Meat sommelier Pascal Karatay achieved 9th place among young butchers at the World Butchers' Challenge - the 2025 World Butchers' Championship in Paris.
The 2025 World Butcher Championship will take place in France at the end of March. Pascal Karatay will compete in the solo competition as a young butcher. A total of 23 butchers are participating.
In two and a half hours, Pascal has to completely process two chickens , half a lamb , a rump of beef and a side of pork into products and then present them on a themed display.
As a BBQ World Champion in the beef category, Pascal has chosen the theme "Fine Dining." As a certified Master Class grill master, the specialist salesperson regularly holds barbecue seminars and brings his expertise to the table at catering events and other events. A talent that the Freyberger butcher shop is happy to promote.
"We see enormous potential in Pascal and are fully behind him," explains owner Dirk Freyberger. Karatay has demonstrated this ability on numerous occasions in the past. In 2024, he won the Butcher Wars Germany in Stuttgart. This is a competition for the title of German Champion Butcher. A video of the competition is available here .
"It's important to note that Pascal has no formal butcher training," reveals Dirk. The young butcher is, in fact, a qualified butcher salesperson. He's teaching himself the trade through his own efforts and with full dedication, showcasing his progress via live streams on the Freyberger butcher shop's TikTok and Twitch channels .
"Of course we're helping him—especially when young, motivated people come to us, we're the last to refuse our support," Freyberger explains. The butcher shop provides Pascal with space and equipment for his training, while Dirk, a master butcher, is also teaching Karatay the butcher's trade.
With this support and his insatiable thirst for knowledge, Pascal made it into the Butcher Wolfpack, which represents Germany at international championships. Now he's achieved 9th place at his first World Championship, paving the way for a great future.