Dave began his career in small supermarkets, followed by trainee Butcher at J.H. Dewhurst qualifying as a Butcher in 1983. Moved to City Meat Wholesalers (now ABP Ellesmere) and was involved in a series of roles including: Boning hall packing Supervisor; Further Processing Supervisor and Manager; Boning Hall and Abattoir Manager; Production Manager responsible for Retail Packing, Dispatch, Procurement and Transport; Technical Dept and NPD before project managing the Central Packing contract for a major retailer across Beef, Lamb and Pork; Technical Liaison Manager for the ABP Group across UK and Ireland supporting one of their biggest customers; Commercial Dept selling, training, and supporting.

Those first five years of learning the trade were really valuable, although the experience that followed equally helped me to achieve in my career, especially to attain the status of Accredited Master Butcher. Outside of ABP, I am a liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Butchers. In addition to this, I was extremely honoured to be invited to join the Executive Committee for the Institute of Meat, and latterly having the honour of being their CEO.