Butcher world champion relies on cutters and mincers from K+G Wetter
How the Endraß butcher shop, located in a village in the Bavarian town of Bad Hindelang, became a world champion business in just a few years? With entrepreneurial vision and a feel for trends. And the right combination of tradition and technology - craftsmanship such as dismantling or cuts, but also the latest machine technology from K+G Wetter at Wolf und Kutter. The cutter is equipped with the CutControl software: the butcher uses it to manage the recipes and control the production steps in the cutter process.
The 35-year-old master butcher Matthias Endraß runs the family business, which will be one hundred years old in 2025, together with his sister Ina in the fourth generation. "In 2016 we decided to realign the butcher's shop," says Matthias Endraß. In order to learn new and modern methods of meat processing, the siblings decided to do additional training as meat sommeliers. The goal: to combine current trends with tried-and-tested favorite products and thus win new customers. "It hit like a bomb, it was the right idea at the right time." many new techniques for already experienced meat specialists. “I learned an awful lot there. Also that what I had learned up to that point was often already outdated,” recalls Matthias Endraß. "After that, you think outside the box." Word quickly got around among customers from near and far that the small butcher's shop with a panoramic view of snow-covered Alpine peaks not only sells traditional specialties such as Landjäger, Weißwurst or roasts, but also trendy steak cuts and dry aged beef. A successful step from regional supplier to insider tip for visitors from outside. Preliminary highlight in the history of the butcher shop: In 2022 Matthias Endraß won the title at the World Butchers' Challenge 2022 in Sacramento (USA) with five other colleagues in the "Butcher Wolfpack" as Team Germany. Sister Ina was fourth in the journeymen category as the best woman at the butchers' world championships - which is extraordinary as a trained butcher's saleswoman.
The next logical step: the machines in the sausage kitchen at Endraß also needed an upgrade to meet the increased demands and the larger production volume. You can get to the sausage kitchen via the backyard, on the way there a sign on the wall points to the world championship title. A few steps later you are in the middle of the premises where the specialties are made every day, which are sold right next door over the sales counter - by the way only over this one: "From time to time we also sell something to the local catering trade. But otherwise everything really only goes here over this one counter. That's enough,” says Matthias Endraß. Thanks to tourism, customers now come from further afield to buy what they loved about their vacation.
The master butcher is standing at the cutter and preparing fine meat for the world champion meat loaf – one of the products that brought the Wolfpack team the title at the Butchers' World Championship. The CM 50 STL from K+G Wetter has been in service at Endraß since January 2023, as has the automatic mixer grinder MAW 114 with sorting. “When the machines came, it was like Christmas all over again,” Matthias Endraß recalls. Before the two new hearts of the company, a twin produced different types of sausage for almost 40 years. "My father bought it from K+G (Krämer&Grebe), the predecessor of K+G Wetter. It still ran flawlessly for such a long time, so no other manufacturer came into question for me.”
seinen CM 50 world champion Matthias Endraß appreciates more and more after just a few weeks. The special feature: the handcraft cutter has an automatic recipe management. With CutControl from K+G Wetter, recipes can be stored and called up in the desired batch size. Each processing step is then automatically displayed with ingredient, quantity, speed of blade and bowl, temperature and duration and started with a tap on the touch panel. "If I now add the second load of ice cream, it runs on its own for six minutes," said Mattias Endraß while pouring the required amount into the cutter bowl. "So for every ten batches I have at least 60 minutes time for something else - for cleaning up, for washing up, for other work. Those are the things that usually annoy you and hold you back at the end of the working day.” At the beginning, world champion Endraß was sure that he didn't really need the recipe management software for the rather small machine. "Many craftsmen say I don't need it - that's what I thought at the beginning too. But you have to experience it.” The difference becomes clear when a recipe has not yet been saved. “Last week we made a lot of boiled salami. I have already written the program on the PC, but have not yet transferred it to the cutter. I always had to wait and enter everything manually. That really got to me. This waiting time is simply dead time.” Matthias Endraß has currently already stored many of his recipes for his specialties with CutControl, and the trend is rising. There are also those that are not produced in the cutter at all – cooked ham, for example, or raw bratwurst. Why? "I have stored everything in one place and have all the ingredients and quantities displayed directly in the sausage kitchen." At the same time, knowledge of the traditional family recipes and how they are made is stored digitally. Technology and tradition complement each other perfectly here.
The artisan cutter CM 50 easily handles the considerable production quantities of the Endraß butcher's shop. It all started at five o'clock in the morning, now at around eight o'clock 450 kilos of world champion liver cheese are almost ready, says Matthias Endrass as he starts the final processing step. Through the acrylic glass lid you can see how the sausage meat becomes finer and more even with each pass. The raised edge of the cutter bowl ensures that nothing escapes when the bowl volume is used to the full. The sausage meat becomes particularly fine in the cutting chamber, which is adapted to the product by means of a baffle. CutControl automatically controls bowl rotations and knife speed and ends the production step as soon as the stored switch-off parameters, such as the maximum temperature, are reached. With practiced movements, Matthias Endraß now empties the well-emulsified sausage meat. "Emptying by hand is really easy here, you can get to every corner and have no losses".
Right next to the cutter in the sausage kitchen is the second machine from K+G Wetter, the automatic mixing grinder MAW 114. “We make a lot of raw sausage, pepper biters and country hunters, for example. You put in the mixing paddle, throw the spices on the meat and press the button. Then just set up the syringe for filling and that's it.” Before purchasing the grinder with the mixing function, ground meat and spices for the raw sausage were mixed by hand in ten-kilo batches. "Let's face it, if you hand mix 70 or 100 pounds of peppermint, you won't handle the tenth batch as well. At some point you run out of steam,” laughs Mattias Endraß. In addition to making work easier, there is also the time saving thanks to the new and expanded technology of the automatic mixer grinder: "I've been thinking for a long time about whether I need an automatic grinder and a mixing function. But now I'm so glad we have this - it's worth it for the time savings alone. An example: When I used to process the bacon with the small stuffing grinder, it took me an hour to do it alone. Now I do it on the side.”
A manual sorting device on the automatic mixer grinder in the world-class sausage kitchen ensures that unwanted hard parts in the meat, such as pieces of cartilage or bone, are safely sorted out. The fact that the material is discharged from the side is particularly efficient, since the entire cross-section of the blade set is available for grinding and the area in front of the mixing grinder remains free.
At the end of a long working day, as always, there is the Cleaning of the machines. It should be quick, but at the same time safe and hygienic. K+G Wetter cutters and mincers are also perfectly designed for this, after all hygiene is one of the core issues of the meat machine manufacturer from Biedenkopf-Breidenstein in Hesse.
“The cleaning of the machines is really great. I think we're three times as fast as before," says master butcher Endrass happily. "Thanks to the ground surfaces, after each cleaning they look like they came from the shop." But of course the machines are not only spotlessly clean at first glance after cleaning: "I simply remove the meat auger, mixing paddle and blade set, clean the parts, scrub rinse off the rest, and you’re done.” The special hygiene feature on all K+G weather grinders is also in daily use with the MAW 114 at Endraß: The rinsing chamber collects the smallest particles that may get through due to the high pressure during grinding push the seal of the meat screw inside the machine. "On the recommendation of K+G Wetter, we also had a water hose laid directly to the mixing grinder. This means that the washing chamber can be cleaned in just a few seconds: We rinse it out every day with hot water and cleaning agent.” This technical solution from K+G Wetter is a real asset when it comes to hygiene safety: “I always cleaned the old machine with disinfectant for safety,” recalls Matthias Endraß.
For the finished world champion liver cheese, it's now a few steps further to the sales room. Raw sausages are already hanging on the wall here, and Lyoner sausages, salami, roast meat and grilled meat are on display. In the maturing cabinet, the finest cuts await the perfect cut by the meat sommelier – and customers from near and far.
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Ina Endraß-Lacher sells the meat product specialties in the Endraß butcher's shop - for example meat loaf, raw sausage or current steak cuts. At the World Championships in Sacramento, the specialist saleswoman was the best woman in the ranking for journeyman butchers. |
The Endrass butcher shop in Bad Hindelang
The founder of the Endraß butcher shop in the idyllic spa town of Bad Hindelang was Matthias Endraß's great-grandfather in 1925. Today, his grandfather is enjoying his well-deserved retirement in his parents' home. In addition to Matthias Endraß, his sister Ina, who works as a butcher, and the parents of the siblings are also in the business every day. The new modern orientation of the traditional butcher's shop is visible from the outside by the stylized bull's head painted in gold on the white wall of the house, which shines brightly in the sun. The modern logo also confidently adorns Endraß workwear – from work aprons to baseball caps. Thanks to entrepreneurial spirit and a feel for trends and technology, the traditional Endraß butcher shop looks to the future with confidence. A fixed point: the year 2025. Then the 100th anniversary will be celebrated in style at home. And butcher world champion Matthias Endraß and the Butcher Wolfpack want to defend their title at the World Butchers Challenge: with the right mix of trends, technology and tradition.
