WBC All Star Series: Meet Brett Laws
As part of a new blog series, we’re profiling the exceptional butchers selected for the WBC All Star Team, a group of individuals recognised not only for their skill, but for the way they represent the values and future of the global trade. Each feature offers a personal insight into their journey, motivation, and hopes for the industry. To view the full team list click here.
The WBC All Star Team is made up of butchers who represent the highest standards of skill, creativity, and dedication to their craft. Each brings a unique perspective to the global community, showcasing the diversity of butchery as both a trade and an art form.
For Brett Laws, butchery has always been personal.
Raised in an Australian butchery family, with his dad and brother both in the trade, Brett’s path started long before he formally picked up a knife. “I used to walk up to my dad’s shop and watch the butcher’s break down beef all day and think one day I want to be a butcher,” he recalls.
School never felt like the place he was meant to be. The shop did. “I remember not being that good in school and just couldn’t wait for my school years to come to an end, thinking what can I do as a job. Then one day my dad asked me if I want to become a butcher, and I said hell yes.”
That decision became the start of a career built on family, graft and a constant hunger to get better. Brett began his apprenticeship with his Dad, learning from the butchers around him before taking the next step into management, where after finishing his apprenticeship he felt he needed more and went on to manage a shop on the South Coast that combined both meat and seafood for three years.
Today, he is back at Pryde Meats, still working alongside his Dad. For Brett, that is one of the great privileges of his career.
His achievements on the world stage are hard to ignore. He has represented Australia at the World Butchers’ Challenge twice, helped the team place second in Sacramento and third in Paris, and became a world champion butcher in the single man butchery competition in Ascot. But being named in the 2025 WBC All Star Team sits right at the top.
“Being part of the WBC All Star team is a dream for me and my family, and to be recognised as one of the most elite butchers on the planet, and one of the best value adders in the world, is one of the highlights of my career.”
For Brett, the honour is not just about the title, but what it represents, years of work, the people who backed him, and a goal he set for himself becoming real, something he sees as proof that dreams do come true.
That same sense of pride carries through to competing on the world stage. “The experience competing in the WBC is something you can’t describe, like wow, just wow.” Walking out in Australian colours is a memory that has stayed with him, “The feeling of walking out and representing my country, Australia, will last forever, as will having my teammates beside me the whole way.”
It is not just the moment itself, but everything around it that leaves a lasting impression. “The lead up to the greatest butchery event on earth is what dreams are made of. To rub shoulders with the best butchers on earth is truly amazing, and I’ve made friendships that I will keep for a lifetime.”
Those connections have played a significant role in shaping him. Brett draws inspiration from his family, his teammates, the butchers he has worked with and the wider trade itself. “Every butcher that I’ve come across, I have found inspiration from. This industry has some of the best skilled tradespeople in the world, it’s our time to showcase our skills and passion to the world.”
That belief in the trade is what drives his view of the future. For Brett, the biggest opportunity ahead is simple, getting more young people to see butchery for what it can be.
“I think the biggest opportunity is for us leaders of the butchery industry are to encourage young people that this trade is an amazing industry that can lead to great opportunities. As a great example, I’ve been able to travel the world being a butcher.”
His advice to those starting out is grounded in something his Dad told him early on, that every butcher you work with should teach you one thing, and that each of those lessons will make you a better person and butcher. It is advice he still stands by, to listen and learn, recognising that the butchers around you are there to help you improve, and that feedback is not always a negative thing but something that can be turned into a positive.
For Brett, what makes a great butcher is not ego or perfection, but the willingness to keep growing. “Someone that never stops learning and trying new things. This trade will teach you so much if you let it.”
And behind every success, he says, are the things people do not always see.
“Dedication, positive attitude, humility and remember who guided you on your path. I’m a true believer that good things happen to good people.”
Follow and connect with Brett here and the Australian Butcher team here