Born and breed into butchery by visiting his dads butchery on Sundays from the age of 5. At 13 Zac was working the Christmas rush and began his apprenticeship at the age of 17 where his father taught him the ropes. After completing a my butchery apprenticeship, the family butchery was sold and Zac spent 3 years at one of the busiest Mad Butcher Stores in NZ.
After that Zac spread his wings in London, soon working for a well known Family Butchery, H. G Walters in Baron Court. This is were his real passion for meat and food started, learing the traditional art of butchery using a chopper and handsaw. It was here Zac learnt how important unique traditional breeds of Beef, Lamb and Pork are and served some of London’s top restaurants, learning some of the more unusual secondary cuts of meat such as bavette and onglet.
After 2 years it was time for change and Zac walked into a job at Barbecoa Butchery run by Jamie Oliver and Adam Perry Lang (BBQ pitmaster Champ). This is were his passion for ‘low and slow’, smoke and fire started, as well as learning and fine tuning the art of dry aged beef. Zac was responsible for Aging 4 tonnes of beef, for at least 35 days on the bone at one time. It’s here Adam Perry Lang taught him about the science of ‘low and slow’ with lesser fatter secondary cuts like Brisket and Shortribs.
Zac is now back home in NZ, armed with all the knowledge learnt overseas. Zac has spent the pass 3 years at Neat Meat Ponsonby as manager where he has been able to share his passion for meat, barbecue and also rub shoulders with some of NZ’s top Chefs.