Meet MLA’s butcher ambassadors
From champion apprentices to smallgoods masters, find out how these butchers are turning skill, passion and innovation into products customers love.
At 25, Matt is already a multiple award winner. He was named World Champion Butcher Apprentice at the 2022 World Butcher Challenge, before being awarded Australian Apprentice of the Year and Butchery’s Brightest Star in 2024.
He loves creating new products with unwanted secondary cuts and trim and says his goal is to make cooking for friends and family an enjoyable experience for his customers.
With 10 years in the industry, Sarah is a fourth-generation butcher and winner of the Meatstock Sydney Young Butcher Award in 2024.
She loves getting to know her customers on Sydney’s southern beaches and enjoying the freedom to create new products for them.
Starting as his father’s apprentice 25 years ago, Brett Laws has gone on to become one of Australia’s most skilled butchers. In 2025, ‘Lawsy’ was named one of six World All Stars at the 2025 World Butcher Challenge in Paris, where he was part of Australia’s third-placing team.
Lawsy loves interacting with customers and using unusual cuts or ingredients to create products that are easy for the family to cook.
He also enjoys sharing his knowledge with young apprentices and hopes to one day have his own butchery where he can help young talent showcase their skills and passion for the industry.
After starting their red meat careers with Coles four decades ago, Rod and Julie went on to own and operate their own butcheries, including the popular Edge Hill Butchery in Cairns which they sold in 2025.
Rod’s expert butchery skills saw him win multiple national and state Sausage King Awards, with the couple winning the AMIC Regional Retailer of The Year four times. That blend of product and retailing expertise was a hit with their day-to-day customers as well as some of the international super yachts stopping in Cairns.
One of Australia’s leading butchers, Luke went from cleaning butcher shops at the age of 13 to captaining Australia at the 2025 World Butcher Challenge in Paris, France, (for third place) and Sacramento, US, in 2022 (second place).
Luke loves the challenge of breaking down a whole carcase in-store and meeting like-minded people across the industry. He also enjoys creating new products for his customers and is passionate about mastering the in-house production of smallgoods, such as dry-cured and fermented meats.
