IT was only after a trip to the "hair butchers" for a "chop of the mop" that Andrew finally found the time to catch up with the Gazette.

The 43-year old works six days per week and spends all of his free time with his wife Felicity and their three children Millie, 15, Jack, 12, and Sam, nine, at their home in Brithem Bottom, near Tiverton.

Which, all told, makes him a rather difficult man to pin down.

Born and raised into Westcountry poultry firm Lloyd Maunder Ltd, now 2 Sisters Willand, he has always adopted a pro-active and often high-profile approach to promoting all chicken-rearing systems.

He bought out the Lloyd Maunder butchers chain from the rest of his family in July last year and has so far managed to juggle both business commitments so successfully that he's scooped a number of awards along the way.

In the past couple of years Andrew has collaborated with celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall on television shows about poultry rearing, championing both the farmers and the industry to great effect.

Andrew has worked in just about every area of poultry production since joining the family firm more than 20 years ago and masterminded the company's partial switch to free-range production in 1996.

He became commercial director at Lloyd Maunder Ltd in 2000 and continued to focus on improving product quality, animal welfare and customer base, particularly through the Devonshire Red brand of chicken.

He has remained with the company through its acquisition by the 2 Sisters Food Group in January.

"I am passionate about the poultry industry," explained Andrew. "It's as simple as that."

His enthusiasm for the Devonshire Red was instrumental in persuading suppliers to undergo rapid conversion to specialist rearing methods.

Andrew said: "Our farmers have invested a lot to scale-up production in response to increased demand, and now we need people to continue supporting them by buying Westcountry chicken.

"Our choice of locally reared chicken is available in almost all supermarkets and clearly labelled as Westcountry."

Having been introduced to the family business at a tender age, the humble chicken has always loomed large in Andrew's life.

He said: "I used to work for my father during the school holidays as a boy. I saw everything that went on and gained a good understanding of work. So I suppose the poultry business became ingrained in me."

Andrew studied food technology at Seale Hayne agricultural college, in Newton Abbot, before spending a year on a busman's holiday to America

He recalls: "It was great, I got to work for the massive poultry company Tyson.

"It is one of the biggest protein producers in the world and produces around 50 million chickens a week. It was a huge learning curve.

"I also visited at an interesting time, chicken nougats and processed food was just becoming mainstream so I was absorbing a lot of information and knowledge."

Andrew is equally passionate about his portfolio of 14 butcher's shops. These can be found in towns and cities across Devon, from Tiverton and Halberton in the east, to Plymouth in the west and Kingsbridge in the south.

"I love the time I spend in the shops as a butcher behind the counter," beams Andrew.

"I get a real buzz from it. I think being a butcher is a great job. I like dealing with the customers and helping with queries.

"The good thing about going to a butcher is it gives you the chance to get advice – you can say, I've got 12 people coming for dinner, how much do I actually need? And you can ask what you need to do to get really good crackling.

"Often people can come in and we can advise them on a cheaper cut than the one they had originally set out to buy.

"You can have a conversation, which you can't have in the supermarket."

Unsurprisingly, Andrew is also evangelical when it comes to the advantages of patronising local producers and shopkeepers rather than the giants of the grocery industry.

He believes the health of the local community — in both senses of the word — in some way depends on the pounds in our pockets finding their way directly to independent operators.

He said: "We are very much a community business as we only buy from local farmers, many of whom the butcher's has been dealing with for decades.

"We like to sell local food to local people. There is a big emphasis on traceability, because that way we know we are selling something of good quality. I believe in keeping food miles down."

Andrew's 70 tried and trusted staff have made such a success of his 14 shops that expansion plans are afoot.

"I would love to expand the shops to more towns in Devon and Cornwall," he said. "I think good butchers should be supported these days."

And Andrew will also be remembered by local rugby fans for his 13 years in an Exeter Chiefs shirt.

He said: "I was a captain for five years, it was something I relished. I have retired now, but my boys are into it so I try and watch then whenever I can."