The Farmers Mart Jun-Jul 2020 - Issue 69 | Page 48

48 LAMB2EWE JUN/JUL 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
SINGULAR BELIEF CREATES
WHIRLWIND SUCCESS
LAMB2EWE would appear from the
outside to be just a small, modern
butcher’s shop in Honley. However, first
impressions can be, and in this case are,
very deceptive. Behind those doors is a
phenomenally successful business that
has only been going since 2018. In fact,
the front door opens into what is a business
Tardis. As you walk in the shop it is
clearly a traditional butcher’s shop that
has been lovingly restored with a modern
feel to it. What makes this so much of a
business Tardis is the large online business
that is also Lamb 2 Ewe.
Having heard much about Lamb2Ewe
and the owner, Tom Kitchen Dunn, I was
keen to learn more, so I met up with
Tom one Monday lunchtime when the
shop is closed and therefore not as busy.
Not a bit of it, Tom had just completed
a complete washdown of the shop in
preparation for the week’s opening which
is from Tuesday to Saturday, 9 – 5 pm.
Tom’s partner, Liz Bowring, who helps
him run the business, was in the back
supervising yet more online deliveries.
I was able to get the very busy Tom
to sit down and chat about this most
interesting business with a difference.
Whereas Tom himself is not a farmer, he
does come from a farming background.
His grandparents, Steve and Lynn Jubb,
are fourth generation farmers at Wood
Farm, Brockholes, which has been in
the family for some 65 years and covers
some 50 acres. His parents have a small
holding with a few sheep.
As a boy, Tom had always wanted to be
a farmer and was fascinated by livestock,
he helped out whenever he could on the
farm. However, his grandfather was very
strong on dissuading Tom from taking up
the tough life of farming and “breaking his
back”.
Despite Tom doing a variety of things
after leaving school, including a lot of
work in social media and website design
(which stood him in great stead when
it came to put together the Lamb2Ewe
website), his fascination and desire to
be part of the farming industry never
waned.
So not one to be deterred, he rented a
small piece of land in secret and started
with five sheep. Tim was joined by his
friend Jack Bostock, who was a shepherd
by trade, which made for a great
partnership.
In October 2018, the business began
in a very small way. Despite the small
beginning, this was a very bold step taken
by Tom, who was neither a farmer or a
butcher, only having less than a year’s
experience in a butchers shop. Tom’s
vision and where he saw a gap in the
marketplace was to produce and sell
ethically reared, non-religiously slaughtered
meat that would be of the highest
quality and not the cheapest. His thought
process being to educate people about
the quality of meat and the benefits of
eating less but better. It was this vision
and self-belief that has been and still is
Tom’s driving force.
Tom and Jack began producing half
lamb boxes and tested the market via
local butchers and the website that Tom
had set up. No sooner had they started
with the half lambs, they got asked for
turkeys as Christmas was coming. Things
progressed at a strong pace and after
a good Christmas it was clear that the
business idea was going to work, so they
officially formed the company, and with
that they either needed a unit or a shop
where sales and preparation could be
run from.
As luck would have it the shop in
Honley became available and even better
it was a former butcher’s shop. This
would be both a good base for the online
side and allow them to retail as well. Tom
and Jack took the lease on in May 2019
and opened in October, that was after
an extensive refurb which involved, as I
said earlier, in stripping the shop back to
the original, then giving it a traditional but
modern flavour to compliment the original
features. May was a significant month
for the business in two ways, as Tom
received the prestigious Digital Innovation
Gold Award at the British Farming Awards
in October 2019. This was for the work on
his excellent website and in particular,
how the design of his website was able
to give him accurate insight on who his
customers were, where they came from
and their buying habits.
Whilst they were midst refurb, fate took
an opportune turn. Would you believe
it, they were approached by the production
team of none other than “Dragons
Den”! They had seen their Facebook
page and read something about them in
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