Welcome to Ashburton Meats
Since 2007, Melbourne’s popular Ashburton Meats has been ahead of the curve in tasty traceability, offering an array of award-winning meats and goods direct from the farm to its city shopfront on Ashburton’s High Street.
Specialising in premium quality, grass-fed and ethically farmed meats – traced from paddock to plate – the dedicated team at Ashburton Meats is committed to supplying their valued customers with the best quality produce.
“All our meat is ethically farmed and can be traced locally,” says shop owner and master butcher Paul Klooster, who is proud to support Victorian farmers and their families. “Our supply of beef, lamb, pork and poultry is free-ranged and free from antibiotics and artificial growth hormones. And the taste and freshness are guaranteed.”
It was pioneering beef farmers Col and Julie McMicking who acquired Ashburton Meats in 2007 to sell their Gippsland Pure Beef range directly from their green pastures. With a desire to introduce city folk to delicious beef grown on the fertile meadows of Lower Tarwin in the temperate, unpolluted ocean air of the Gippsland, the McMickings let customers judge the superior quality of their produce. And, with enthusiastic reviews, their paddock to plate range soon expanded to include traceable lamb, pork and poultry.
“Our commitment has always been to quality, freshness and knowing exactly how our meat is farmed and brought to our customers,” says Paul, who began working at Ashburton Meats in 1989 as a “clean-up kid”, became a co-owner in 2003 and bought out the McMickings in 2018.
“We have built up goodwill and good customer relations because of our knowledge of product, personalised customer service and traceability with our range of products including Gippsland Pure Beef and Lamb; Otway Pork; and poultry from La Ionica.”
Ashburton Meats also offers the popular Paul’s Fine Foods range of 40 different spice rubs and marinades which Paul and his wife Kasey developed in their home kitchen and sell exclusively.
“Our Paul’s Fine Foods range has no preservatives and is gluten free,” he says. “Our roasted garlic, tomato-based pasta sauce won the 2018 silver medal at the RASV Fine Food Awards.” Ashburton Meats also supplies a handpicked range of Paul’s Fine Wines, chosen to compliment the various meats and smallgoods on offer in-store.
An on-trend butcher, Ashburton Meats also stocks game meats – including emu, kangaroo and rabbit – and Gippsland cheeses, organic butter, free-range eggs, Jersey milk, homemade pastas, pates and dips, pita breads and soft shell tacos.
Awarded the 2018 Victorian Retail Butcher Shop of the Year Award from The Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) for the second year running, Ashburton Meats was also gifted Best in Class at the 2017 Australian Food Awards (AFA) for their Gippsland Lamb.
“It’s the flavour and quality of our produce that has our new and established customers raving and coming back for more,” says Paul. “And we treat everyone with the same great service and dedication to our product.”
Ashburton Meats is now taking online orders to the greater Melbourne area. Just go to our drop-down link or click here.
GIPPSLAND PURE BEEF
Delivered direct from Tarwin Meadows, a stunning coastal property between Phillip Island and Wilsons Promontory, farmers Julie and Col McMicking’s mission is to “reconnect the city to the country” with their tasty produce. Backing onto lush Cape Liptrap National Park on the Gippsland coast, Tarwin Meadows is the perfect farming location – providing optimum health benefits to the animals and ensuring the finest quality to customers.
Crisp, fresh, unpolluted ocean air from the beautiful surrounding beaches; high rainfall; pristine clean drinking water and a temperate climate mean happy animals and farmers!
The former owners of Ashburton Meats, the McMickings remain our key beef and lamb suppliers with more than 40 years experience on the land.
OTWAY PORK™
With their philosophy of animal welfare at heart, Otway Pork’s farming methods – leaving the pigs and piglets free to play, forage and socialise – ensures kind and loving treatment of the animals and delivers 100% natural, lean and tender meat to the consumer.
Farming on Victorian-based farms for more than a quarter of a century, Otway Pork is an Australian-owned producer. Its manufacturing site in Melbourne processes all of their finished goods, ensuring strict product control and Otway Pork takes great pride in complying with all Australian standards.
LA IONICA POULTRY
Starting with just 300 chickens per week in a small factory in the Melbourne suburb of South Morang, La Ionica now processes over 500,000 birds a week at one of Australia’s most revolutionary processing plants in Thomastown, Victoria.
The only chicken producer on mainland Australia to use the chemical-free European method of “air-chilling”, La Ionica eliminates the need to use harmful bleaches and chlorines during processing.
The result is that old-fashioned, delicious taste of natural, healthy chicken. La Ionica’s birds are naturally pink, firm and tender, retaining their juices and flavour and turning every dish into a mouth-watering experience.
GIPPSLAND LAMB COMPANY
Radfords of Warrugul is a family-owned company founded in 1946 and renowned for supplying Ashburton Meats with the tastiest and leanest grass-fed lamb.
The Radford family is a pivotal part of the West Gippsland community, with a commitment to a family-run state-of-the-art business delivering integrity and a commitment to what they sell.
With a high quality assurance program in place, Radfords lamb is sold under the Ashburton Meats’ Gippsland Lamb Company banner, which guarantees customer satisfaction and a great eating experience.
