At 15, Simon left school to undertake a two-and-a-half year butchery apprenticeship. By the age of 21 he held a master's degree in butchery, making him the youngest master butcher in Germany. Soon after completing his degree, he was head-hunted by a German supermarket chain, which he went on to work for for 20 years, including as the district manager of its butchery department. This high-pressure job saw him working up to 70 hours per week overseeing the running of 20 butcheries and 200 staff, and led him to take extended annual leave in New Zealand in 2003. He's been here ever since.
``I really like the lifestyle here, the country is beautiful and the people are wonderful . . . they're so friendly - so I decided to move permanently,'' Simon said.
Initially based in Auckland, it wasn't long before Simon found himself relocating to idyllic Central Otago, where he secured a position in the butchery department at Wanaka New World. It was while working at the supermarket Simon was inspired to start Deep Creek Deli, as he didn't enjoy the quality of smallgoods on offer. This led him to purchase a 6m-long mobile food truck, before going into partnership with two German friends and opening two Dunedin-based Deep Creek Deli's.
``As much as I love this country, the food isn't like home. I saw a need for good-quality smallgoods, so decided to start my own business.''
Creating high-quality smallgoods is something Simon does extremely well, having won both gold and supreme awards for his sausages over the years. This year was the first time he had entered The New Zealand Pork, Bacon and Ham Awards and he was delighted to receive bronze for his triple-smoked alpine-blue-borage-honey-cured bacon.
For this year's sausage awards, Simon has entered seven different flavours of sausage and is looking forward to finding out the results, which will be announced next month.
Simon's award-winning smallgoods can be found in approximately 30 Dunedin restaurants and cafés, and through wholesalers, and are available in both his North Dunedin and South Dunedin stores, as well as a selection of meat, fish and European deli items.
The deli also offers home-kill processing, and the curing and smoking of fish. If there's a specific cut of meat you require, they can provide it.
Deep Creek Deli's are located at 35 North Rd, phone (03) 473-8766, open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, Saturday 8am to 3pm; and 16 Prince Albert Rd, St Kilda, open Tuesday to Friday 8am to 5pm, Saturday 8am to 2pm, phone (03) 455-5444
