Apprentice butcher wins regional heat
Riley Hall has gone from being brought up in a vegetarian household to being Otago's top apprentice butcher.
The 23-year-old, who works at Gardens New World in North East Valley, won the ANZCO Foods Butcher Apprentice lower South Island regional heat last Friday and earned a spot in the national final in Auckland on August 14.
Growing up with a mother who did not eat meat, he never really planned on becoming a butcher, but then he took a gap year to live with his father in Canada and took a job as a butcher in a local supermarket, Mr Hall said.
"It was the only free position available."
He said he fell in love with all aspects of cutting, marinating and presenting meat to customers.
His favourite cut of meat was a porterhouse steak.
"That was the first steak I ever had.
"I got a real marbled one at work, took it home, fried it up the first time and it can't get better than that for me."
He went from eating little meat to eating it more often so he could better instruct people how to prepare it.
Mr Hall said he loved the physical aspect of being a butcher.
"I'm a kinaesthetic learner so if someone shows me how to do something, I can get in there and get better at it."
He was excited about what the future held for him whether that was continuing working at the supermarket butchery, working for a private butchery or opening a home-kill butchering business.
For the time being, he was enjoying working at New World because it offered him a lot of opportunity.
He would complete his apprenticeship in November.
Winning the national apprenticeship competition would mean a lot to him because it drove him to have pride in his work, he said.
"Competition just lets you add your creative flavours."
Arrowtown butchery R.M Prime Produce butcher William Fletcher took top honours in the Pact Packaging Young Butcher category.
He started his apprenticeship in 2020 and has been a qualified butcher for a year and a-half.
He said it felt great to compete for the first time and be rewarded for his hard work and preparation.
Each competitor took part in a demanding two-hour cutting challenge, showcasing their technique, creativity and speed in pursuit of a spot in the national final.
Both Mr Hall and Mr Fletcher received a $150 cash prize and a trophy.
Head judge Peter Martin said the standard in the South Island was exceptionally high.
mark.john@odt.co.nz
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Techday NZ
4 days ago
- Techday NZ
Myriad360 & Cyera launch AI-powered data security tool for AWS
Myriad360 and Cyera have announced the launch of the Data Security Health Assessment (DSHA), an AI-powered service designed to provide enterprises with rapid insight into their data security posture in AWS environments. The DSHA leverages Cyera's Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) platform and operates as a turnkey service. It enables organisations to detect and classify sensitive information, enforce compliance requirements, and enhance operational efficiencies across cloud-native infrastructures such as Amazon S3 and RDS. The solution processes over 120 file formats and automates risk identification, aiding in the formulation of remediation plans without manual effort. This new service aims to address the challenges that enterprises face as they scale up their artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives and cloud migrations. Fast and accurate data discovery, coupled with actionable insights for compliance, are core to DSHA's offering, with the solution reportedly delivering results within hours. Assessing data risk The platform has been deployed in operational environments where it identified over 9.3 million sensitive records shortly after rollout. During the same deployment, it uncovered 357 vulnerable data stores, 63 of which were classified as ghost datastores. According to Myriad360, the DSHA reduced manual triage time and the frequency of data loss prevention (DLP) false positives by as much as 80%, and also flagged the presence of European PII stored outside of GDPR-compliant locations. DSHA's integration with AWS means customers benefit from seamless compatibility with their existing AWS-native infrastructure. The intention, both companies state, is to enable organisations to adopt advanced solutions for data protection and AI readiness at scale without compromising security standards. Executive perspectives Heather Case-Hall, Technical Author & Data Security Leader at Myriad360, emphasised the importance of robust security measures, particularly with the expansion of AI capabilities in enterprises. She said, Our clients face increasing pressure to reduce risk and prove compliance - especially with emerging AI adoption. This collaboration with Cyera allows us to deliver not just visibility, but a clear remediation roadmap that bridges security and business outcomes. The role of contextual understanding of data was highlighted by Troy Gabel, Head of DLP at Cyera. He remarked, Security leaders today need more than just protection - they need clarity and control over their data so they can move fast without taking on unnecessary risk. Cyera's unique strength is context - we don't just show where data lives, but who can access it, how it's being used, and what it means to the business. With Myriad360's DSHA framework, we're turning that vision into action and delivering measurable impact in complex AWS environments - fast. Tim Donovan, AWS Cloud Success Manager at Myriad360, underscored the scalability and automation provided by the solution. He commented, Myriad360 is committed to helping customers meet their security and compliance needs with scalable, automated solutions. The Myriad360 DSHA powered by Cyera brings an innovative offering to AWS customers looking to mature their data protection and AI readiness. The impact of offering DSHA via AWS Marketplace was described by Alpesh Shah, VP of Security Strategic Alliance at Myriad360, who stated, Myriad360 truly understands the power of the AWS Marketplace and its ability to simplify the procurement of SaaS solutions. With this new marketplace offering in collaboration with Cyera, Myriad360 has expanded its AWS relationship, enabling clients to leverage this unique solution. We encourage customers to take advantage of Myriad360's security engineering expertise. Cloud environments and compliance The DSHA's objective is to streamline compliance and data security in line with growing demands for cloud-based infrastructure and AI-driven workloads. Organisations deploying large-scale AI projects need to ensure they do not inadvertently expose sensitive or regulated data, and the DSHA is positioned as a tool for facilitating this process within AWS frameworks. By rapidly surfacing security risks and providing a framework for actionable remediation, Myriad360 and Cyera are aiming to strengthen enterprise cloud strategies, ensuring that organisations achieve greater transparency and control over their data assets as compliance regulations and operational requirements continue to evolve.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Apprentice butcher wins regional heat
Riley Hall has gone from being brought up in a vegetarian household to being Otago's top apprentice butcher. The 23-year-old, who works at Gardens New World in North East Valley, won the ANZCO Foods Butcher Apprentice lower South Island regional heat last Friday and earned a spot in the national final in Auckland on August 14. Growing up with a mother who did not eat meat, he never really planned on becoming a butcher, but then he took a gap year to live with his father in Canada and took a job as a butcher in a local supermarket, Mr Hall said. "It was the only free position available." He said he fell in love with all aspects of cutting, marinating and presenting meat to customers. His favourite cut of meat was a porterhouse steak. "That was the first steak I ever had. "I got a real marbled one at work, took it home, fried it up the first time and it can't get better than that for me." He went from eating little meat to eating it more often so he could better instruct people how to prepare it. Mr Hall said he loved the physical aspect of being a butcher. "I'm a kinaesthetic learner so if someone shows me how to do something, I can get in there and get better at it." He was excited about what the future held for him whether that was continuing working at the supermarket butchery, working for a private butchery or opening a home-kill butchering business. For the time being, he was enjoying working at New World because it offered him a lot of opportunity. He would complete his apprenticeship in November. Winning the national apprenticeship competition would mean a lot to him because it drove him to have pride in his work, he said. "Competition just lets you add your creative flavours." Arrowtown butchery R.M Prime Produce butcher William Fletcher took top honours in the Pact Packaging Young Butcher category. He started his apprenticeship in 2020 and has been a qualified butcher for a year and a-half. He said it felt great to compete for the first time and be rewarded for his hard work and preparation. Each competitor took part in a demanding two-hour cutting challenge, showcasing their technique, creativity and speed in pursuit of a spot in the national final. Both Mr Hall and Mr Fletcher received a $150 cash prize and a trophy. Head judge Peter Martin said the standard in the South Island was exceptionally high.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- RNZ News
How it happened: Fire at New World supermarket in Auckland's Freemans Bay
A fire at a central Auckland supermarket under renovation has been contained but is still not out. Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin says the fire at the New World on College Hill was a significant event. He says it started in a rebuild area but could not confirm the cause. He says the store is a very important location for Foodstuffs. He says the value of stock loss is unknown but staff will be looked after and most customers have been reunited with their undamaged cars. There were 20 fire trucks at the peak of the blaze, which started in the mezzanine roof space and spread inside to aisles. Fire and Emergency says the blaze is under control and crews remain at the scene dampening down hotspots. Read our liveblog to see how the day unfolded Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
