Butter

Butter was one of the first products sold by Sainsbury's. By 1900 each shop sold at least four kinds of butter and three of margarine.

Butter and margarine were delivered to the stores in bulk. Dutch and Danish butter arrived packed in wooden casks which contained 112 lbs (50kg). Sainsbury's was the first British retailer to sell Dutch butter, and to require suppliers to mark each cask with the date of production. Most butter was sold within a week of manufacture.

To ensure that the butter was kept cool it was stored in the basement cold store and brought up to the shop as required. The shops had no refrigerators in 1890: the cold store was chilled by ice delivered by the North Pole Ice Company.

Deliveries of butter were made every day from the depot to the shops. It was the duty of the 'first butterman' (the most senior assistant on the butter counter) to taste a sample from each cask for quality and freshness.

The butter was turned out of its cask, marked and cut into large blocks with a wire. It was then carried to the counter on a 'butter board', ready for 'knocking up' into portions.