Butchers closures due to high energy prices

Almost 75% of Koninklijke Nederlandse Slagers (KNS) member butchers are suffering from extremely high energy prices, a member survey shows. Healthy butchers' businesses can hardly continue their operations as a result. The cost increases are impossible to pass on to consumers. The price of energy in the months of May to August 2022 is up to six times higher than in the same months in 2021. KNS calls for a solution from the government to prevent business closures.

Energy-intensive

Butchery is an energy-intensive business due to preparation, cooling and freezing. The costs of purchasing, packaging and personnel are also rising, but less explosively than those of energy. Butchers also suffer from a structural shortage of employees. If there is no solution, it is expected that at least 50% of artisanal butchers will soon have to close their doors, says KNS.

Cry for help

If butchers have to give up, it will not only have an impact on these entrepreneurs but also on employment. The shopping street in which the artisanal butcher belongs becomes impoverished, which does not promote the liveability of an area. For consumers, it means the disappearance of the artisanal, custom-made butcher's product, but also personal contact and advice. The butcher also contributes to the local community; often this entrepreneur is also a sponsor at the sports club and plays a role in the shopkeepers' association.

The cry for help to the government is to help now. There should be compensation for entrepreneurs now facing imminent closures due to energy tariffs.

Source: KNS