Jacob Wolki is a sustainable farmer from regional NSW and is the proud owner of Australia’s first ever self-service butcher, which is open 24/7 all year round and staff-less.
Jacob runs Wolki Farm which is self described as a “regenerative farm based in Albury, NSW.” Jacob made the choice to make his butchery staff free two years ago during the pandemic, when he was looking for ways to keep his revenue from shrinking.
As a result of Jacob’s ingenuity, the store is now open 24 hours a day and 356 days a year and all without any employees. Jacob has reportedly never had an issue with his business declining or even theft since going staff-less!
In a now viral TikTok, Jacob explains that to gain access to the store “Customers get their unique pin code once they sign up to be a member. Once they enter their code, they gain access to the storefront,” he also boasts that the shop is “open 24/7, 365 days, and all of this meat we grow on our regenerative farm 10 kilometres up the road.”
@wolkifarm My butchery is open 24/7 every single day and has NO STAFF! #butcher #farmer #regenag ♬ Aesthetic – Gaspar
Once inside, the store is lined with freezers full of pork, lamb, beef, chicken and wild harvest venison and smaller fridges containing soup bones, chicken feet and pet mince. The store also offers a selection of jams, sauces and pantry staples.
The check-out process is all done in a third-party app. In a video Jacob demonstrates the process by scanning a few items before checking out with a number of payment options available to choose from, including Bitcoin.
However since going viral, the video received comments saying that he is removing jobs from the regional area, to which Jacob explains “It’s not about removing jobs, it’s about moving jobs,” he told news.com.au.
@wolkifarm Am I destroying the job market by running a 24/7 staffless butchery!? #farming #butchery #business ♬ original sound – Wolki Farm
“I’m a big employer. I employ 50 people across our region, but I want to pour that labour and those skills into improving systems on the farm. We grow meat that we think is exceptional, and the resources we save from paying someone minimum wage to man the shop are instead used for that purpose.”
After two successful years in Albury, Jacob said that his self-service butcheries are looking into expanding into metro areas.
“I’ve engaged a couple of tech developers, and I have a few concepts that will make access and payment even easier,” he said.
“I want to remove the membership system, and rely instead on customers accessing the store with their credit card details. If I can make it work the way I’m imagining it, I think it will work anywhere.”
