Imagine a butcher. His apron, his knife, his block and his front-line build needed to carry the carcasses. “This is still how the profession is perceived. However, it has changed, it has modernized. I no longer carry my pig legs on my shoulder, I use my forklift. We no longer need to be cut like rugby players,” corrects Emmanuel Ardillon, charcutier-caterer at Cochon Gourmand, in Dorat.
Offbeat, too, the sanitized representation that television sometimes makes of the profession misleads deceived applicants who will end up giving up. “Obtaining a beautiful finished product, as seen on screen, may require going through less noble” and less publicized tasks. “You will never have beautiful onion compote without peeling the onions! » And to hear it, some would like it.
Between the medieval image that sticks to the skin of the profession and “the loss of taste for effort” of some young people, the butchery and charcuterie sector is going through a vocations crisis.
Butchers without buyers?
“We are fighting to defend craftsmanship, but it is becoming complicated,” insists the butcher. “Rare are the parents who wish this profession for their children. Yet they were notables in the past,” regrets Annie Lecompte, responsible for transfers – taken up at the Chamber of Trades and Crafts (CMA) of Haute-Vienne. Within the organization which is increasing the number of rewarding initiatives, the teams are worried: a quarter of the butcher shops in the north of the department will have to be taken over within 10 years, and “that’s going to get stuck”, says Geoffrey Brault. Without apprentices, the chances of recovery are limited.
“Don’t blame everything on youth”
At Cochon Gourmand, the latest recruit handed in his apron before the scheduled deadline. This is not an exception. The Pont-Levis butchery, in Saint-Junien, has experienced so many renunciations that its managers have decided to do without apprentices this year. Only two of the last six apprentices made it to the end. So “It is better to have no apprentices than an apprentice who is not motivated by the profession,” says butcher Éric Boutaud, who regrets that training establishments are not as selective. “Out of ten students, we will have three who have the average, and it is said that certain grades are rounded up…”, he laments.
His partner, Thomas Fredon, agrees. But qualify the statement: “We must not put everything on the backs of young people. Some colleagues use apprentices as cheap labor, without any real desire to transfer them. I understand that this is demotivating. »
The young partner learned the trade from Éric Boutaud, whose chopping block he still shares. The transmission of the basics of know-how specific to the activity took years. “That’s what a transmission is, it takes time!” », Claims his guardian.
A “flight” of talent towards supermarkets
But in the end, certain talents put their long-acquired know-how at the service of supermarkets. “That’s what our last two apprentices did,” regret Éric Boutaud and Thomas Fredon a little, who would have preferred that they remained craftsmen. “Large and medium-sized stores can arrange schedules, schedules… We can’t… Sometimes you have to finish late,” explains Thomas Fredon. “Large and medium distribution attracts young people with good salaries, but their work is not the same. I can't believe they do everything, especially the ham, in an artisanal way! », plagues Emmanuel Ardillon, at Dorat.
The CMA currently has 46 students in CAP and 13 in professional certificate. “If we maintain levels like that, it will be more or less okay, but we would need at least 10 more,” calculates the President of the Chamber, Éric Faucher. “It’s even worse in charcuterie. There are only two students in my new apprentice’s section,” adds Emmanuel Ardillon.
The butcher of Dorat, whose previous apprentice had thrown in the towel prematurely, has finally found a new recruit. Motivated, diligent and invested, she has the profile he is looking for to one day pass on with peace of mind.
Because “when they are committed, apprentices are really good people,” assures Annie Lecompte, at the CMA. Everyone agrees on that.
