Stuttgart. On April 27, the Butcher Wars Germany 2025 will take place at the BBQ Days. In this tournament, both Germany's best butchers and those from other nations will compete against each other.
The Freyberger butcher shop is sending Konstantin Klemm and Pascal Karatay into the race. Pascal takes third place. Connor Ringrose from Great Britain takes first place.
The bridge between crafts and consumers
Butcher Wars Germany is the German version of an international butcher's tournament. Expert butchers compete against each other and are tasked with transforming a side of pork into a ready-to-eat product in 25 minutes. The butchers must debone the meat, trim it, and arrange it as ready-to-eat products on a themed display. Participants keep the meat.
Independent judges evaluate the participants during the competition. The criteria include cleanliness of workmanship, technique, creativity, safety, and hygiene. There are no restrictions on participation. Anyone with skills in the craft is welcome to participate.
Dirk Freyberger organizes and hosts the competition. He's a master butcher himself and knows the processes. "I act as a bridge between the trade and consumers," explains Dirk. This allows spectators to follow the tournament without having to have specialist knowledge .
"We're all about transparency," says Freyberger. The goal of the event is to show consumers what the butcher's trade entails, thereby raising awareness of this valuable food . Dirk also discusses such topics in his in-house podcast .
The young talents of the butcher shop
The Freyberger butcher shop is fielding Konstantin Klemm and Pascal Karatay. Konstantin himself initially worked as a sales assistant , but now wants to further his education in the butcher trade and is a butcher apprentice at Freyberger.
Pascal Karatay won the Butcher Wars Germany last year and is the BBQ World Champion in the beef category. We've published a video from the BBQ World Championship here and a film about the 2024 competition here .
Pascal now ranks third. "It was a bad time," reveals the young butcher. A few weeks earlier, he competed in the World Butchers' Challenge in Paris and placed among the top ten young butchers in the world.
"These weeks have been extremely stressful," explains Pascal. He came up with an entirely new display. The theme: Harry Potter . "Yes, I could have used my old one, of course, but I want to set new standards," says the salesperson . Audacious.
Not only the limited preparation time, but also his relentless pursuit of more are risk factors. Pascal was also the first competitor ever to create delicate minced meat products during the competition.
"They're laborious and extremely time-consuming. And that can quickly cost you the victory," Karatay reveals. That's why participants usually avoid this method. "I just want to reach a new level, to keep pushing myself," Pascal emphasizes.
For this reason, the young butcher intentionally always takes the rocky road. His wife supports him. "I couldn't do any of this without my wife; she not only supports me, she also strengthens him," admits the meat sommelier .
Dirk is also incredibly proud. "We have two young, dedicated people here for our craft. They are constantly improving, and we will happily support that in the future," Freyberger explains.
