As the UK distributor of Tonon® rail systems, Fisher UK were delighted to be able to help out in installing a bespoke rail system into an existing facility for the team at Deerbox.
We caught up with Ben Heath, Deerbox director, to discover how things have changed now the renovation of their buildings & installation of the new Tonon® rail system is complete.
“Last year we processed 1,000 deer,” he explained “Our new facility can process 6,000 deer per year. The new rail system is an integral part of that.
The Tonon® rail system is self-levelling & is fixed to the floor, so you’re not reliant on any structural support from the building as the system is totally free standing.
We would be unable to manage without a quality rail system – it’s as important as the refrigeration in many ways.
“This is because deer carcasses must be hung, both to cool them & hang them in the chiller. I have a background in CAD design & I looked at both flow & use of space to consider what needed to go where.
“I brought in Jon Fisher to consult on the rail system & he was able to bring in a system to our budget. Now we are ready to expand – as a result, we are now FSA accredited & can sell our deer both to retail & direct to consumers.”
“My reasons for going with Fisher UK is that they were easy to talk to, they listened to my needs, they came up with solutions & at a price that was extremely competitive within a great delivery timescale.”
“We bring in whole carcasses in fur & send them out either fully butchered or as whole carcasses to restaurants & other customers. With deer numbers increasing we are well set to be able to increase our throughput. However, with less deer being shot than is required we also need landowners to recognise that deer are getting out of control.”
” It’s being called “Deermageddon” &, according to Ben, it’s happening all over England & some parts of Wales, “the problem is that sufficient numbers of wild deer are not being culled and so herds are growing”.
Ben Heath works with business partner & TV game Chef Mike Robinson, more widely known as co-owner of The Harwood Arms & chef patron of The Woodsman in Stratford-upon-Avon. According to Robinson there are 50% more deer at large than there were two years ago, he added : “As a business we now have the capacity in our augmented deer processing unit to handle 6,000 carcasses a year & there is demand from consumers & restaurants. But we need to get the message across that the deer population is getting out of control & they need to be culled. We are paying £1.50 per kg guaranteed for the whole season & we have strong chef interest.
“Another problem is the continued use of the term venison. The industry has moved on. Venison is out of date. Chefs & supermarkets need to start to call deer meat by its breed. That will help to diversify away from the collective description of venison which doesn’t distinguish between breeds.”
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Jon Fisher said: “A Tonon® rail system means minimum carcass handling & optimum flow and throughput for any venison or meat carcass processing facility. The system is flexible in design – that allows for quick & efficient installation times, as was the case at Deerbox.
The Tonon® rail system is capable of hanging up to 350kg per linear railing. Minimal handling results in a clean carcass.”
Luca Tonon, CEO & Export Manager for Tonon® srl said: “We are very proud to be working with Fisher UK as our exclusive distributor in the United Kingdom. I can confidently say that our rail systems are market leading & any business requiring this sort of solution can confidently be referred to Jon Fisher, whether a completely new build plan, a Fisher UK modular unit built off-site or, as with Deerbox, installing a rail system into an existing building.”
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For more information on how Tonon® rail systems can help with increased flow & throughput requirements in both new or existing venison & meat processing facilities, contact sales@fisheruk.co.uk or visit: https://fisheruk.co.uk/meat-rail-systems/