What does a meat manager do?
A meat manager works in the meat department of a store. The responsibilities of this position include overseeing the department's operations, ensuring food safety, overseeing product preparation, dealing with the suppliers and vendors, carrying out inventory, and performing customer service. They also oversee employees in the department, perform sales related tasks, make changes in inventory and pricing, and schedule employees' shifts.
Meat manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real meat manager resumes:
- Manage meat department, purchase all perishables for dept, receive and and rotate product.
- Ensure compliance with safety and sanitation standards mandate by state, federal and OSHA regulations.
- Have proper knowledge of power saws, knifes, slicers, cubers, and commercial grinders.
- Work with equipment like meat saws, slicers, grinders, wrapping machines, and knives.
- Provide excellent customer service and are responsible for maintaining the overall appearance and cleanliness of the department.
- Help to develop and write HACCP procedures.
- Maintain high standards in sanitation and safety and HACCP certify.
- Certify food expert and enforcing all health deparment and OSHA guidelines.
- Break down pigs to use in different dishes in the restaurant.
- Process and receive customer payments for goods using POS system, providing correct change as required.
- Unload the trucks of groceries; process the bulk meats into appropriated portions for various food recipes.
- Used professional cutlery, saws, cubers and grinders to process bulk meat and other duties as required.
- Operate all meat department equipment including band saws, grinders, wrapping machines, power jacks, knives and cutters.
- Ensure associates run equipment safely.
- Monitor cleanliness of store and perform troubleshooting.
Meat manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Meat Managers are proficient in Pallets, Cleanliness, 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 Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Pallets, 19%
Safelyused knives, scales, wrappers, compactors, garbage disposals, pallet jack and hand trucks.
- Cleanliness, 14%
Monitor cleanliness of store and performed troubleshooting.
- Food Safety, 8%
Certified in the National Food safety manager registry of food safety professionals.
- Math, 8%
Have great computer skills, as well as math skills.
- Food Handling, 6%
Adhered to safety and food handling guidelines, test and inspected meat, grain, malt, worth and yeast.
- Inventory Control, 6%
Developed and implemented cost effective inventory control procedures.
Most meat managers use their skills in "pallets," "cleanliness," and "food safety" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential meat manager responsibilities here:
Customer-service skills. One of the key soft skills for a meat manager to have is customer-service skills. You can see how this relates to what meat managers do 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 manager resume shows how meat managers use customer-service skills: "order products, cut and wrap meats, inventory, schedules, interact with co-workers and the customers. "
Dexterity. Another essential skill to perform meat manager duties is dexterity. Meat managers responsibilities require that "butchers use sharp knives and meatcutting equipment as part of their duties." Meat managers also use dexterity in their role according to a real resume snippet: "received truck deliveries and maintained organization of warehouse, storage coolers and freezers with pallet jack and electric forklift. "
Physical strength. meat managers are also known for physical strength, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to meat manager responsibilities, because "butchers should be able to lift and carry heavy boxes of meat, which may weigh more than 50 pounds." A meat manager resume example shows how physical strength is used in the workplace: "retail inventory management store opening and closing procedures inventory control procedures facilitated monthly and quarterly physical inventory counts. "
The three companies that hire the most meat managers are:
- Jetro Cash & Carry Enterprises Inc.315 meat managers jobs
- BJ's Wholesale Club52 meat managers jobs
- Sprouts Farmers Market32 meat managers jobs
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Compare different meat managers
Meat manager vs. Butcher apprentice
A butcher is someone responsible for turning whole or large pieces of meat into ready-to-cook or retail-ready portions that can be purchased by customers or restaurants. Butchers know how to cut meat, poultry, and fish properly, so they deal mostly with sharp instruments like knives, grinders, and other cutting equipment. Butchers are knowledgeable in the science of temperature and aging to ensure they are of great quality at all times and adhere to health regulations. They are commonly seen in wet markets, supermarkets, grocery stores, butcher shops, and slaughterhouses, but some are self-employed or have their own meat shop.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a meat manager are more likely to require skills like "pallets," "cleanliness," "food safety," and "math." On the other hand, a job as a butcher apprentice requires skills like "beef," "food products," "customer orders," and "stock product." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, butcher apprentices reach similar levels of education than meat managers. Butcher apprentices are 1.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Meat manager vs. Butcher supervisor
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that meat manager responsibilities requires skills like "pallets," "cleanliness," "food safety," and "math." But a butcher supervisor might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "steamers," "seafood products," "broilers," and "fresh fish."
On average, butcher supervisors earn a higher salary than meat managers. 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 managers have higher pay in the retail industry, with an average salary of $38,069.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Butcher supervisors tend to reach similar levels of education than meat managers. In fact, they're 2.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Meat manager vs. Butcher assistant
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, meat managers are more likely to have skills like "pallets," "cleanliness," "food safety," and "math." But a butcher assistant is more likely to have skills like "delivery truck," "customer orders," "ran," and "grocery store."
Butcher assistants typically earn similar educational levels compared to meat managers. Specifically, they're 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Meat manager vs. Butcher
Types of meat manager
Updated January 8, 2025
