate strong customer service skills and proficient use of the POS systems.
- Cut meats, see meats and bones, bagging, wrapped, run seal machine
- Follow all rules and regulations of HACCP.
- Experience with selling and cross-selling of meat products.
- Unload truck and stock frozen and dairy perishables.
- Butcher pigs hand skin cows process beef pork venison
- Follow strict guidelines for ROP and HACCP log book.
- Operate compactors and balers to discard cardboard boxes and trash.
- Ensure the meat are properly align and machines run properly.
- Provide the latest instruction in culinary technique and source local foods.
- Use POS system for in-store purchases and online orders for customers.
- Maintain in-depth knowledge of weights and measure processes particular to meat processing.
Meat cutter skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Meat Cutters are proficient in Grinders, Food Handling, and Food Safety. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Dexterity, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Meat Cutters that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Grinders, 11%
Worked with equipment like meat saws, slicers, grinders, wrapping machines, and knives
- Food Handling, 9%
Followed proper food handling procedures at all time to meet with company and HealthDepartment standards.
- Food Safety, 9%
Implemented and maintained established company standards of food safety and sanitation programs.
- Hand Tools, 7%
Cut and trimmed meat to size for display or as ordered by customers using hand tools and power equipment.
- Customer Service, 7%
Received numerous commendations and merit raises over the years for superior customer service, productivity and professionalism.
- Basic Math, 6%
Cut Meat, ran boneless and bone in saw, used basic math skills, provided excellent customer service.
Common skills that a meat cutter uses to do their job include "grinders," "food handling," and "food safety." You can find details on the most important meat cutter responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. The most essential soft skill for a meat cutter to carry out their responsibilities is customer-service skills. This skill is important for the role because "butchers who work in retail stores should be courteous, be able to answer customers’ questions, and fill orders to customers’ satisfaction." Additionally, a meat cutter resume shows how their duties depend on customer-service skills: "specialized preparation of customer meat orders to exacting requirements. "
Dexterity. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling meat cutter duties is dexterity. The role rewards competence in this skill because "butchers use sharp knives and meatcutting equipment as part of their duties." According to a meat cutter resume, here's how meat cutters can utilize dexterity in their job responsibilities: "can run all basic hand tools, fork-lift. "
Physical strength. meat cutters are also known for physical strength, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to meat cutter responsibilities, because "butchers should be able to lift and carry heavy boxes of meat, which may weigh more than 50 pounds." A meat cutter resume example shows how physical strength is used in the workplace: "facilitated monthly and quarterly physical inventory counts always within a 25% gross profit less then 2 % loss. "
The three companies that hire the most meat cutters are:
- Walmart709 meat cutters jobs
- Costco Wholesale502 meat cutters jobs
- Ingles Markets275 meat cutters jobs
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Compare different meat cutters
Meat cutter vs. Butcher apprentice
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between meat cutters and butcher apprentice. For instance, meat cutter responsibilities require skills such as "grinders," "food handling," "food safety," and "hand tools." Whereas a butcher apprentice is skilled in "beef," "food products," "stock product," and "windows." This is part of what separates the two careers.
On average, butcher apprentices reach similar levels of education than meat cutters. Butcher apprentices are 2.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Meat cutter vs. Butcher supervisor
Each career also uses different skills, according to real meat cutter resumes. While meat cutter responsibilities can utilize skills like "grinders," "food handling," "food safety," and "hand tools," butcher supervisors use skills like "steamers," "product quality," "customer complaints," and "broilers."
On average, butcher supervisors earn a higher salary than meat cutters. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, butcher supervisors earn the most pay in the retail industry with an average salary of $37,584. Whereas meat cutters have higher pay in the retail industry, with an average salary of $32,681.butcher supervisors earn similar levels of education than meat cutters in general. They're 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Meat cutter vs. Butcher assistant
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, meat cutters are more likely to have skills like "grinders," "food handling," "food safety," and "hand tools." But a butcher assistant is more likely to have skills like "ran," "grocery store," "sausage," and "fda."
When it comes to education, butcher assistants tend to earn similar degree levels compared to meat cutters. In fact, they're 0.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Meat cutter vs. Butcher helper
Types of meat cutter
Updated January 8, 2025
