Danielle Bouchier on joining her family business while staying true to her dreams and passion.

Peter Bouchier has been the trusted name in premium butchering since the first store opened in 1983, but it took Peter's daughter Danielle some time to join the company. Danielle spent 10 years as a primary school teacher, before deciding it was time to find herself a niche in the family business; with a brother managing one of the stores, and her sister being Marketing Manager, Danielle wanted to find her own area of specialisation.

While she was on family leave, Danielle decided it was the perfect time to return to study; both Danielle's father and brother had attained their butchery qualifications at Angliss (along with many of their employees), so Angliss was the first place she turned to while deciding what to do. She'd always had an interest in food, hygiene and nutrition so started to research courses that aligned well with her own interests and with the family business, and settled on a Diploma of Food Science and Technology.

During her Diploma, Danielle benefited from and enjoyed the diversity of industries within the classroom "We had individuals from confectionary, cookery, retail, engineering and other food sectors within the class. Each class member brought their own practical experiences from their workplaces which created a learning environment rich in knowledge and prompted vast discussion and interest among the students."

"It was really beneficial to create a product from start to finish to learn about the entire process from concept design and creating timelines to food safety requirements and labelling laws. I learnt a lot in the Food Safety subjects which has really helped when preparing HACCP documentation. The microbiology subject has really helped me with reading and understanding lab results for food testing as well as customer requirements. Learning from teachers with industry experience was incredibly valuable as they shared useful tools (many of which I have used in my role) as well as relatable real life scenarios and stories."

Danielle is now Quality Assurance Officer at Peter Bouchier Butchers of Distinction, who make award winning smallgoods and premium meat products. She is heavily involved in product labelling, new product development and is working to develop and build their new Quality Assurance database. "The knowledge gained from my diploma enables me to have technical conversations with a wide range of suppliers and customers about various product requirements such as ingredients, production processes and packaging." She works closely with their Food Tech/Product Developer and Q.A. Manager and is excited to continue to learn from them. "I am really enjoying my role as QAO, in the future I would like to move into more of a Food Tech/Product Development role, so hopefully I can find some more time to continue to study and build on my skills gained from my time at Angliss."